So we finally finish up our D1A rankings.
We don't have a lot of changes—an obvious one at the top, but not much more.
Not that we didn't think about it. There's just so much parity in the division right now that you could argue a ranking of almost any combination. Navy beat Cal, remember.
In fact, let's take a look at it. The Top 10 teams against the Top 10 (close losses listed in the losses total and also separated into parentheses).
Cal 8-1
Life 5-1
Lindenwood 1-2 (1)
Navy 2-2 (2)
Saint Mary's 6-3 (2)
CWU 3-2 (1)
Army 1-4 (3)
UCLA 1-6 (3)
Arizona 1-6 (4)
Cal Poly 2-3 (2)
Based on this you could argue that Cal Poly is too low, or Central Washington, or Saint Mary's.
But the thing to look at is those close losses. Here we have 30 games involving two Top 10 teams, and of those, 16 were close (within a try ... although we stretched that definition a couple of times). That's pretty astonishing. Also astonishing is that no team was undefeated.
So, yes, Cal is #1 and Life is #2. We can entertaing almost any argument after that, which is a good thing.
