Every week, National Collegiate Rugby (NCR) coaches vote on their respective divisional rankings and the member organization publishes these lists for the benefit of the larger community. They aren’t 100% accurate but are still useful in terms of following which teams are performing well and pointing toward playoffs. See the most post.

DIVISION I

This conference is the easiest to follow simply for the number of participants. Wheeling leads, especially after its 108-3 win over #5 Walsh. St. Bonaventure has worked its way to #3 after an 11-5 win against Walsh, and will face #4 Penn State this weekend. BYU has yet to feature because it has not played an NCR opponent yet; however, the Cougars beat CRAA Air Force 43-7 on Oct. 4 Southern Nazarene’s schedule shows a BYU forfeit on Oct. 11.

1. Wheeling Univ (W.V.) – Playing Navy (Fri)
2. Southern Nazarene Univ (Okla.) – Playing Texas A&M
3. St. Bonaventure Univ (N.Y.) – Playing Penn State
4. Penn State (Pa.) – Playing St. Bonaventure
5. Walsh Univ (Ohio) – Idle

unr BYU (Utah) – Playing Grand Canyon Univ

DIVISION IAA

The remaining three divisions all have enough participants for a “top 20.” Top-ranked Notre Dame and #3 Michigan play in tomorrow’s NCR Friday Night Lights, so that will lend some important perspective to the rankings. Also on Friday, #3 Iowa and #6 Northern Iowa do battle. Looking forward to the classic Northeastern vs. UCONN match on Saturday, which will determine whether the Huskies or just another Rugby Northeast team deserves a spot on the Top 20.

Some of the organization doesn’t make sense. Lander (#18) beat Florida State (#16) 60-7 last weekend. Howard beat Clemson (#13) 34-26 but is not on the list. A team that could probably use a bump is Univ. Colorado, the High Peaks leader. And unless the conference is just mis-classified, Upstate New York’s SUNY Binghamton and Syracuse are both undefeated but the conference is not represented in the Top 20.

1. Notre Dame – Big 10
2. Virginia – South Atlantic
3. Iowa – Midwest
4. Michigan – Big 10
5. Northern Iowa – Midwest
6. James Madison – South Atlantic
7. Purdue – Big 10
8. Northeastern – Rugby Northeast
9. Minnesota – Midwest
10. Texas – Lone Star
11. Ohio State – Big 10
12. Colorado – High Peaks
13. Clemson – South Atlantic
14. Montana State – High Peaks
15. Colorado State – High Peaks
16. Florida State – South Atlantic
17. Boise State – High Peaks
18. Lander – South Atlantic
19. Florida – South Atlantic
20. Central Florida – South Atlantic

DIVISION II

Vassar is still the team to beat and senior scrumhalf Sophia Bailey (lead photo) crossed the 100-try threshold last game. Fellow Tri-State teams Marist (#3) and Fairfield (#6) are highly ranked, but the Brewers beat both of those sides by 50 points. • UW Eau Claire has tested itself against DI UNI (and won), and got a good push from UW Platteville. • The Coast Guard beat Norwich 48-17 during last week’s Friday Night Lights and is undefeated like the aforementioned, and those three teams mark three of last year’s national semifinalists.

The ranking of Great Waters teams is vexing, unless there’s some caveat that we’re just oblivious to. Illinois (5) is the top-ranked team out of that conference but has lost games to Marquette (9) and UIC (unranked), albeit close games. To boot, Northwestern beat Marquette 68-26 last weekend and is also unranked. • Bowling Green (10) should be ranked above Grand Valley State (7) as it beat the Lakers 58-22 on Sept. 13 and then took the forfeit win in the Oct. 11 rematch. • Keeping an eye on Towson, which is 4-0 with its closest contest against Delaware (16) 29-14. • Also in the Mid-Atlantic, William & Mary (15) and Mary Washington (17) played to a 29-5 decision. • Always watching Colorado Mesa, which played its classic rivalry game against DIII Colorado School of Mines to a 33-19 loss. • And Winona State (19) played UWEC to a respectable 34-15 loss. • And where is Roger Williams?

Upcoming matches that will impact rankings: Cross-conference match between Bowling Green (10) and Cincinnati (13) • Coast Guard vs. New Hampshire in North Atlantic • Coastal Carolina (8) vs. UNC Charlotte (20) in South Atlantic.

1. Vassar (N.Y.) – Tri-State
2. UW Eau Claire (Wis.) – Great Waters
3. Coast Guard (Conn.) – North Atlantic
4. Marist (N.Y.) – Tri-State
5. Illinois (Ill.) – Great Waters
6. Fairfield (N.Y.) – Tri-State
7. Grand Valley State (Mich.) – Great Lakes
8. Coastal Carolina (S.C.) – South Atlantic
9. Marquette (Mich.) – Great Waters
10. Bowling Green (Ohio) – Great Lakes
11. New Hampshire (N.H.) – North Atlantic
12. UT San Antonio (Texas) – Lone Star
13. Cincinnati (Ohio) – Allegheny
14. Towson (Md.) – Mid-Atlantic
15. William & Mary (Va.) – Mid-Atlantic
16. Delaware (Del.) – Mid-Atlantic
17. Mary Washington (Va.) – Mid-Atlantic
18. Colorado Mesa (Colo.) – High Peaks
19. Winona State (Minn.) – Northern Lights
20. UNC Charlotte (N.C.) – South Atlantic

DIVISION III

Wayne State College leap-frogged Yale and Endicott into first place. The Nebraska team is undefeated in that Prairie States region. Meanwhile both Yale and Endicott have continued to win and are also undefeated, and the duo will face each other on Oct. 25 to better inform or enforce the rankings. Endicott beat fellow North Atlantic team Smith (6) 53-10. • East Stroudsburg looking strong in Eastern Pennsylvania and beat York (9) 74-0. • The standout result for UW Platteville was a competitive loss to DII UW Eau Claire. • There are three pools in Upstate New York and three undefeated teams: SUNY Cortland (7), SUNY Oswego (12) and SUNY Geneseo (13). • As mentioned in the DII section, Mines beat DII Mesa in their classic rivalry. • Also, some old classifications have not been updated: Tri-State’s Siena is now competing in DII and Niagara is also listed as a DI team on NCR’s website. • Looking forward to regional playoffs to get some understanding of relative conference strength.

1. Wayne State College (Neb) – Prairie States
2. Endicott (Mass.) – North Atlantic
3. Yale (Conn.) – North Atlantic
4. East Stroudsburg (Pa) – Eastern Pennsylvania.
5. UW Platteville (Wis.) – Great Waters
6. Smith (Mass.) – North Atlantic
7. SUNY Cortland (N.Y.) – Upstate NY
8. Northern Michigan (Mich.) – Great Waters
9. York (Pa.) – Eastern Pennsylvania
10. Colorado School of Mines – High Peaks
11. Baldwin Wallace (Ohio) – Ohio Valley
12. SUNY Oswego (N.Y.) – Upstate NY
13. SUNY Geneseo (N.Y.) – Upstate NY
14. North Dakota (N.D.) – Northern Lights
15. Middlebury (Vt.) – Rugby Northeast
16. Niagara (N.Y.) – Upstate NY
17. Siena (N.Y.) – Tri-State
18. Calvin (Mich.) – Great Lakes
19. Denison (Ohio) – Ohio Valley
20. Colby (Maine) – Rugby Northeast