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The Seminoles and Bulls will join Florida in the top tier of collegiate rugby in the Sunshine State.
Because there are just the three schools that will be competing in DI, they will all be adding Division II schools to their respective schedules to replace the Matrix that had been the status quo in past years.
UF, FSU and USF will take part in a play-in format at the end of the regular season to determine which one of them will advance to the South’s playoffs leading up the nationals.
“We are all excited about our move to Division I,” Florida State director of rugby James Canfield told ARN. “We are in the final stages of completing our fall schedule.”
ARN understands that as part of the realignment Tennessee likely would likely be bracketed in a separate division of SEC teams.
Georgia, Auburn, Alabama, Vanderbilt, Mississippi State and Ole Miss, while Arkansas State would compete separately in much the same way that BYU and Utah do by setting its own schedule in the fall.
The Carolina-based Division I schools including North Carolina, South Carolina and Clemson are pushing to set up a separate Carolinas league that would include Wake Forest, NC State and others.
“We have been for some time now trying to get teams to make the step to DI, but the huge travel requirements have been a factor that has stopped teams,” said former North Carolina head coach Andy Richards.
“The travel has also had a big impact on DI sides and the Carolinas league will help reduce this travel.
“We are hoping that at the end of the first season, the Carolinas league will be made up of entirely DI sides. Teams are being encouraged to take this step, and within the confines of the Carolinas Rugby League they are willing to do so.
“Having local leagues within the South TU does not suit everyone, but for collegiate teams in the Carolinas it is the only way that we can go forward, and while the clubs are still in favor of it, we will push to run our own league within South's collegiate set-up.”
The winners of each of the three separate divisions, plus Arkansas State, would compete in the South’s playoffs in the spring to sort out the conference’s two seeds that will qualify for the Round of 16.
There would be semifinals and a final.
It’s envisaged that Life University will join the mix in 2011 and that LSU also could be a likely addition in the future.
