Akin to traditional collegiate sports, the end of October sees the Collegiate Rocket League, or CRL, Fall 2025 season wholly underway. This is the College Esports News Mid-Season Check In.

As outlined in the CEN breakdown of CRL’s new format and season, the number of major transfers and new players with RLCS experience joining the Collegiate Rocket League landscape have created an extremely competitive environment amid CRL’s new-look season format. This, in addition to competition in the National Esports Collegiate Conference (NECC), National Association of Collegiate Esports (NACE), and LAN qualifiers, adjacent to publisher-backed competition, has led to significant upsets throughout CRL’s first month back.

As a point of reference, College Esports News will use the committee-based Colleague poll to demonstrate power rankings in this article.

CRL League Play

Within publisher-backed CRL, the eight teams that survived September 28th’s Open Qualifier tournament have seen a significant shakeup in stature following three weeks of Split 1 of “League Play.”

Initially ranked #1 overall by the Colleague Committee, the CRL Fall 2024 Champion, Concord University, has struggled through Split 1 of League Play. They have fallen to Baylor University (#7), Northwood University (#2), Winthrop University (#1), and Cumberland University (#4) – all 3-0 sweeps – to plummet into a recent ranking of 6th overall. While 10 of those 12 game losses were by a single goal, Concord must play in the 12-team “Closed Qualifier” to retain their CRL spot on November 1st.

Northwood has seen similar struggles with shocking losses to Cumberland, St. Clair College (#5), and West Virginia University, pushing them out of the top 4 of League Play. Despite bounce-back wins against Winthrop (Colleague’s #1 ranked roster) and #7 Baylor, Northwood is tied with Cumberland at a record of 3-3 for the final guaranteed League Play Split 2 spot.

Both play Oklahoma Christian University (#8) in Week 4. They share the same overall game differential (first tiebreaker) and Cumberland controlling the secondary, head-to-head tiebreaker. However, a pair of 3-0 victories for Cumberland and Northwood could see them both jump St. Clair College (game differential of +2 with no series left to play), leaving the Canadian school to play in the Closed Qualifier.

Winthrop and West Virginia (#3) both sit atop Collegiate Rocket League with just one loss in League Play each. Winthrop dropped only in a thrilling, Game 5 overtime loss to Northwood and West Virginia fell to Winthrop, 3-1.

Despite current 6th and 7th placements, respectively, Oklahoma Christian and Baylor still hold control of (some of) their own fate. Oklahoma Christian must close their League Play Split 1 run with wins in a gauntlet of Cumberland, Northwood, and Concord to place Top 4, however. Baylor faces an even tougher challenge as they require wins against Winthrop and West Virginia while hoping other results go their way as well.

CRL Opens

Outside of CRL League Play, all other rosters have played through three Open Qualifier tournaments in hopes of accruing enough qualifier points to play against League Play’s bottom 4 in November 1st’s Closed Qualifier.

Even before October 22nd’s final 3v3 Open, three teams had secured a Closed Qualifier spot by winning both of their respective brackets in Opens previous. Being that there are six brackets per Open to play through, Ball State University (#9), Davenport University (#10), and Kennesaw State University (#13) have all conquered their brackets without facing one another.

The other 5 Closed Qualifier spots were decided by bracket winners of Open 3v3 Tournament #3, with Fisher College (#14), St. Edward’s University (#19), and the University of Akron (#12) qualifying for the Closed Qualifier after winning their Open Qualifier pools. Syracuse University (#15) also secured their place in the Closed Qualifier despite a runner-up finish thanks to consistent top 3 finishes across the three Open Qualifiers and a bracket victory in Open 3v3 #2.

However, three consecutive runner-up finishes for Michigan State University (#16) were not enough to qualify the Spartans directly. After being bracket-reset by Fisher in their bracket, Michigan State was left tied with St. Clair College Gold (#25) for the final Closed Qualifier spot. The St. Clair College B-team also lost two consecutive Best of 5 series to get left out of immediate Closed Qualifier qualification. They will play a tiebreaker series at a currently undetermined date.

The results of Open 3v3 #3 left Boise State University (#17), Indiana Tech (#11), Ball State University Black (#21), and George Mason University (#22) on the outside of the Closed Qualifier with their Fall 2025 Psyonix-backed CRL season over. This is despite Boise State winning their qualifier pool in Open #3, as they failed to sign up for Open #1 on-time and accrue points with a top 4 finish in an additional qualifier.

Although most schools have seen an end to their CRL Fall 2025 season in publisher-backed play, there is still much to play for across the NECC, NACE, and other national and regional conferences. Additionally, LAN events like DreamHack Atlanta’s Collegiate Invitational and the University of Kentucky’s Bluegrass Boost Battle will offer elite, in-person competition in the coming weeks.

NECC Group Play Upsets

Within the NECC’s 16 team Division 1, 15 of Colleague’s Top 30 are still competing through Group Play. These include five CRL League Play teams (Cumberland, Concord, Oklahoma Christian, St. Clair, and Northwood) that are not all at the top of their groups.

Northwood’s CRL League Play struggles have continued within the NECC, having posted losses against St. Edward’s and three freshmen of Lesley University (#30). St. Clair has also been upset by Indiana Tech, a roster making a name for itself with an undefeated record in the NECC this season and additional wins against the Akron, Kennesaw State, and Ole Miss (#28).

Bluegrass Boost Battle LAN

The momentum of Indiana Tech has also translated to online qualifiers for the $3,000+ Bluegrass Boost Battle LAN, as a run of wins through Cleveland State (#44), Oklahoma Christian, and Cumberland saw Indiana Tech through to LAN in the most competitive LAN qualifier of the season.

Other qualified rosters include Concord, St. Clair, Baylor, Oklahoma Christian, Cumberland, Syracuse, St. Clair College Gold, and East Tennessee State University (#18). All are currently ranked in the top 25 of Colleague’s most recent poll.

Akron will also compete, having received a direct invite to the LAN as champions of BBB Spring 2025.

NACE Superconference

NACE’s Superconference has also provided an opportunity for CRL teams outside of League Play to get their shots in against the current Colleague Top 8. And while the five League Play teams competing in NACE (West Virginia, Winthrop, Baylor, Cumberland, and St. Clair) have mostly traded wins and losses among themselves, Brewton-Parker Christian University (#20) has stepped in to upset Winthrop (playing with a substitute) and Baylor.

Upcoming Events

While Psyonix-backed CRL will take a majority of the spotlight over the course of the next several weeks with League Play’s Week 4 taking place on October 26th, the Closed Qualifier for Split 2 on November 1st, and League Play Split 2 officially starting the next day, there are several key events to keep an eye on heading into November. DreamHack Atlanta’s Collegiate Invitational LAN will run October 31st through November 2nd from the Georgia-based gaming convention. Then, the following weekend, the University of Kentucky hosts the $3,000+ Bluegrass Boost Battle LAN on November 8th and 9th.

All while the NECC, NACE, and other national collegiate esports conferences begin their transition from regular season to postseason across all divisions and groups of play. All culminating in the many fall championships and final Fall 2025 rankings of the Collegiate Rocket League space.