Update: The original version of this article indicated that Winona State was competing in Division I this year but the Black Katts are competing in the DI Midwest during league season only and then rerouting to the DII Northern Lights to qualify for DII fall playoffs.
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The first DI College Fall Ranking of the 2019-20 season includes teams that have contested at least one league match. The list will continue to build out this month and potentially further as “watch list” teams assert themselves. Additionally, these rankings only consider teams that are vying for the fall championship (with one exception), so while certain conferences may be active in the fall, their members are reserved for the spring rankings.
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Reigning DI fall champion Air Force played its first Rocky Mountain league game last weekend and beat New Mexico convincingly. Utah State and Montana State are also on the list. The former is already 2-0, having defeated Utah Valley 75-14 and then rallied to beat the Bobcats 33-27 in Montana. Jayne Taufoou led all point-scorers with 19 on two tries and three conversions. The rankings are also watching Wyoming, which beat Colorado 69-21.
Davenport, too, looks strong this year and kicked off its independent season with a big shutout against Allegheny’s Kent State and followed with an 18-point win over in-state rival and NCAA varsity program Notre Dame College. There are two other independent programs on the list: Navy and Princeton. The midshipmen opened with a 38-17 win over UVA and won a friendly against DII senior club Phoenixville. Navy and Davenport will play each on Sept. 28 in Annapolis; Air Force is scheduled to travel east on Oct. 5; and Nov. 9 is reserved for Princeton.
Princeton isn’t competing in the Ivy League this year and opted for independent status under new head coach Josie Ziluca. Per Princeton club president Kate Leung:
[W]e’re not allowed to play varsity teams in 15s per our admin rules, so we can’t be in the upper Ivy League bracket [with Dartmouth, Harvard and Brown]. We played in the lower bracket last fall, against Yale/Columbia/Cornell/Penn, and while they are all great programs with talented players, we felt that we could gain a lot out of a 15s season that challenged us a little more. … The only drawback of the independent season is the lack of an automatic playoff bid, but right now we aren’t able to attend 15s playoffs regardless, so that’s currently not a big loss for us.
Princeton will play its first match on Sept. 28 against Boston and sit on the watch list. The Tigers will also play Virginia Tech, UCONN and DII fall champion Vassar before seeing Navy in November.
At the end of spring 2019, UCONN bid farewell to head coach Mark Jordan, who retired after 11 years with the Huskies and winning the 2015 DI fall championship. Alumnae Gabby Benitez and Taylor Edinger now lead the team and had assisted Jordan in the past, so there is familiarity there. There was also familiarity in UCONN posting a convincing season-opening shutout against Boston College.
Boston beat UMASS by 33 points and comes in at No. 10. Northeastern will play its first league game this weekend and has been the runner-up to UCONN the last couple of years. A good performance should see the Massachusetts side on the list in round two.
The Midwest is technically a hybrid conference this year as DII Winona State has joined the lineup. The Black Katts opened with a 56-12 win over Northern Iowa but will reroute to the DII playoffs during the post-season – hence, their absence from these rankings. Iowa also won its opener 40-12 against Northern Illinois and comes in at No. 10. Iowa State forfeited its game against reigning Midwest champion Minnesota, so the Gophers are in a similar situation as Northeastern.
Michigan State kicked off the Big 10 season with a 29-17 win over Notre Dame, and both are on the list. Stay tuned for an interview with Spartans captain Emily Krupp tomorrow. Indiana posted a non-league shutout against a rejuvenating Ohio State. The Buckeyes aligned with Allegheny’s DI/DII hybrid league and aren’t looking toward playoffs, but rebuilding. Vaughn Mitchell’s team is on the watch list.
Two of the four Texas games scheduled for last weekend were cancelled or postponed, but Angelo State got its game against Texas Tech in and put up 60 points. No. 8 Amanda Steffins (T, 5C), flyhalf Destiny Brown (3T) and fullback Daniela Rivera (3T) scored 15 points apiece. North Texas beat Oklahoma 57-10 and is on the watch list, having exchanged relatively close games with Angelo State last year. Sam Houston State, the reigning champion, is scheduled to play Texas State this weekend.
