Photo courtesy Quinnipiac Athletics •
The DI College Fall Top 20 needed to be refreshed. Conference titles have been decided, teams are booking playoff spots, but it was a friendly that took center stage last weekend.
In a late addition to the schedule, reigning NIRA champion Quinnipiac and reigning DI Elite champion Penn State played a friendly in Maryland. Both sides are readying for their respective playoffs this Saturday. The teams traded tries during the first 30 minutes, that is, until Quinnipiac broke routine with back-to-back scores right before the half (26-17). Quinnipiac then dotted down three tries to Penn State’s one for the 41-22 win. The victory placed Emily Roskopf into the running for Canterbury Player of the Month (read more).
We split the difference with Central Washington. The Wildcats had defeated Quinnipiac 19-12 in Washington. And while we hesitate to put any team ahead of Penn State that hasn’t actually played the reigning champion with 11 national titles, we weren’t going to demote Central Washington. There’s a decent chance that Quinnipiac and Central Washington will play each other again during the NIRA final four.
Speaking of NIRA, some record adjustments are needed. After being declared a NIRA team, Notre Dame College is not participating in the varsity playoffs. Instead the team is looking toward the spring DI / DI Elite playoffs. Therefore, the Falcons’ record now follows the pattern of fellow DI Elite teams like Life and Lindenwood, and now accounts for those games that were previously coined “friendlies.” Similarly, for the NIRA teams that played Notre Dame College, their records no longer reflect the result against the Euclid, Ohio, school.
The Ivy League championship played out, and saw season-long leaders Dartmouth and Harvard play another tight game in the final. The Big Green triumphed 14-5. Princeton beat Brown 41-24 for third. Dartmouth is taking the fifth-place seed to NIRA quarterfinals and will play #4 AIC. Harvard and Brown are not participating in the NIRA post-season and we’ll have more on that later. The Tigers have a play-in match against Northeast runner-up UConn, and the victor will advance to the DI fall quarterfinals.
Boston College jumped onto the rankings after dethroning UConn for the Northeast title. The Eagles had played the Huskies to a 15-7 regular-season loss and then adjusted its game for a 17-10 win in the conference final. Boston College will play the winner of Northern Iowa vs. Bowling Green during the DI fall quarterfinals.
We’re keeping a keen eye on Rutgers vs. Indiana this weekend, a game that will name the Big Ten’s 3rd place team (behind Penn State and Notre Dame) and also afford a berth to the DI fall quarterfinals. The victor will play Midwest champion Minnesota in the round of 8 on Nov. 19.
Check out the full DI fall brackets here.
WOMEN DI COLLEGE FALL TOP 20
Rank (Previous Rank) Team (League Record). Results
1 (3) Quinnipiac (5-1). Defeated AIC 38-34, Penn State 41-22
2 (2) Central Washington (5-0). Defeated Washington St 36-7
3 (1) Penn State (6-0). Defeated Lindenwood 43-12, lost 41-22 to Quinnipiac
4 (4) Lindenwood (3-1). Lost 43-12 to Penn State
5 (5) Notre Dame College (6-1). Defeated DII Davenport 39-3 (f)
6 (6) Life (2-2-1). Defeated Clemson 103-0
7 (7) Army (2-2). Defeated Air Force 50-7 (f)
8 (8) BYU (4-1). Defeated New Mexico 88-0
9 (9) Dartmouth (7-1). Ivy SF: 45-15 W v Brown; Final: 14-5 W v Harvard
10 (10) Harvard (4-2). Ivy SF: 55-0 W v Princeton; Final: 14-5 L v Dartmouth
11 (11) AIC (3-5). Lost 38-34 to Quinnipiac
12 (13) Air Force (4-0). Lost 50-7 to Army (f)
13 (14) Notre Dame (6-0). Idle
14 (unr) Boston College (6-1). Northeast final: Defeated UConn 17-10
15 (12) UConn (6-1). Northeast final: Lost 17-10 to Boston College
16 (15) Norwich (0-4). Defeated NIRA Tier 2 Bowdoin 71-3
17 (17) Princeton (2-2). Ivy 3rd: 41-24 W v Brown
18 (18) Minnesota (6-0). Idle
19 (19) Northern Iowa (4-2). Idle
20 (20) Texas A&M (4-0). Idle
#FallRanking