The Northeast, Mid-Atlantic and Midwest DII colleges are at various stages of local and territorial playoffs, but in three weeks, the national seeds will be settled. Here’s a snapshot of each territory’s outlook:

MID-ATLANTIC
Eastern Pennsylvania
The most exciting playoff evolution has occurred in Eastern Pennsylvania, where an additional quarterfinal round has been added for 2011. In EPRU East, three teams are 3-1 with one more weekend of league play left: Delaware, La Salle and Temple. It’ll all come down to points, but assume that Delaware will beat St. Joe’s and finish 4-1, and Drexel will beat College of New Jersey (0-4) to finish 3-2.

Temple and La Salle do battle this Saturday and the outcome will round out the seeding process.

“I don't know if the players are as enthusiastic as I am about it, but I am loving the intensity and focus this new system has created for us,” Temple coach Owen Jones said. “Every practice and every game has a ripple effect. It’s a huge difference from the past few years and it has definitely created a stronger league as a result.”

EPRU does some interesting things. For one, the union awards bonus points for match reports. According the EPRU’s website, only La Salle and Drexel have handed in all of their match reports. And in the West, Scranton (2-3) is in second place due to its match report bonus points, while York (3-1) is in third for not handing in a single report, according to www.epru.org.

Additionally, EPRU caps the per-game point differential to 25 points. In this particular situation, the cap is hurting La Salle, which would currently be #1 in any other region due to its higher point differential over Delaware.

Shippensburg has nearly locked up the #1 seed in the West and is the current MARFU champion.

Potomac
The top three teams from each Potomac conference have advanced to the play-in matches:

George Washington (#1) v Salisbury (#6)
George Mason (#2) v St. Mary's (#5)
American (#3) v Catholic (#4)

The point differentials from these play-ins will determine the four teams advancing to PRU playoffs on November 5-6 and who will move onto MARFUs. George Washington is the heavy favorite to repeat as PRU champion.

Virginia
Virginia still has two more weeks of league play, but Mary Washington (4-0) has already established itself as the forerunner. Although not as dominating as last year, Chris Ball’s William & Mary is still hanging in there at 3-1, but needs to close that 50-point point differential to close in on Longwood, also 3-1.

MIDWEST
Round of 16 and Quarterfinals, Oct. 29-30
The Midwest is the first territory to conduct playoffs, and by weekend’s end, only four DII colleges will remain. Four sites host the four pools, and Saturday's winners play each other Sunday for the right to move onto semis. Pool 1 winner will eventually play pool 4 winner; and pool 3 winner will play pool 2 winner on Nov. 5.

Pool 1: Urbana, IL
UW La Crosse (WI 1) v Northern Illinois (CARFU 2)
La Crosse is the reigning Midwest champ and finished 5-0 in Wisconsin once again. La Crosse averaged nine tries per game. CARFU #2 team NIU is coming off a 60-0 win over Northeastern last weekend, but will need to play near-perfect to aptly contest La Crosse.

Illinois State (IL 1) v St. Benedict (MN 2)
Illinois State only had to win two games in order to win the LAU, which it did 55-10. St. Benedict defeated North Dakota 27-5 then lost 48-12 to Winona in the Minnesota final.

Pool 4: Trafford, PA
Pittsburgh (Allegheny 1) v Bowling Green (MI 2)
Pittsburgh nabbed the top seed in Allegheny with a gutsy 19-12 win over Slippery Rock last weekend. Bowling Green had a decent season at 4-2 in Michigan but also forfeited to Grand Valley.

Denison (OH 1) v Indiana University of Pennsylvania (Allegheny 3)
Denison took the top seed in Ohio and will take on Allegheny’s third seed, IUP, which lost 35-0 to Slippery Rock in the semifinals and then defeated Clarion 35-0 for third.

Pool 3: Allendale, MI
Loyola (CARFU 1) v Slippery Rock (Allegheny 2)
Last weekend’s 19-12 loss to Pittsburgh in the Allegheny final might have been the spark that SRU needed for an inspired Midwest performance. Loyola celebrated its fifth CARFU title in six years after its 31-5 win over Chicago. The 5-0 team will do its best to send the Pennsylvania powerhouse home empty-handed.

Grand Valley (MI 1) v Ball State (OH 2)
After just missing the DI championships last year, Grand Valley is now dominating in DII, finishing 7-0 in Michigan this league season. Ohio #2 seed Ball State has the unfortunate task of attempting to eliminate the favorite on Saturday.

Pool 2: Rochester, MN
Winona (MN 1) v UW Eau Claire (WI 3)
Winona cruised through league season once again, going 4-0 into the Minnesota playoffs before nabbing the title after a 48-12 win over St. Benedict. It’ll be a major upset if UW Eau Claire, which finished 3-2 in Wisconsin, knocks off Minnesota powerhouse.

UW Platteville (WI 2) v MNSU Mankato (MN 3)
Both had average  years, with Platteville ending league with a 3-2 record and Mankato grabbing the last Minnesota seed after eliminating North Dakota State for third place. Should be a good game.

NORTHEAST
The Northeast is narrowing down its candidates for territorial champion, as well, and after this weekend's games, the region will be able to fill out the following schematic:

1. NERFU 1
2. NERFU 2
3. METNY 1
4. NYS 1
5. NERFU 3
6. NERFU 4
7. METNY 2
8. NYS 2

New York State
The LAU contested its semifinals last weekend, and division leaders Binghamton and Fredonia both emerged with victories. Since Fredonia’s 36-0 win over Albany yielded a bigger point differential than Binghamton’s 22-3 victory over Geneseo, Fredonia is hosting Saturday’s NYS championship. Both advance to NRUs regardless; however the #2 seed has the pleasure of taking on New England’s #1 in the first round of NRUs (most likely Norwich).

New England
Three of the four NERFU quarterfinal matches last weekend were blowouts, as Norwich, Bowdoin and Rhode Island defeated Colby 87-0, New Hampshire 44-5 and Middlebury 61-0, respectively. Coast Guard played a tougher match against Tufts (29-12), and will have their work cut out for them this weekend against Norwich in the semifinals. Bowdoin takes on URI in the other final four match.

Regardless of the outcome, all four semifinalists will advance to the NRU championship, as NERFU receives four seeds to the territorial playoffs.

Met NY
Met NY gets into its post-season this weekend and could produce some interesting results. Rutgers and Vassar are expected to eventually meet in the final and onlookers are hoping for a repeat of the 24-22 regular season matchup that occurred earlier this fall.

Rutgers must first get past Stony Brook, which was lucky to make playoffs as #4 Quinnipiac had a conflict of schedules and had to relinquish its seed. When the two teams played each other a week ago, Rutgers beat SBU by only 14 points.

Vassar will play Marist for the second time in three weeks, and looks to repeat its 39-22 win. Semifinal winners move onto to NRUs.