GRR on X  GRR on Facebook GRR in Instagram GRR Vimeo Library GRR on YouTube RuggaMatrix America Podcasts Support GRR on Patreon

College Rugby Power Index Powered by Silverbacks Elite Rugby

irish rugby tours

College Rugby Power Index Powered by Silverbacks Elite Rugby

The Power Index is powered by Silverbacks Elite Rugby.

We unveiled these Power Ratings powered by Silverbacks Elite Rugby lst week and they're back for this week, Week 4 of competition.

SIlverbacks Elite Rugby offers year-round programming and skill development for players and coaches in the Upper Midwest who want to be great. The program provides a high-level training environment with personalized plans for every participant. For more go to silverbacksnation.com.

Now, this is an objective, data-driven rating, unlike Goff Rugby Report's own weekly subjective rankings (go here to see all our rankings). How does it all come together? Here's a little FAQ:

How does the Power Index work?

Precedent for the Index: The World Rugby ranking system was the starting point in developing the Power Index.

Closed System: There are a finite amount of Rating Points. When you beat a team (or draw with a higher rated team), you take some of their points. 

Big Wins > Small Wins: A big win is by a 15+ point margin. Big wins earn teams double the Rating Points vs small wins.

Strength of Schedule Matters: The Index calculates a Rating Point difference for each game. If Team A has a difference of -15 Rating Points, a big win earns them 7.2 Rating Points. If the difference is 0, a big winner earns 3.6 Rating Points. 

Beating Overmatched Opponents: If Team A has a difference of 15+ Rating Points, a win of any magnitude earns them 0 Rating Points.

Home/Away is Considered: The home team receives a +3 Rating Point boost in the difference calculation for each match.

Why are current & former D1A teams most prevalent in rankings?

Historical Data: The Power Index program was able to pull D1A data from USA Rugby’s old CMS. Because of our large sample size, we are reasonably confident about where these teams stand. 

D2: We have seen comments asking about whether D2 teams are being tracked. We have been tracking results since the start of the Fall season. With 40 or so D2 matches being played each of the next few weeks, we expect to have an accurate picture of that division soon!

Who’s not in the Top 40 yet? This week, we felt we had enough data to bring four D1AA/NCR1/NCR2 teams into the Top 40: Bowling Green, Adrian College, Mary Washington, & Kentucky. There are six more similar teams that may be worthy of the Top 40 but we still do not have enough data to feel confident ranking them: Dartmouth, Iowa Central, Mount St. Mary’s, Queens, St. Joseph’s, and Tennessee (we list their data below).

Who is producing the Power Index?

Silverbacks Elite Rugby is a new High-Performance organization based in the Midwest. Their goal is that an athlete’s club/school team + Silverbacks will provide a training environment and resources comparable to what same age-grade athletes have access to in Tier 1 Rugby nations.

To fulfill its mission and vision, Silverbacks is putting on a number of clinics this Fall in Chicago, Effingham (IL), Fond du Lac (WI), Waterloo (IA), and Yorkville (IL). If you want to learn more about their upcoming clinics, check out their Events Page.

Silverbacks created their own analytics program to serve their mission. They used D1A data to test the program’s capabilities. From this test, the foundation for the Power Index and collaboration with Goff Rugby Report was born.

 

Rank Change Prev School Comp Group Week 4 PREV RAT CURR RAT Δ RAT
1 0 1 Lindenwood D1A ELITE   97.64 97.64 0
2 0 2 California D1A ELITE   97.29 97.29 0
3 0 3 Life D1A ELITE   96.94 96.94 0
4 0 4 St. Mary's D1A ELITE   95.51 95.51 0
5 0 5 Central Washington D1A ELITE   91.68 91.68 0
6 0 6 Arkansas State D1A ELITE   86.95 86.95 0
7 0 7 Navy NCR1 ELITE Close Win vs Queens 86.47 86.47 0
8 0 8 Arizona D1A ELITE   85.5 85.5 0
9 0 9 BYU D1A ELITE Big Win vs Utah Valley 85.06 85.06 0
10 1 11 Army NCR1 ELITE Big Win vs St. Bonaventure 81.87 83.37 1.5
11 -1 10 Kutztown NCR1 ELITE Close Loss vs Penn State 84.79 81.14 -3.65
12 0 12 Grand Canyon D1A ELITE   78.41 78.41 0
13 0 13 Davenport D1A ELITE   77.38 77.38 0
14 0 14 UCLA D1A ELITE   76.25 76.25 0
15 0 15 Penn State NCR1 ELITE Close Win vs Kutztown 72.37 76.02 3.65
16 0 16 Iona NCR1 ELITE   70.92 70.92 0
17 0 17 Indiana D1A ELITE Big Win vs Illinois 70.74 70.9 0.16
18 0 18 Oklahoma D1A ELITE   70.66 70.66 0
19 1 20 Northeastern NCR1 ELITE Big Win vs Tufts 69.66 69.66 0
20 1 21 Notre Dame College NCR1 ELITE Close Win vs Wheeling 68.98 68.98 0
21 -2 19 St. Bonaventure NCR1 ELITE Big Loss vs Army 70.11 68.61 -1.5
22 0 22 Boston College NCR1 ELITE Big Win vs UConn 62.29 62.35 0.06
23 0 23 Colorado D1A ELITE Big Win vs Wyoming 62.07 62.07 0
24 1 25 Texas A&M D1A ELITE   60.64 60.64 0
25 1 26 Utah Valley D1A ELITE Big Loss vs BYU 59.9 59.9 0
26 UR Unr Bowling Green D1AA D1 Big Win vs WMU 58.23 59.63 1.4
27 1 28 Ohio State D1A ELITE Big Win vs Michigan 58.22 59.46 1.24
28 UR Unr Adrian College NCR2 D2 Big Win vs CMU 59.42 59.42 0
29 UR Unr Mary Washington NCR1 D1 Big Win vs SVU 55.1 59.4 4.3
30 -3 27 Illinois D1A ELITE Big Loss vs Indiana 59.41 59.25 -0.16
31 0 31 Colorado State D1A ELITE Big Win vs Air Force 55.2 58.88 3.68
32 -3 29 Fairfield NCR1 ELITE Close Win vs Umass 56.97 58.61 1.64
33 -9 24 American International NCR1 ELITE Big Win vs Albany, Close Loss vs Yale 61.82 55.96 -5.86
34 UR Unr Kentucky D1AA D1 Big Win vs Alabama 55.78 55.78 0
35 -3 32 Baylor D1A ELITE   53.62 53.62 0
36 -2 34 Wisconsin D1A ELITE   52.61 52.61 0
37 2 39 Fordham NCR1 ELITE Close Win vs Colgate 50.28 51.7 1.42
38 -2 36 North Texas D1A ELITE   51.55 51.55 0
39 -1 38 Syracuse NCR1 ELITE Big Win vs Cortland 50.38 51.33 0.95
40 -7 33 Massachusettes NCR1 ELITE Close Loss vs Fairfield 52.64 51 -1.64
                   
On the Cusp
      Dartmouth NCR1 D1   65 65 0
      Iowa Central CC NCR1 D1   65 65 0
      Queens University NCR1 D1 Close Loss vs Navy 60 60 0
      Mount St. Mary's NCR1 D1 Big Win vs Maryland 58.12 58.12 0
      Tennessee D1AA D1   57.89 57.89 0
      St. Joseph's NCR1 D1 Big Win vs James Madison 55 55 0