Image: UMG Gaming
If you checkout episodes of CheckpointXP On Campus you’ll see that we’ve covered the Overwatch Collegiate Clash. This invitational, put on UMG Gaming/Torque Esports, is one of the only collegiate brackets going on right now. There’s 12 teams competing for the over $40k in scholarship prizes.
- Wichita State
- CU Boulder
- Boise State
- Mississippi State
- University of Utah
- University of Nevada, Las Vegas
- Oklahoma State
- Texas A&M
- George Mason University
- University of Akron
- Robert Morris University
- University of Texas at Dallas
The format of the Collegiate Clash is very similar to Call of Duty League. Every week is a separate 8 team tournament style bracket where the winner walks away with the most points (4 teams will have bye weeks). At the end of 7 weeks the top 4 teams will face off in a final bracket for the championship. With weeks 1 and 2 already in the bad, we here at Checkpoint want to give you the lowdown on who to watch for in the tournament and who might be standing at the top of the hill when the 8 week event is all said and done.
1. University of Utah
- Undoubtedly the heirs apparent to the whole tournament. They have yet to drop a single map over the first two weeks and absolutely wipe the floor with their opponents during team fights. On the back of their clutch off-tank player, Dog21, and their star DPS, Coblart, Utah have been able to tough out fights that other teams simply lose. Coblart in particular has been one of the only DPS to get actual kills with their McCree ults and not just zoning. Utah is the team to beat without doubt. But its hard to see who possibly could.
2. University of Nevada – Las Vegas
- UNLV had a rough week 1 coming up against Utah in the opening round. However, in week 2 they bounced back quick and made it to grand finals where they would fall to Utah once again. But I’ve got three words, WILD-WING-BAT. The DPS are standing out in this bracket and WildWingBat is up there with Utah’s Coblart and Mississippi State’s, Cob as some of the top talent to watch in the event.
3. Mississippi State University
- A sleeper team that not many people would have put on this level. Mississippi State came out during Week 1 and marched to grand finals against Utah. As mentoned before, MSU is playing off the back of DPS player COB who for a while went blow for blow on the Lijiang map against Utah’s Coblart. However, they fell to UNLV in the semis of week 2.
4. UC Boulder
- Boulder is a team the represents where the plateau drops off. The looked great against Wichita State in the opener of week 1 but couldn’t maintain that energy against Mississippi State. The were ultimately dismantled 3-1. The top three teams seem far and away superior but we’ll see where they lie once we get a look at teams like Robert Morris, UT – Dallas and Akron who haven’t played yet.
5. George Mason University
- The last team to make it out of the opening rounds. They’ve only played in week 1 but breezed through Texas A&M before falling to, you guessed it, Utah. Another team that we’ll need to see more of to truly get a good grasp of where they they fall on the totem pole.
If you want to check out the replay of the week 2 action, you are able to check it out below!