Men D1A-Level Rankings Week 6

Indiana and Penn State won well against ranked opponents, and so did UCLA and all of those teams move up a little bit.

We are very cognizant of the fact that our top four haven't really played, or haven't played at all, and yes haven't been knocked off from their high rankings. It's a tough ceiling to break through, even as we drop down other programs for being idle. It's unfair, seemingly, but the thing is that those four have proved over the past several years. Of the past seven championship seasons (not counting 2020 for now), Cal, Saint Mary's, Life, and Lindenwood have accounted for 36 of the 44 top-four spots. And that is despite the fact Cal was in the Varsity Cup through 2017, so five of those eight times that top weren't represented was because Cal was absent from the entire playoffs.

That's why this group is difficult to unseat. It's possible, though, especially if we see someone beat one of those four. So maybe all eyes are on November 12 when Lindenwood plays at Army. Saint Mary's will have some early warmup games and if they stumble then—November 22 they are host Life—we could see them drop.

Don't forget that Army plays Navy October 23 at FedEx Field in the Washington, DC area as the curtainraiser for the USA vs All Blacks test match at the same stadium. The Commander-in-Chief Trophy and the 1874 Cup are up for grabs then on the same day. Go here for tickets>> 

Why? Because there are teams coming up. Army, Indiana, BYU, and possibly some others have already put their hands up.

Further down, UCLA of course gets a boost after a very nice win over Colorado. Yes, true, both teams had their obstacles and issues. For UCLA this was their first game in a long time. For Colorado this was at the end of a long couple of bus rides and the second game in the weekend. Maybe they cancel each other out, maybe they don't. Our view is that both teams acquitted themselves fairly well. Colorado beat Grand Canyon so that justifies their ranking. UCLA winning is more a positive for UCLA than it is a detriment for Colorado.

Navy Newbies Down SVU

Army to 3-0 in Rugby East With Win Over Penn State

Indiana Shuts Out a Tough NDC

UCLA Opens Season Victorious Despite Shakeup

Liberty Latest: Five Unbeaten Teams Win

And finally, every year we talk about results that have to be thrown out because something changes. Often it's that injuries hit a team so hard that an early victory just isn't germane anymore. This fall, it's the other way around. Syracuse's first loss of the fall, a 79-point defeat at the hands of St. Bonaventure and another big loss to Fordham, should not be considered representative of where they are now. The Orangemen's defeat of Binghamton was their third-straight 50-point game, and this time they beat a ranked team. So, yes, we move them up 11 spots.

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Rank	Prev	Team	Conference	Notes
1	1	Cal	PAC
2	2	Saint Mary's	California
3	3	Life	Mid-South
4	4	Lindenwood	Mid-South	Beat Central Missouri
5	5	Army	Rugby East	Beat Penn State (11), Wheeling
6	6	Central Washington	Independent
7	7	Navy	Rugby East	Beat Southern Virginia
8	10	Indiana	Big Ten	Beat Notre Dame College (26)
9	11	Penn State	Rugby East	Lost to Army (5)
10	8	BYU	Rocky Mountain
11	9	Arkansas State	Mid-South
12	17	UCLA	PAC	Beat Colorado (20)
13	12	Kutztown	Rugby East
14	13	Arizona	PAC
15	14	Davenport	Mid-South
16	15	Ohio State	Big Ten	Beat Michigan State (34)
17	16	St. Bonaventure	Rugby East
18	20	Colorado	Rocky Mountain	Beat GCU (19), lost to UCLA (17)
19	18	Cal Poly	California
20	19	Grand Canyon	California	Lost to Colorado (20)
21	21	Iona	Liberty	Beat Stony Brook
22	22	Texas A&M	Red River	Lost to Sam Houston State
23	23	Colorado State	Rocky Mountain	Beat Wyoming (43)
24	24	Illinois	Big Ten
25	25	Northeastern	Liberty	Beat Fairfield (38)
26	26	Notre Dame College	Rugby East	Lost to Indiana (10)
27	27	Air Force	Rocky Mountain
28	28	Utah	Rocky Mountain
29	29	Oklahoma	Red River
30	31	Utah Valley	Rocky Mountain	Beat Utah State
31	30	Purdue	Big Ten
32	32	Boston College	Liberty	Beat Rhode Island
33	44	Syracuse	Liberty	Beat SUNY Binghamton (41)
34	33	UC Santa Barbara	California	7s
35	34	Michigan State	Big Ten	Lost to Ohio State (15)
36	35	San Diego State	California
37	37	Nazareth	Liberty	Beat SUNY Cortland
38	36	Santa Clara	California
39	38	Fairfield	Liberty	Lost to Northeastern (25)
40	48	Buffalo	Liberty	Beat SUNY Oswego (39)
41	40	AIC	Liberty
42	41	Binghamton	Liberty	Lost to Syracuse (44)
43	42	Fordham	Liberty	Beat SUNY Albany
44	47	Michigan	Big Ten	Beat Wisconsin (49)
45	43	Wyoming	Rocky Mountain	Lost to Colorado State (23)
46	45	UC Davis	California
47	46	Baylor	Red River
48	39	SUNY Oswego	Liberty	Lost to SUNY Buffalo (48)
49	49	Wisconsin	Big Ten	Lost to Michigan (47)
50	50	North Texas	Red River	Alumni game