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National Collegiate Rugby (NCR) published pre-season rankings for 10 Division I-AA teams and now after a couple weeks of play, the Coaches Poll expands to 20 teams. There is lots of movement to account for these early-season showings, and the following lends some context to the reorganization. The Rugby Breakdown is not involved in actually ranking these teams. Stay tuned for DII and DIII posts today, and take a look at the DI review from yesterday. [lead photo: Jackie Finlan]
Reigning national champion Northeastern retained the top spot and will play its first North Atlantic conference game this Sunday against Boston College, so no match result data yet. Really looking forward to the match against Quinnipiac — which moved from #2 to #5 after its 53-0 win against UCONN — on Oct. 31. Stay tuned for an incoming interview with the Bobcats’ student leadership.
Seven of the eight teams that made the pre-season Top 10 power ranking are still on this Coaches Poll. James Madison fell out of the Top 20 after a near-100-point loss to Virginia, which was looking for some redemption after a 17-7 loss to North Carolina State in the opening week of South Atlantic play. The previously unranked Wolfpack then beat Virginia Tech 53-0 and joins the ranking at #3. Virginia slid from #4 to #7.
The South Atlantic has north and south pools, and the latter grouping did not have any teams on the pre-season ranking. After a couple weeks of play, there are now four teams in the top 20: Florida State (13), Clemson (15), Florida (16) and Univ. Central Florida (18). A bit confusing as to why Clemson is on the ranking and not Univ. North Carolina, which beat the Tigers 32-5 on Sept. 13. The same goes for Central Florida, which is 0-2 against Florida State (38-5) and Florida (37-19). The Gators and Seminoles see each other this Friday, so that will be a useful match in terms of sorting SARC’s southern teams.
2025 national runner-up Univ. Colorado moved from #7 in the pre-season rankings to #2 after its 98-7 win against Colorado State in week one of High Peaks play. Arizona State moved three spots from #6 to #10, but it hasn’t played yet. The Sun Devils joined the High Peaks 15s conference and are playing Wyoming and Air Force (which is a CRAA team), as well as the more local Univ. Arizona and Grand Canyon University, also CRAA 15s teams. First game is Oct. 4 against Air Force.
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High Peaks’ Boise State and Utah State join the rankings at #8 and #14, respectively. The Broncos are 2-0 so far, beating Utah State 32-15 and then Montana State 70-7, and will play those two teams again before regionals arrive in November. Last weekend, Utah State lost to Colorado Mesa 19-14 in a DII crossover match.
The middle of the country is well represented with four Big 10 teams and three Midwest teams in the Top 20. The previously unranked Notre Dame joins the Top 20 at #5 after beating DI Aquinas 30-25 in a scrimmage. Big Blue has a non-conference game this Sunday against DI Walsh University in Ohio. Ohio State’s 46-0 win against Michigan State was enough to move the Buckeyes from #9 to #6. OSU will see #12 Purdue, which slipped from #8, this Saturday for the Boilermakers’ season opener. And Michigan joined the Top 10 at #9 after its 48-22 win against Indiana.
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Northern Iowa is the highest-ranked Midwest team, moving from #3 in the pre-season to #11 after two friendlies (conference play starts this Saturday against Iowa State). The Panthers beat Winona State 50-33 and then dropped a 40-24 Friday Night Lights contest to DII UW Eau Claire on Sept. 18.
Previously unranked Iowa joined the list at #17 after a 43-7 league win against Iowa State and takes on #19 Minnesota this Saturday. The Gophers downed Wisconsin 74-14 last Saturday and have home-field advantage this weekend against the Hawkeyes.
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And finally, the Lonestar’s Univ. Texas joins the ranking at #20. After a canceled match against DII Oklahoma, the Longhorns beat DII Louisiana State University 22-19 in Baton Rouge. Texas plays DII UT San Antonio this weekend.
Stay tuned for TRB’s weekly score post, which will track USA, senior club, college and high school scores for the weekend.
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