Mizzou Rocket League to compete in CRL Qualifiers on Sunday
By Rilee Stapleton
Despite winning the Western playoffs in the Fall season, the Mizzou Rocket League team will be participating in this weekend’s Collegiate Rocket League qualifiers.
The top two teams from each conference’s Fall League Play instead were rewarded with an auto-qualification for Spring CRL. That means Oregon and North Texas will return for the West, while Akron and defending champion Northwood will be back in the East.
However, this season the qualifiers are much more important because of the new format for CRL. Each conference will still have 10 teams, but now only four will make the playoffs. After the conference playoffs, the CRL Final will only feature four teams in a single elimination bracket instead of the previous eight-team double elimination style.
This means that unlike last season, no teams will be able to qualify for a wild card tournament through the PlayVS league. Qualifying for CRL is now the only route to a CRL Championship and a share of the $75,000 in scholarships. Mizzou may seem like they have a good chance to requalify, but they are still getting used to their recent addition of Noah “Blanks” De Aces.
If Mizzou is unable to qualify on March 14, they will have another shot in the second qualifier on March 21. If they are able to qualify in either qualifier, they will start League Play on March 31.