I said this last week and it’s even truer this week. After a bizarro first half of the 2017 college lacrosse season, shit is finally starting to look normal as we get closer to May. We were wildin’ out there for a minute when there was a time that Penn State, Rutgers and Ohio State were all top 5 teams in the country at the same time. It was fun. There were laughs, there were tears, there were ups, there were downs. There was everything you could ask for to make this college lacrosse season entertaining. But this is the time of the year when those traditional lacrosse schools start to take over and say “fuck parity straight in the ass”. Consensually speaking, of course.

For the first time since 1776, we have a team repeating as #1 in the country for 2 consecutive weeks after Cardiac Cuse was able to knock off UNC in overtime last weekend.

That’s UNC’s 6th top 20 loss at home this year. Not that anybody is keeping track of that sort of thing.

As you saw above, it took Maryland 3 overtimes to finally get it done against Rutgers. But over the span of 10 days, Maryland knocked off #1 Penn State, #5 Albany and then #11 Rutgers. Not a bad 2 weeks for the Terps. Not bad at all.

Duke looks like they can start looking for hotels to stay at in Boston for Memorial Day Weekend with their only loss in the last 2 months coming against Cuse in overtime. So yeah. The usual suspects are starting to assert their dominance and here’s how the rankings look heading into weekend.

Rankings

Hofstra was on the receiving end of a Philly Phakeout as they dropped their first loss of the season to Drexel. No more undefeateds this year. Penn State dropped their 2nd game in a row after starting off the season 10-0. I love what the Nittany Lions have done this year but if they’re always going to have doubters until they beat a blue blood program in the B1G. You can beat Ohio State, you can beat Rutgers, but you haven’t really done anything until you beat Maryland and Hopkins. They failed to do that this year.

Army lost a big one to Navy last weekend but I wouldn’t put too much stock into that one. Even if Navy is in a down year, that game means more than just a game to both teams. Clearly it was going to be a battle and the Mids came out on top. We already talked about Syracuse, Maryland and Duke. Denver is in cruise control as they can just coast through the Big East and Albany’s two losses on the season are a 1-goal loss to #1 Cuse and a 1-goal loss to #2 Maryland. Four of the top 6 teams you see in the rankings right there will playing Memorial Day Weekend. The rest of the teams are just in their way.

What’s On Tap?

I’ll be honest… there’s not a ton that excites me this weekend. Which worries me a little because I feel like I’ll say that and then it’ll be Upset City all weekend long. But Championship Weekend is just over a month away. We’ll have conference championships coming up in just a couple of weeks. So if there was ever a time to take a quick vacation before things really get going, I’d say this is the weekend to do so. But let’s at least talk about the few that have some implications on the line here.

#13 Rutgers @ #10 Penn State| Sunday, 7pm | Line: PSU -1

Rutgers clearly gave Maryland everything they had last week taking them to 3 overtimes. Dan Morris had at least 4 or 5 big dick saves for the Terps to hold on to that one and leave New Brunswick with a win. So now they head to Penn State. Both teams are 1-2 in the B1G. Both teams have dropped to Hopkins and Maryland. And here’s how the standings in that conference look right now.

Rutgers was a #1 team in the nation just a few weeks ago. On Sunday they need a win or else there’s a big time chance that they miss the B1G tournament. Penn State only has Michigan left after their tilt against Rutgers which you can pencil in for a win. Meanwhile Rutgers still has Ohio State after this weekend so yeah, I’m gonna go ahead and call this a must-win for the Scarlet Knights. But I really like these Sunday night home games for Penn State. Last time they were home on a Sunday night, they beat the shit out of Ohio State. I think the stage is too big here for Rutgers and Penn State comes away by at least a couple.

#2 Maryland @ #7 Ohio State | Saturday, 2pm | Line: Terps -1

4th top 20 game in a row for Maryland. Meanwhile Ohio State got to beat up on Michigan last week after playing a handful of top 20 games of their own. While the Penn State/Rutgers game is the 4th place game for the B1G tournament, this game is to figure out who gets the 1-seed. I just think Maryland is playing too good right now to drop this one. You look at their last 5 games and it’s a 15-7 win over UNC, a 15-8 win over Michigan, a 15-11 win over PSU, a 12-11 win over Albany and a 13-12 win against Rutgers. That’s 70 goals in 5 games for the Terps. The overtime loss to Villanova a month ago was a wakeup call for this senior class who has lost in the past 2 National Championship games. It’s their last shot at a title. Rambo, Heacock, Maltz. It’s their last crack at this thing. Connor Kelly’s a junior who has been along for the ride as well and his last go with Rambo and Heacock. If I’m the rest of the nation right now, I am furious at Villanova for waking this team up.

Maryland keeps this thing rolling but expect it to be close.

#12 Yale @ #5 Albany | Saturday, 7pm | Line: Pick ‘em

Everybody knows I’m always pulling for the Danes. But I’m also able to put my bias aside for a moment and say the only 2 games they’ve had this year that give their schedule any sort of strength were Cuse and Maryland. The dropped both of them. Granted they were each 1-goal losses and they were right there the whole time. But if you want to be a team who is playing late into May, you need to figure out how to win those ones.

Yale has been murdering teams since their 3-game skid earlier in the season. Murdering them. They dominated Brown last week and we’ll get to that in a moment*. But Yale has played against some pretty big name offensive players during this stretch. They’ve had to figure out of plan for Michael Sowers. They’ve had to figure out a plan for Dylan Molloy. Now they have to figure out Connor Fields and out of those 3 guys I just named, Fields is the best. He’s my Tewaaraton pick for this year and I think he is such a mismatch for any team that the other 5 guys on the field are always open for him. I like the Danes in this one but it’s a statement game for both teams. Both teams will get into the tournament by winning their conference. But this is a game that’ll show what kind of team both of them are heading into May.

*Real quick sidenote here but holy fuck has Brown fallen off. They were playing in Championship Weekend last year and this year they’ve given up 20+ goals in 2 games and lost 18-12 to Yale last weekend. That defense just gets picked apart week after week. When you look at the Final Four teams from last year, you have Brown who is 6-5, UNC who is 6-6, and Loyola at 7-5 and dropped out of the top 20. Probably 7-6 depending on what time you’re reading this post since they are playing Army today. But yikes, that is no bueno.

And oh yeah… Watch out for UNC vs Notre Dame. UNC sucks nuts at home this year but they’re decent on the road. Still like the Irish but there could be some fuckery involved in that one.

Jordie’s Picks (2-2 last week, 22-8 overall)

Last week’s picks were Army -2.5 over Navy, they lost 10-6. Michigan +3.5 against Ohio State, they lost 18-7. Duke -1.5 over Virginia, they won 20-11. And UNC +2 against Cuse, they lost 12-11. For this week we have…

• Denver -5 over Providence
• Maryland -1 over Ohio State
• Duke -4 over Marquette
• UNC +3 against Notre Dame

P.S. – MLL season starts this weekend. Unfortunately, I didn’t make the Lizards’ final 25-man roster. But it was a valiant effort. So here’s an encore of Beer Leagues To The Pros.

One more video from my try-out coming next week. Until next time, Low-To-High ‘Till The Day We Die.

@BarstoolJordie