This past fall we conducted a rankings experiment, ranking DIAA and NCR D1 and D1A teams all together.
The idea was to really see where DIAA teams fell in the hierarchy, and to make the attempt to not differentiate between NCR D1 and D1A. What we found was that there is very little crossover between DIAA and the other divisions. Maybe a little, but at the rankings level there isn't. This was proven out by Virginia Tech, which went winless in the Rugby East, going on to win NCR's DIAA playoffs.
So we're not going to do that anymore. There's no point. We'll rank the divisions separately. And now we're into the winter/spring this ranking will be D1A only. The reason for that is because NCR teams aren't playing 15s now—OK a little bit, but not a lot. We do a mixed ranking after some games have been played, but overall, each week we will be doing a D1A-only ranking and it will be a view into how we at GRR World Headquarters vote when we are called upon to vote for the rankings.
The official CRAA-run D1A rankings uses some voting, but also uses an algorithm that rewards strength of schedule. In the ranking below we compare our own ranking with the last official D1A ranking just for fun. The biggest difference is results-driven—Central Washington's excellent start bumps them up. Results are also why Grand Canyon and Texas and several of the California teams are in there (note also CRAA's ranking is a Top 20, and we do 25).
Arkansas State drops down simply because we at GRR haven't seen enough of them. Again, that's results-driven (albeit, lack-of-results).
