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Collegiate Rocket League Returns

The Game Haus Staff

Publish Date: October 30, 2018

Courtesy of TESPA Compete

TESPA and Psyonix have partnered to bring the Collegiate Rocket League (CRL) back for the Fall 2018 season. Season 2 comes as a result of a successful first event. More participants, more competitions, and $75,000 in scholarships and official merchandise. Season 2 follows a similar format to Season 1. Participants will be split into four conferences: Northern, Southern, Eastern, and Western. Each conference will host two double elimination tournaments known as Qualifier 1 and Qualifier 2. The top four teams from each of these double elimination tournaments will qualify for the group stages.

First Qualifier

Courtesy of Psyonix

The first set of qualifiers gave us an idea on who to watch for Season 2. We saw a bit of everything: dominating results, upsets, missed opportunities, and grinding results.

Utah and Illinois Dominate Their Conferences

Utah and Illinois both cruised through qualification, going undefeated all the way into the qualification spots. Each university had a total of ten rounds won and zero rounds lost throughout their qualification process.

Both Season 1 Finalists Qualify for the Group Stages

Last season finalists Ohio State University and Northeastern University both made it to the Group Stages without a loss. Ohio State missed the group stages last season. They battled through the Open Ladder and later in the Northern playoffs to reach the season one finals. OSU made sure to qualify for the group stages in season two.

Kansas State Makes the Run

After initial success, Kansas State (Farmer Boiz) was knocked out by Sault College in the winner’s bracket round of 32. The team dropped to loser’s round four and needed to win seven straight games for qualification.

Several close matches followed such as wins over Missouri State, Siena Heights University, Iowa State University, Grand Valley State University, and Wayne State University all with 2-1 results.

Second Qualifier

Courtesy of TESPA Compete

The second round of qualification had many newly established teams looking for qualification, alongside teams that had gone through the first qualifier and not made it.

Favorites Dominate the Northern and Southern Conferences

After a disappointing eighth place during the first northern qualifier, the University of Waterloo bounced back with a swift winner’s bracket qualification.

Kennesaw State and Louisiana State University both made it through the southern qualifier. Even though LSU had a shock loss in the winner’s finals, they managed to bounce back and sweep the University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill, with a result of 2-0 and an aggregate score of 8:2.

Penn State Rocks the Eastern Conference’s Loser’s Bracket

Pennsylvania State University lost to the fellow qualified team the University of Delaware 2-1 in the round of 32. This meant they would need to win seven straight matches for qualification. They kicked off their process with three consecutive 2-0 wins over James Madison University (11:5 aggregate), University of Pittsburgh (10:3 aggregate), and a forfeit by Ecole de Technologie Supérieure.

During loser’s round five, Rowan University gave Penn State their biggest scare. The match began with a 6:1 win for Rowan, but Penn State was able to take the next two matches 2:0 and 6:2. Penn State cruised through the next three matches and qualified for the group stages. Three 2-0 results against the University of Pittsburgh (6:1 aggregate), Rochester Institute of Technology (6:2 aggregate), and finally the University of Maryland – Baltimore County (8:1 aggregate) secured their placing.

Winner’s bracket “Tiger Bowl” victory for Auburn

The Tiger Bowl is a well-known American football rivalry between Auburn University and Lousiana State University. This rivalry dates back all the way to 1901 when the Auburn Tigers and LSU Tigers first met. Both teams are part of the Southeastern Conference (SEC) since 1932 and have faced off yearly since 1992 when SEC instituted divisional play.

LSU met Auburn in the southern conference winner’s bracket final for qualification into the regular season. LSU came into this game as heavy favorites, but Auburn was able to pull off the win. The series ended with an Auburn 2-1 victory. The first match was won by Auburn 1:0, LSU took the second match 5:2, and Auburn took the third 2:1.

The next stage

Four conferences, 32 teams battle it out for the best possible seeding heading into the conference playoffs. The conference teams and wildcard teams would be slotted into the following bracket once the regular season ends.

Courtesy of TESPA Compete

The two teams who make it to the conference finals will represent their conference in the Conference Clash. Here, the top two teams from each conference will meet. Four teams will qualify for the National Championship which will be held Arlington, Texas on December 8th.