Fall Men DI College Rankings Week 6

We have rushed to press the Goff Rugby Report Fall Men's DI College Rankings because of the major upheavals you might expect ... and here they are!

Four Top 10 teams, as well as #11, lost this past weekend, forcing us to reevaluate more than just those teams involved, but the conferences associated with those teams. Frankly, it's a mess, and we tried to un-mess it. So here goes:

#48 Iona over #1 Army. Iona didn't get into the rankings until recently because of their strength of schedule. They lost to Wheeling Jesuit in a game that wasn't especially close (or especially not-close), and won over teams that aren't strong. Meanwhile, Army had won games against not-strong teams, but added in defeats of Penn State and Wheeling Jesuit. So that's why they were so separate. Clearly, Iona is better than they were. But you can't just put Iona up ahead of Army - Army still beat WJU, who beat Iona.

So instead what we do is drop Army down, which we have to do. We keep Penn State and WJU below Army, but Kutztown, which beat WJU this weekend, moves up and above Army. Iona jumps up to #12, but not over Army ... yet. If Iona beats Penn State and Army loses to Kutztown (for example) we could see that shift happening.

#10 Indiana beat #7 Davenport. This is nowhere near as big an upset as #48 over #1, but it's still important, mostly because it indicates that the top teams in the Big Ten, might well be very strong. Indiana wins a close game, but at a time where the teams above lost or were idle. Indiana moves to #2. Had they won big over Davenport, it might have been #1.

AIC won against Middlebury, and Middlebury isn't an especially weak team. Having sat at #2, AIC now goes to #1, but it's definitely a vulnerable #1 ... and if, say Kutztown wins big over Army, or AIC is iffy against UConn, then you might see them falter.

Clemson lost 43-0 to LIfe, and we won't rank Life this fall because that game was the only varsity game the Running Eagles play this week. Kind of weird to rank them based on one game. Still, Life looked pretty good and that result will ensure they are ranked high come the New Year. Clemson, of course, has to drop as a result of the loss.

Other big moves: Middle Tennessee State moves up seven points thanks to a solid won over their closest rivals. Kansas moves up 11 points after a really nice weekend where they beat Oklahoma State and also two other teams. Delaware slides nine points after a big loss to Penn State. Kansas State lost to Missouri, and drops 11 points. St. Joseph's almost lost to Rutgers; they drop.

Air Force, ranked #11, lost big to #46 Colorado State. That makes us re-think what we think about the West DIA. It's a mix, and certainly Air Force is not as strong as we thought (at the moment) ... so, that also means that the Air Force 55-30 win over Wyoming is cast in a different light. Because of that, Wyoming has to drop out. (Utah survives the West DIA slide because they do.) 

Now, we've been waiting for a chance to get Pitt or JMU, Dartmouth, and Syracuse in the rankings. What we needed was for Pitt or JMU to beat the other well, and that happened (Pitt won); we needed Dartmouth to beat a good Ivy League team convincingly (that happened, 76-29 over Brown); we needed Syracuse to keep winning well (51-0 over Binghmaton). All of those happened. We also needed someone else to have issues. Wyoming is out, for the moment; and South Florida (lost to Central Florida) drops out. Georgia Southern could still be in there, but in the end their being idle when others are winning sees them out.

For now.