Saturday, February 28 saw the final of two open qualifiers for Collegiate Rocket League (CRL) Spring 2026. Eight more teams punched their tickets to compete in this season’s league play, for a total of 16 teams.
Who’s in CRL Spring 2026?
In case you missed it, check out the 16 teams that qualified across open qualifiers 1 and 2:
Qualified teams from Open Qualifier #1:
- Maryville University
- Fisher College
- Winthrop University
- St. Clair College
- Northwood University
- West Virginia University
- Cumberland University
- Concord University
Qualified teams from Open Qualifier #2:
- Baylor University
- Syracuse
- Davenport University
- Akron Blue
- Akron Gold
- Wichita State
- Ball State
- Indiana Tech
This go around, Baylor officially qualified without having to compete with high ping from Hawai’i. The team, which has professional talent in Andy and Hockser, fell to Cumberland and Wichita in the upper and lower brackets respectively in the first CRL open qualifier. Redemption for the bears!
Akron Gold successfully pulled off the reverse sweep over Oklahoma Christian Esports, locking in their league play spot before the main Akron roster.
Lower bracket warriors:
Wichita State had a shocking run through the lower bracket of pool 3, taking down Columbia 3-1 and swept OC Esports 3-0.
Indiana Tech, comprised of Reshiram, Bluey, and velocity, defeated BPCU and East Tennessee State to qualify for their first-ever CRL league play.
Syracuse pulled off a nail-biting game 5 overtime reverse sweep over Penn State Esports.
Akron Blue qualifies as the 2nd Akron team to qualify for CRL Spring 2026 after completing the reverse sweep over Boise State, finishing 3-2 in overtime.
For more information on CRL rosters, be sure to check out the Collegiate Exclusive Podcast for in-depth conversations. Additionally, it appears Champ League will be streaming their CRL discussions on Fridays throughout the season, so be sure to follow the College Carball channel for more.
Who’s out?
Champ League live-tweeted upsets throughout the day:
- UWaterloo took down Kennesaw State in upper round 3
- LCU Blue eliminated by Daytona State College in lower round 6
- Fisher Navy eliminated by CSU Northridge in lower round 5
Notable missing teams + stories:
OC Esports – The squad from Oklahoma Christian had a rocky run through the qualifier, falling to Akron Gold 2-3 in the upper grand finals, then to Wichita State 0-3 in the lower grand finals. Despite qualifying for CRL last semester, the eagles were unfortunately unable to get it done in either of the spring qualifiers.
Boise State unfortunately could not get it done over the CRL Titans in Akron Blue. Despite leading the series, the Zips took down the Broncos in a reverse sweep.
Daytona State – This team, made up of Sulace, geo, and Smoove, had a surprising run in qualifier 2, taking down the likes of LCU Blue (who was playing without shmacked) and Lesley Black. However, their run was extinguished by Boise State in the lower semi-finals 1-3.
You can find the full brackets here.
CRL Spring 2026 Schedule
The teams are set to compete in a 16-team round robin for league play, see the dates below:
- Week 1: March 8 at 1pm ET
- Week 2: March 15 at 1pm ET
- Week 3: March 22 at 7pm ET
- Week 4: April 4 at 7pm ET
- Week 5: April 19 at 7pm ET
The top four teams following league play will advance to the CRL Spring Championship. The remaining 12 teams will shoot their shot in the CRL Last Chance Qualifier. There has been no information shared around official broadcasts – but many teams will often stream their matches on their schools’ official twitch channels.
For teams that still didn’t clinch their spots through the two open qualifiers, there are 3 Open 3v3 tournaments to earn a spot in the CRL Last Chance Qualifier, scholastic awards, and CRL points.
Mark your calendars for these key dates:
- Open 3v3 tournaments:
- Last Chance Qualifier: April 26
- Spring Championship: May 2-3
Lock in, it’s time for CRL!
