American college rugby moves into October with another national weekend of action across the College Rugby Association of America (CRAA), National Intercollegiate Rugby Association (NIRA), and National Collegiate Rugby (NCR).
The schedule begins Friday and stretches through Sunday. In CRAA men’s rugby, unbeaten Navy faces Southern Virginia after last weekend’s victory over Army, while the Black Knights travel to Penn State for another Rugby East test. In the women’s game, La Salle takes a three-game winning streak into Saturday’s meeting with Navy’s sub-varsity side, while Dartmouth looks to respond after consecutive defeats.
NCR also takes center stage Friday night when Queens travels to Belmont Abbey for the organization’s Friday Night Rugby matchup.
A handful of kickoff times remain to be confirmed. Here are some of the games to follow around the country.
CRAA Men
CRAA’s men’s structure includes separate D1A and D1AA competition, with conferences within those divisions.
Southern Virginia at Navy
Navy returns to Rugby East action Saturday when Southern Virginia visits the Prusmack Rugby Center in Annapolis.
The Midshipmen enter the weekend 4–0 overall and 2–0 in Rugby East after victories over St. Bonaventure, Air Force, Mary Washington and Army.
Last Saturday’s win over Army gave Navy its fourth consecutive Star Match victory over the Black Knights. The rugby Star Match forms part of the wider Army-Navy Star Series.
Southern Virginia arrives in Annapolis after a 29–12 loss to Penn State last weekend.
Army at Penn State
Army gets an immediate opportunity to respond to the Army-Navy defeat with a trip to Penn State.
The Black Knights face the same Penn State side that beat Southern Virginia last weekend.
There is one scheduling issue for supporters to watch. Army currently lists Saturday’s kickoff for 1 p.m., while Penn State lists it for 4 p.m. ET. RFC will update the time when the two schools align.
Mary Washington at Life
Mary Washington heads to Georgia for another Rugby East road test against Life.
The Eagles enter the weekend after a 31–26 victory at Mount St. Mary’s, having lost 55–6 to Navy one week earlier.
St. Thomas vs. Davenport
St. Thomas of Florida meets Davenport in Charlotte on Saturday.
The matchup brings together Davenport, a CRAA Midwest program, and independent St. Thomas.
Notre Dame at Ohio State
Notre Dame travels to Columbus on Saturday afternoon to face Ohio State.
Ohio State enters its first season in CRAA’s expanded Midwest conference for 2026–27. Saturday’s meeting with Notre Dame sits outside Midwest conference play.
Rocky Mountain
Rocky Mountain play opens Friday when Utah State travels to BYU.
Utah then hosts Wyoming on Saturday afternoon in Salt Lake City.
D1AA & Crossover Action
Saturday’s CRAA schedule also includes D1AA and non-league matchups.
Trine meets Minnesota in Milwaukee, Oregon travels to Cal Poly Humboldt in California, Florida hosts Florida Atlantic and Purdue meets Iowa in Chicago.
NIRA Women
Games to watch across the NIRA weekend.
Navy Sub-Varsity at La Salle
La Salle has put together one of the strongest runs of its young season.
After opening with a 52–17 loss to Princeton, the Explorers responded by beating Army 27–7, Mount St. Mary’s 25–17 and Temple 76–0.
La Salle has won three consecutive games and outscored its opponents 128–24 during that streak.
Navy’s sub-varsity side provides the next test Saturday in Philadelphia. Navy’s varsity women’s team is idle this weekend.
AIC at Dartmouth
Dartmouth returns home looking to respond after consecutive defeats.
The Big Green opened the season with a 41–8 victory over Army before falling 49–22 to Life and 31–7 at Harvard.
Saturday’s game against American International College was originally scheduled for 11 a.m., but Dartmouth announced Monday that kickoff had been moved to 4 p.m.
Davenport at Sacred Heart
Sacred Heart returns home after recording its first victory of the season.
The Pioneers opened with a narrow 26–24 loss to Harvard and then lost 24–17 at Army before breaking through with a 69–7 road victory over Queens University of Charlotte last weekend.
Davenport’s women’s team now visits Fairfield as Sacred Heart looks for consecutive victories.
Mount St. Mary’s at West Chester
West Chester hosts Mount St. Mary’s on Saturday morning.
Frostburg State vs. Bowdoin
Frostburg State and Bowdoin meet at Vassar College on Saturday afternoon.
Guilford at Emory & Henry
NIRA action continues Sunday when Guilford travels to Emory & Henry in Virginia.
NCR Men
Friday Night Rugby leads the weekend before NCR action continues across D1AA and the Northwest.
Queens at Belmont Abbey
NCR gets the national spotlight Friday when Queens travels to Belmont Abbey.
The matchup is NCR’s Week 4 Friday Night Rugby game and will be shown live on NCR TV.
Tulane at Loyola New Orleans
Loyola New Orleans hosts Tulane on Friday as the Wolf Pack continues its inaugural men’s varsity season.
NCR operates its own D1AA competition, separate from CRAA’s D1AA structure.
Northwest Action
NCR’s weekend also includes two Northwest matchups on Saturday.
By the Numbers
A Coast-to-Coast College Rugby Weekend
The first weekend of October shows both the scale and complexity of American college rugby.
CRAA competition includes Rugby East and Rocky Mountain games alongside D1AA and crossover matchups. NIRA’s women’s schedule stretches across Saturday and Sunday, while NCR’s weekend includes its Friday Night Rugby showcase and games in the Pacific Northwest.
For supporters, following competitions spread across different organizations, conferences and schedules can be difficult.
RFC’s goal is to bring those pieces together.
Rugby Fan Central will track CRAA, NIRA and NCR throughout the weekend, with schedules, results, standings, team hubs and match information bringing the different parts of the American college game together in one place.
American rugby lives here.
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