While we don't have a ton of changes at the top of the D1A rankings, we do have a change at #1.

Cal moves up to #1 after a shutout win over Arizona. Remember, Arizona held Saint Mary's to a 12-10 Gael victory, and we're thinking that if you factor that in with a 24-22 Life win over Saint Mary's, and the fact that Life also beat Navy, we kind of have to make the move.

Will we see a different #1 in the coming weeks? Most certainly it's possible. We've entered that period of the season.

Nearer #25, we have changes. We expected UCSC to punch their way into the Top 25, and they have. Also coming in is Utah State, which beat Utah for the second time. The Aggies probably should have been there already. That drops out McKendree and Illinois, but they are lurking.

With our Top 25 that leaves about 14 teams not ranked. We could go all the way down to 39 but that seems a bit much. Who's 37? Who's 38? Who's 39? It's not worth it to anyone to debate that.

However, we can say that right on the outside of the rankings are McKendree, Illinois, Texas A&M, and Wyoming. The Cowboys, remember, beat Utah State in the fall, so have a claim to a Top 25 berth. The issue for them is they are now concentrating on 7s and it's tough to move up when you're not playing 15s at this time.

And we also have teams in the California Conference who are giving up some big scores, but really aren't so bad. It's just really tough sledding for the next tier. Right now we think that the Top 16 are stronger than the next group of eight or so. There's a gray area perhaps from 16 to 20, but there is certainly a significant gap for some teams to jump across.