Our latest D1AA rankings see not a ton of change up near the top, but we did see #18 Kansas State beat #5 Kansas.
So there's a shift because of that. Unranked Rhode Island and unranked Arkansas, two teams that were lurking around the fringes, beat ranked teams and enter into the Top 35. St. Joe's, UTSA with a close loss, and Iowa, a team we think you should watch closely, all move up.
Quick reminder for anyone who might be relatively new to these rankings and following D1AA rugby.
There are two competitions within D1AA (which is an improvement because at one point there were something like four). One competition is NCR, which runs its season in the fall and culminates with a playoff in the fall. Those teams generally play 7s in the winter/spring. Those teams in the rankings below include:
Alabama, Binghamton, Boston College, Bowling Green, Cincinnati, Clemson, Columbia, Delaware, Kentucky, Louisville, Maryland , Missouri, NC State, Northeastern, Rhode Island, South Carolina, St. Joseph's, Tennessee, UMass, UNC Charlotte. Virginia Tech, West Chester, Western Michigan, and Yale
The other competition is run under CRAA and culminates in the spring. Those teams play 15s either in the fall-and-spring, or play in winter-spring. Right now we're ranking the FALL, and so we only rank teams that play 15s in the fall. No teams from California. No teams from Arizona. No teams from Florida. BUT, we are ranking CRAA teams that play in fall and extend into the spring, including those from the country's breadbasket, as well as Texas and the Pacific Northwest.
Those teams include:
Arkansas, Iowa, Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, Rice, Sam Houston State, UTSA, Washington, and Western Washington.
So ...
So when you're following a team and that team is ranked highly, such as Iowa State, and you don't see that team mentioned in NCR's rankings, or in NCR's playoffs, that's because that team is playing in a different playoff.
High-sunshine regions be patient! You'll be in the Winter/Spring rankings come the New Year.
