We are coming to a very crucial time in D1A rugby as the playoffs are not far.

Even non-conference games will have a huge influence on the playoff picture. We already know that Army, Oklahoma, Wisconsin, Saint Mary's, and BYU are in the playoffs as conference champions. 

Cal and Arizona play next week in what will be a PAC Rugby Conference decider. Life has Davenport and Lindenwood to come, and can clinch in those weeks.

(Army, by the way, lost to their counterparts in the UK, the Royal Military College at Sandhurst, on Wednesday. The score was 40-14.)

But those are just some of the 16 teams for the playoffs. UCLA, Central Washington, San Diego State, Utah Valley, Davenport, and Arizona, among others, have work to do to get themselves high enough in the rankings to make those playoffs.

Arizona is coming off a close loss to BYU that probably didn't hurt them at all when it comes to the rankings.

"We had opportunities, and we didn't blink defensively, but we need to be more clinical in attack and this is a tremendous learning experience for a lot of these guys," said Head Coach Sean Duffy. 

Arizona hosts Texas, which should be a comfortable win for the Wildcats (not anymore; Texas isn't coming). The rankings games of note will be Utah Valley (whose ranking is tenuous in part because of a fairly short schedule of games) against Central Washington. San Diego State at UCLA is another one, where both teams are fighting for playoff spots. The winner there has a good shot at a playoff place; the loser isn't.

Here are the games and our picks. (Cal plays two games, with Santa Clara on Friday and Utah on Saturday. The home game against the Utes is on Homecoming Weekend.

(D1A rankings in parentheses). San Diego State is not ranked in the official D1A rankings, but FloRugby has the Aztecs ranked #34.