This article is a combined rankings and divisional update piece.
As skipped last week's rankings because there were only a small number of results and while those results would have prompted one major change, we decided to wait until this week, because once again several teams were idle, so combined we have a decent number of games.
Final Four Teams in Florida DIAA Decided After a Tense 1st Round
Sac State Holds Off UC Santa Cruz to Make Pac West Final
This past weekend's action has now finalized the ACR DIAA Spring playoffs for us. The Western Bracket looks to be Sacramento State vs Western Washington, and San Diego vs Fresno State.
The Eastern Bracket is already set for this co,ing weekend with UT San Antonio vs Kansas and Minnesota vs Texas State.
Are those the top eight teams playing in DIAA? Actually, no, not necessarily. The Florida teams are not in the playoffs because of all the changes into in the collegiate landscape. The Florida DIAA Conference opted to be an independent conference and as a result aren't in the ACR playoff picture. Had they been asked to participate, they probably would have accepted (although seeing as the Eastern Bracket is being held in Kansas ... maybe not). The spring championship will likely give us the best team playing in the spring, but the best team in Florida would certainly have had a say in that.
We will probably not end up ranking the top team from Florida #1 less because we think the ACR playoff is the be-all and end-all, and more because Florida teams don't play much out of their region. The only frame of reference we have, really, is Central Florida beating University of Connecticut by a tight margin in December. That game essentially told us at the time that UCF could play and ... that's about it.
Now, these past two weeks we've seen Western Washington beat San Diego, vaulting the Vikings to the Top 2 spot in the West. WWU moves up six places to #12. Are they better than Florida State or Wheeling or even Dartmouth? Maybe. We will wait on the playoffs to prove that. Fresno State won the Pacific Western, and they have dominated in that competition. FSU could be #1, but of course they're going to have to keep winning in impressive fashion. If Fresno State wins the Western Bracket is that enough? Maybe.
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By mid-April we will know who will play at the ACR finals and that will give us a good look at who might potentially unseat Tennessee as overall #1. We will probably, just before that reveal, give you our Spring-only and Fall-only rankings, partly because we'll probably shift to that next year anyway. But if you look at Fresno State, even though they haven't played outside their region, it's fair to say that Sac State, UCSC, Stanford, and Chico State all can play rugby.
And Fresno State's dominance is why we bumped them to #5. They beat Sacramento State 66-14. They beat Chico State 55-7. They beat Stanford 69-12. They beat UCSC 52-12. They beat Nevada 87-26. San Jose State forfeited to them ... and then they beat Sacramento State 36-0 on Sunday to win the conference. So an average score of 61-12.
But what if Fresno State makes it to the final and loses to, say, Kansas by 25? Well then we change things around quite drastically.
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| Rank | Prev | Team | Conference | Notes |
| 1 | 1 | Tennessee | SCRC | |
| 2 | 2 | Queens University | Chesapeake | |
| 3 | 3 | Brown | Ivy League | |
| 4 | 4 | U. Notre Dame | Independent | |
| 5 | 7 | Fresno State | Pac West | Beat Sacramento State (32) |
| 6 | 5 | Mary Washington | Chesapeake | |
| 7 | 6 | Bowling Green | MAC | |
| 8 | 8 | Clemson | SCRC | |
| 9 | 9 | Dartmouth | Ivy League | |
| 10 | 10 | Wheeling | Independent | |
| 11 | 13 | Florida State | Florida | Beat North Florida (41) |
| 12 | 18 | Western Washington | NCRC | Beat USD (14) |
| 13 | 11 | Mount St. Mary's | Chesapeake | |
| 14 | 14 | U. San Diego | Gold Coast | Lost to Western Washington (18) |
| 15 | 12 | Iowa Central CC | Independent | |
| 16 | 17 | Central Florida | Florida | Beat FAU |
| 17 | 15 | Virginia Tech | Chesapeake | |
| 18 | 16 | Kentucky | SCRC | |
| 19 | 20 | Western Michigan | MAC | |
| 20 | 19 | CSULB | Gold Coast | |
| 21 | 21 | Oregon | NCRC | |
| 22 | 22 | Kansas | Heart of America | |
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| 23 | 23 | Minnesota | Heart of America | |
| 24 | 24 | Louisville | MAC | |
| 25 | 25 | West Chester | MARC | |
| 26 | 26 | UCSC | Pac West | Lost to Sacramento State (32) |
| 27 | 32 | Sacramento State | Pac West | Beat UCSC (26), lost to Fresno State (7) |
| 28 | 27 | St. Joseph's | MARC | |
| 29 | 28 | Boise State | NCRC | |
| 30 | 29 | Rowan | MARC | |
| 31 | 30 | Texas State | Lonestar | |
| 32 | 31 | Iowa State | Heart of America | |
| 33 | 33 | Chico State | Pac West | |
| 34 | 34 | Sam Houston State | Lonestar | |
| 35 | 35 | IUPUI | MAC | |
| 36 | 36 | Arkansas | Heart of America | |
| 37 | 37 | Oregon State | NCRC | |
| 38 | 38 | Cincinnati | MAC | |
| 39 | 39 | Kansas State | Heart of America | |
| 40 | 40 | Southern Virginia | Chesapeake | |
| 41 | 41 | North Florida | Florida | Lost to Florida State (13), beat Florida |
| 42 | 42 | UT San Antonio | Lonestar | |
| 43 | 44 | Iowa | Heart of America | |
| 44 | Unr | Florida International | Florida | Beat FAU, South Florida |
| 45 | 43 | Arizona State | Gold Coast | |
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