Major CRL LANs

With national collegiate esports leagues fully entrenched in their post-seasons and the publisher-backed Collegiate Rocket League Fall Championships on November 23, the CRL season approaches a close. And though most Fall championships conclude with online play, there has been no shortage of Collegiate Rocket League LANs preparing teams for post-season play throughout the Fall semester, each with their own stakes and stories.

Across 13 LANs of varying degrees of significance (with three more to come), collegiate esports athletes gained the experience of in-person competition across the United States. Whether a local, regional, or LAN featuring teams spread across the nation, these athletes played in front of crowds, attended conventions outside of the collegiate esports space, and, in some instances, met their teammates face-to-face for the first time.

Three of those thirteen LAN events had multi-thousand dollar prize pools and with over half of their fields recognized as Top 32 teams in CRL, earning them arbitrary statuses as Major CRL LANs.

The Scenic City Invitational

Even before the first qualifier for the publisher-backed CRL League, the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga (UTC) hosted the Scenic City Invitational, the first Major CRL LAN of the Fall. Across the weekend of September 26-28, nearly 20 schools battled over a $3,000 prize pool.

The 20 teams that filled the UTC Esports Facility on Day 1 of the Scenic City Invitational were divided into four groups of five before playing a round robin to distinguish the top four in each group. Cumberland University, Concord University, Kennesaw State University (KSU), and the Indiana Institute of Technology (IIT) all topped their groups with records of 4-0, with the latter two schools making their LAN debuts with new additions of Kronovi (KSU), Reshiram (IIT), and Velocity (IIT).

On the other side of the coin, the Universities of Kentucky, Tennessee (B-team), and Georgia were eliminated alongside Clemson University on Day 1.

Competition on Saturday and Sunday of the Scenic City Invitational migrated from UTC’s campus to the Chattanooga Convention Center to take place in the center of Chattanooga ComicCon.

Amid a noisy convention center, the remaining field of 16 began bracket play with the Top 8 teams from Day 1 holding two lives while the Bottom 8 out of groups played through single elimination. All of the Bottom 8 were eliminated within the first two rounds of bracket play, with George Mason University and the University of Tennessee “Retirement Home” notably bowing out.

On the upper side of the bracket, all teams that had topped their respective groups on Day 1 beat their first opponents, save for Cumberland, who were beaten by Brewton-Parker Christian University. BPCU would then be sent to the lower bracket by Indiana Tech, who claimed a guaranteed Top 3 position along with Concord on Day 2.

However, despite their position in the lower bracket, it was East Tennessee State University (ETSU) and St. Edward’s University (SEU) that would steal the spotlight that Saturday.

ETSU, debuting their new pair of French recruits on LAN, Kisaí and Léo, managed to run to the Top 4 despite losing their first series of bracket play to Concord. They beat Kennesaw State’s B-team, the University of Akron (playing with Milio, a usual B-team member), and Brewton-Parker to do so.

St. Edward’s, with their own pair of new members of the team, Noly and Tater, made proverbial headlines with an upset victory over Cumberland, knocking the Phoenix out of the tournament. They did so with a monstrous performance from Noly, who dropped over 1,000 in-game points in one of the games during the SEU 3-1 victory, a feat rarely seen in a LAN match like this one. The Hilltoppers would then lose to Kennesaw State as the Owls of KSU claimed Top 4.

The next day, early playing hours at the Scenic City Invitational did nothing to hamper momentum for East Tennessee State. They began the day at 8:30 local time with a thrilling Game 7 overtime win over Kennesaw State. Long-time ETSU player, Landen, scored the winning goal.

East Tennessee State would confirm five lower bracket wins in a row as they powered through Indiana Tech, 4-1, in the lower bracket finals. The Warriors of IIT had been sent to the lower bracket after falling to Concord in a similar five game best of 7.

Concord gained a game advantage in the Scenic City Invitational Grand Final as a result of their flawless bracket play (adding to an already perfect group stage). Their automatic Game 1 victory, in addition to a narrow win in Game 2, saw a 2-0 start favoring Concord in the Grand Final.

However, East Tennessee State would win two of the next three games, only allowing one score to the Mountain Lions of Concord. Sitting at 3-2, still favoring Concord, ETSU managed to force overtime in Game 6 before succumbing to a Concord team that is seasoned on LAN.

As a result of a flawless trip to Chattanooga, Concord University claimed $1,500 in prize money and the first Major CRL LAN of the Fall semester. The next opportunity for a team to join them in Major LAN victory would not come for another month.

The DreamHack Atlanta Collegiate Invitational

The weekend of Halloween, the student-run DreamHack Atlanta Collegiate Invitational returned to one of the largest esports conventions in the United States to highlight Collegiate Rocket League and VALORANT for the second year in a row.

With $1,500 in prize money and 10 Colleague Poll-recognized teams, the DHATL Collegiate Invitational was the second Major CRL LAN of the Fall.

A lengthy Day 1 of the Collegiate Invitational split 16 hopeful teams into four groups of four, eliminating the bottom two squads in each by the end of a single round robin. Each of the four groups saw dramatic conclusions befitting of Halloween competition.

In Group A, West Virginia University, heavy favorites to win the event, topped their group without losing a single game. The second playoff position out of the group was decided by a single head-to-head between Wichita State University and Lesley University, which the latter won in a sweep to conclude their day. Local favorites, Georgia State University, did not win a series.

Group B concluded in similar fashion. Reigning Champions of the Collegiate Invitational, Kennesaw State University, surfaced as the top seed following a 3-0 performance, while San Diego State University and Waukesha County Technical College played a win-or-go-home set that saw the Aztecs of SDSU through in a sweep. Huntingdon College finished in 4th despite a close loss to WCTC.

By far the group fraught with the most drama, Group C required the secondary tiebreaker of game differential to determine its top two teams out of Fisher College, the highest seeded team of the group, the University of Akron Gold (B-team), and the University of Florida.

After Akron Gold lost to Florida and Fisher managed a victory over the Gators, the Zips of Akron Gold required a 3-0 victory over Fisher to qualify to Day 2 without further tiebreaking. Despite their lower seed, Akron Gold managed this clean victory and eliminated the tournament contenders of Fisher in the Group Stage. The University of North Carolina Charlotte was left out of such festivities after three losses.

Group D very nearly saw a comparably chaotic three-way tiebreaker after Brewton-Parker Christian University beat East Tennessee State but lost the first two games of their set against the BPCU Academy team. Had BPCU Premier lost 0-3, BPCU Academy would have qualified for Day 2 over ETSU by game differential, but in a twist, the BPCU A-team reverse-swept their Academy squad to top Group D and allow ETSU into playoffs. The University of Tennessee Knoxville was eliminated in 4th.

On a much shorter Day 2 of the DreamHack Collegiate Invitational, more chaos unfolded within the 8 team, double elimination bracket’s first few rounds. By ranking of the Colleague Poll at the time, six of eight series played out as upsets.

East Tennessee State began their day with a sweeping victory over the heavily favored West Virginia, sending the top seed into the lower bracket. Similarly favored Kennesaw State also dropped to Akron Gold following a late arrival of the full Owls roster that caused a forfeit of the first two games of a series that finished 3-2 in the Zips favor.

Kennesaw State was then eliminated by the highly talented trio of freshmen at Lesley University.

Florida seized on West Virginia losing their upper bracket lives with a pair of victories over their fellow club program players at San Diego State and then over East Tennessee State. This positioned the Gators in the top 3 of the tournament, guaranteed.

Akron Gold soon joined Florida for a rematch on Day 3 in the Upper Bracket Finals with a 3-1 victory against the Barons of Brewton-Parker. However, the anticipated rematch between Gators and Zips returned a 4-2 result in Florida’s favor.

Despite being seeded 14th and entering the event as only one of three club teams, the University of Florida had claimed the first spot and a game advantage in the Grand Finals of a major CRL LAN.

In pursuit of that second spot, and even with their early loss to ETSU, West Virginia quickly regained their status as tournament favorites with a deep run through the lower bracket of the Collegiate Invitational. Four consecutive victories over San Diego State, Brewton-Parker, revenge against ETSU, and a commanding 3-0 against Akron Gold saw the Mountaineers push into the Grand Finals.

A 14-seed versus number one. Club versus varsity. Florida, unranked by Colleague, West Virginia within Colleague’s top 3. The Grand Finals of the DreamHack Atlanta Collegiate Invitational was defined as a true underdog story, searching for a happy ending against the hard reality of Goliath.

West Virginia were crowned Champions of the Collegiate Invitational after 5 hard-fought games. They defeated the Florida Gators 4-2 after a full weekend of nine series played at DreamHack Atlanta.

The Bluegrass Boost Battle

Less than a week after West Virginia were victorious in Atlanta, Georgia, 16 more CRL rosters flocked to Lexington, Kentucky, for the University of Kentucky’s now annual Bluegrass Boost Battle LAN (BBB). BBB offered $3,500 in prizing for the deepest runs through a 16 team Swiss Stage into an 8 team page playoff bracket.

Only a two day event, the Bluegrass Battle still packed 42 series of Rocket League into the Cornerstone.

Confined to Day 1, the Swiss Stage of BBB held results that roughly followed to initial seeding. The four teams competing concurrently in publisher-backed CRL competition packed into the top 5 of Swiss: Akron (the full A-team), Concord, Oklahoma Christian University, and St. Clair College (A-team). Akron Gold continued their hot performance from DreamHack Atlanta into Lexington by claiming a top 4 seed.

Round 5 of Swiss broke from this pattern of logical placement. To claim a position in Day 2’s competition, both Syracuse University and the University of Maryland pulled off victories against Indiana Tech and St. Clair College Gold (B-team). Both of the latter had started their days off 2-0 before losing three consecutive series.

Brewton-Parker followed Syracuse and Maryland into the Playoffs with another win against East Tennessee State, cementing a positive LAN record against their regional rivals for the Fall.

On Day 2, the dichotomy between the four teams competing in publisher-backed CRL competition and the other four surfaced. Despite close contests and two Game 7 series finales, Oklahoma Christian, St. Clair, Concord, and Akron sat in BBB’s semifinals.

While Oklahoma Christian had beaten Concord 4-3 earlier in the day, St. Clair proved too tall an order for the Eagles as they marched into the grand final of BBB despite starting the day with only one life.

Concord would have to wait a bit longer to join St. Clair in the Grand Final, but defeated the three-time Bluegrass Boost Battle champions of Akron to advance. This set the stage for the first BBB final not featuring an Akron representative since October 2023.

Though St. Clair would begin the final with a Game 1 victory, Concord would not be denied their second Major CRL LAN title as they rattled off four victories in a row to leave Lexington on top. As they did not compete at the DreamHack Atlanta Collegiate Invitational, Concord have won both of the Major CRL LANs they have competed at.

Non-major CRL LANs

While the Major CRL LANs have garnered much attention throughout the Fall 2025 semester, there have been plenty of more regionally focused local LAN events delivering in-person competition at a smaller scale.

These include, but are not limited to:

• The Power Esports Conference Kickoff LAN – Hosted by Syracuse University
  • Winner: Boise State University
• Battle for Florida – Hosted by University of South Florida
  • Winner: University of Florida
• Battle for Bama – Hosted by Huntingdon College
  • Winner: Huntingdon College
• Battle for Indiana – Hosted by Ohio State University
  • Winner: Ball State University
• Ohio Collegiate Esports Classic – Hosted by Ohio State University
  • Winner: Akron Bold (combination of A/B team players of the University of Akron)
• F3 – Collegiate Rocket League Invitational – Hosted at the Field of Frames Fest
  • Winner: Mount Aloysius College
• Skill Issue – Hosted by University of Central Oklahoma
  • Winner: Southeastern Oklahoma State University
• Corn Belt Clash – Hosted by Illinois Wesleyan University
  • Winner: Indiana University
• Peach Belt Conference LAN – Hosted at the Florence Esports Festival
  • Winner: Kennesaw State University
• Red Cedar Rumble – Hosted by University of Wisconsin – Stout
  • Winner: Carthage College

And though the Fall semester of competition is coming to a close, the PlayVS Collegiate League still has their national LAN event upcoming on December 13 and 14 at the University of Akron.

The C3 Esports League is also hosting a LAN upcoming at North Carolina State University on November 22 and 23 for collegiate teams based in the Carolinas.

Online, the publisher-backed Collegiate Rocket League Fall Championships will take place on November 23. Featuring Northwood University, St. Clair College, Concord University, and Winthrop University, the four-team, double elimination bracket will be streamed on the official Rocket League Twitch channel.