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D1 Men's College Rankings Week 8

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D1 Men's College Rankings Week 8

What about these Queens University Charlotte guys? David Hughes photo.

This ranking is full of good teams.

Sometimes in some divisions, especially when we are ranking only teams that are playing right now (as we are with this fall-only group), we have to really look carefully for rankable teams.

But this group is more about having to find teams to keep out. And we’re moving good programs down, even, sometimes, when they win.

Some major notes:

Kansas comes back. After a loss to Kansas State, KU hits hard at an admittedly injury-slammed Arkansas team. After this result the question became whether we throw out the win over Arkansas or the loss to K-State. (Just to make it even more interesting, K-State lost 47-10 to the Razorbacks in September,) We opted to toss out the close loss … for now … in favor of the emphatic victory.

The big mover has to be Wheeling. The Cardinals have produced a series of interesting results this season, including a close loss to Notre Dame College, a close loss to Queens, and wins over Iowa Central and, this week, Adrian. 

The only blip on this particular radar screen is a 23-21 loss to Marian. So while Marian can feel good about that win, it was a close one, and other common results skew Wheeling’s way (against common opponents, (Wheeling 2-2, PF136 PA118; Marian 1-3 PF100 PA137). Add in those close losses to teams we rank highly for other reasons, and Wheeling moves up 11 spots, while Marian, mostly because of WWU, Clemson, and Wheeling moving up, moves down a few spots.

Brown and Dartmouth were relatively close and Brown drops down a few spots but after publishing this we're thinking we might give this a second look next week. 

Notre Dame College we said was pretty good and got win to prove it. Yes, by the slimmest of margins, but also, notably, on the road.

Queens? Might be a good time to get on that Queens bandwagon. They could well win NCR’s D1 playoff, as could Bonnies, Indiana (don’t forget them … they haven’t), NDC, Kutztown or Thomas More. And guess what? Queens and NDC play each other this weekend.

Western Washington is finally getting results we need to see so the Vikes move up. We anticipate they will continue to move up.

Rank Prev Team Div/Conf Notes
1 1 Army D1A Rugby East Beat Mount St. Mary's (35)
2 2 Lindenwood D1A Mid-South Beat Iowa Central (36)
3 4 Llife University D1A Mid-South Beat BYU (3)
4 3 BYU D1A Rocky Mt. Lost to Life (4)
5 5 Navy D1A Rugby East Beat Virginia Tech
6 6 Davenport D1A Mid-South  
7 7 St. Bonaventure NCR D1 Rugby East Beat Penn State
8 11 Queens NCR D1 Rugby East Beat UMW (26)
9 9 Indiana D1A Big 10 Beat Wisconsin
10 12 Notre Dame College NCR D1 Rugby East Beat Kutztown (8) by 1 point
11 8 Kutztown NCR D1 Rugby East Lost to Notre Dame College (12) by 1 point
12 14 Colorado D1A Rocky Mt. Beat Colorado State (23)
13 13 Ohio State D1A Big 10 Beat Michigan State (38)
14 15 Thomas More NCR D1 Big Rivers Beat Marian (29)
15 16 U. Notre Dame Big 10 NCR D1  
16 10 Brown NCR D1 Liberty Beat Dartmouth (28)
17 17 Penn State D1A Rugby East Lost to St. Bonaventure (7)
18 18 Tennessee D1AA SCRC  
19 30 Wheeling NCR D1 Big Rivers Beat Adrian (20)
20 19 Bowling Green D1AA MAC Beat Cincinnati 
21 21 Louisville D1AA MAC Beat IUPUI
22 23 Colorado State D1A Rocky Mt. Lost to Colorado (14)
23 22 Western Michigan D1AA MAC  
24 28 Dartmouth NCR D1 Liberty Lost to Brown (10) by 2
25 24 Kentucky D1AA SCRC Beat Clemson (33)
26 20 Adrian NCR D1 Big Rivers Lost to Wheeling (30)
27 25 Fairfield NCR D1 Liberty Beat Syracuse
28 26 Mary Washington NCR D1 Rugby East Lost to Queens (11)
29 27 AIC NCR D1 Liberty Beat Harvard
30 31 Iona NCR D1 Liberty Beat Colgate
31 32 South Carolina D1AA SCRC  
32 33 Clemson D1AA SCRC Lost to Kentucky (24)
33 42 Western Washington D1AA NCRC Beat Washington
34 29 Marian NCR D1 Big Rivers Lost to Thomas More (15)
35 35 Mt. St. Mary's NCR D1 Rugby East Lost to Army (1)
36 37 Iowa State D1AA HOA Beat Minnesota (43)
37 Unr Kansas D1AA HOA  
38 38 Michigan State D1A Big 10 Lost to Ohio State (13)
39 39 Illinois D1A Big 10 Beat Purdue
40 40 James Madison NCR D1AA MARC Beat Rutgers
41 34 Arkansas Heart of America Lost to Kansas
42 36 Iowa Central CC NCR D1 Big Rivers Lost to Lindenwood (2)
43 43 Minnesota D1AA HOA Lost to Iowa State (37)
44 44 Siena NCR D1 Liberty Beat Stony Brook
45 41 Boise State NCR D1AA NCRC  
46 46 Texas State D1AA Lonestar  
47 47 Kansas State D1AA HOA  
48 48 Boston College NCR D1 Liberty Forfeit win
49 49 Belmont Abbey NCR D1AA Southern  
50 45 St. Joseph's NCR D1AA MARC Beat Rowan