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Men D2 College Rankings 2021 Week 2

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Men D2 College Rankings 2021 Week 2

Adrian College started strong. Photo Adrian College Athletics.

We warned you that there would be major changes in the rankings in the opening weeks, and so, yes, this week, Week 2, we have major changes.

First off, we feel unhappy about having to drop out Shippensburg, UW-Platteville, Thomas More, and William Paterson. Their only crime, really, is not having played when others played. Expect to see these teams come back.

Who jumps in? Well we were on the fence about West Virginia, but they beat Alderson Broaddus, and the week before lost 17-15 to Kent State. So Kent State and WVU both jump in. Ferris State opened with a win, and that pushed them into the Top 40, and the same for Miami of Ohio.

Now, WVU and Miami bring up the issue of D1 colleges playing D2 rugby. Well, this year is a weird year and we're not going to get too caught up in it. Yes we'd rather see Villanova, Virginia, West Virginia, and Miami in D1, but they're not and right now we're not going to make much of stink about it.

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Varsity programs just starting out often start in D2, and this year is no exception. It kind of blows apart the whole point of D2, which is for colleges that aren't especially large that have club rugby programs (at least, that's how we look at it). We're going to have to work through all of that. Adrian and Marian are new to the arena, and it's reasonable that they compete in D2.

It's also not a surprise that they are good. We'll see how good as the season progresses, but because there were so few games in the last couple of weeks, and because both Adrian and Marian played high-profile teams, they jump up significantly. Belmont Abbey moves up but not as much because they played three 20-minute games. They did well, losing to Furman, tying South Carolina (!), and beating Citadel, but it's not enough to move a team to the Top 10.

St. Louis University also moves up and if they can get a consistent season in the Gateway, should do well.

Rank Prev Team Conference Notes
1 1 UW-Whitewater (WI) Great MW  
2 3 Furman (SC) Southern  
3 23 Adrian (MI) Great Lakes Beat Michigan State
4 16 Marian (IN) MCRC Close loss vs Iowa Central CC
5 4 Villanova (PA) MARC  
6 5 Vermont (VT) New England-Wide  
7 2 Norwich (VT) Rugby Northeast Lost to Brown
8 6 Illinois State (IL) Great MW  
9 7 UMS&T (MO) Gateway Forfeit win
10 8 Minnesota-Duluth (MI) Northern Lights  
11 9 MTSU (TN) SCRC  
12 10 UMass-Lowell (MA) Rugby Northeast  
13 11 Memphis (TN) SCRC  
14 12 Loyola-Chicago (IL) Great MW  
15 13 Boston University (MA) New England-Wide  
16 14 Bentley (MA) Rugby Northeast  
17 15 Marquette (WI) Great MW  
18 Unr Kent State Allegheny Beat West Virginia
19 17 Montana State (MT) Rocky Mountain  
20 Unr West Virginia Allegheny Lost to Kent State, Beat Alderson-Broaddus (20)
21 24 Belmont Abbey (NC) Southern 1-1-1 in Furman kickoff tournament
22 20 Alderson Broaddus (WV) Allegheny Lost to West Virginia
23 28 SLU (MO) Gateway Beat Southern Illinois
24 18 Lehigh (PA) MARC  
25 19 Northern Colorado Rocky Mountain  
26 21 UNC (NC) Southern  
27 Unr Miami (OH) MCRC Beat Xavier
28 Unr Ferris State Great Lakes Beat Saginaw Valley State
29 37 Virginia (VA) Cardinals Beat William & Mary
30 32 Pitt State (KS) Gateway Beat John Brown
31 34 Central Michigan (MI) Great Lakes  
32 22 York (PA) MARC  
33 25 Coast Guard (CT) New England-Wide  
34 26 Marist (NY) Tri-State  
35 27 MSU-Moorhead (MN) Northern Lights  
36 29 Grand Valley State (MI) Great Lakes Game Ppd.
37 30 UNC-Charlotte (NC) Southern  
38 35 UNC-Wilmington (NC) Southern Beat NC State
39 31 Northern Michigan (MI) Great MW  
40 33 USMMA (NY) Tri-State Lost to Stony Brook