This week’s D1A competition saw a plethora of top matchups across conferences, resulting in both statement wins by top contenders and a few huge upsets. The biggest of these early shakeups was No. 19 Notre Dame College’s upset of No. 9 Army. After opening the season with an impressive win over Davenport University and then losing to Penn State, Notre Dame College bounced back with a thrilling 31-26 victory thanks to a blocked kick by sophomore Corbin Williams that he turned into a game-winning try.
Out of the Big Ten, No. 6 Indiana survived a conference matchup against Wisconsin, roaring back in the second half to win 53-43 after being down 20 points. Wisconsin might have pulled off the upset were it not for the duo of Teddy Terezis and Collegiate All-American Tyler Sousley, whose stellar back play helped grab the Hoosiers a late lead.
On the west coast, the first week of Rocky Mountain Conference play also gave way to an early upset, with No. 14 Air Force falling to Utah Valley University 56-29. A late D1A addition as an independent, Utah Valley is already getting noticed and making waves across the league.
Other ranked teams kicked off their conference schedules in the Rockies over the weekend, as No. 15 Colorado State took care of Utah State 52-10 while hoping to build some momentum before their upcoming showdown against No. 12 Utah next week. Colorado University also began D1A competition with a big win, defeating Wyoming 38-15. Colorado made the best out of cold and rainy conditions, capturing an important first win in conference play.
“Miserable weather created a lot of errors, mental and physical, but this was a good away win to get the season started with six tries,” said Colorado head coach Murray Wallace. “Our youthful exuberance created some great play in the first half with our young backline showing some quality moments.”
On the east coast, several teams continued their early season dominance, with No. 8 Penn State downing St. Bonaventure 61-23 and No. 12 Kutztown capturing a 48-17 win over Buffalo, overcoming some first half mistakes. From the Liberty Conference, Iona racked up another big win over Stony Brook to improve to 2-0, while Delaware rebounded after last week’s loss by defeating Rutgers 45-15.
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