This week was a huge week for the Men's D2 rankings, with several non-ranked or lower-ranked teams beating those ranked higher.
Or so it seemed. Actually, ranked teams vs non-ranked teams went 11-1 (not counting forfeits; there were six of those). In ranked vs ranked games, higher-ranked teams were 4-2. So, really, the big news is those three results against rankings, two of which were in the Great Midwest. Marquette (last week's #26) beat #4 UW-Whitewater on the final play of the game.
We should have had Marquette higher, obviously, but that's what happens when there's been no D2 rugby for 21 months, you have to fall back on history and be suspicious of teams that saw a surge in success in 2019. Turns out, Marquette is here to stay, and that's good for the league. Also in the Great Midwest, Northern Iowa beat Illinois State. We were happy with our initial decision to list ISU at #13—respect but still a little unsure how their recent success (like Marquette's) would carry over. At the same time, UNI had fallen on hard times. There was nothing really from the last few years that told us they would start strong.
They started strong.
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And, finally, there was Coast Guard over Boston University, and this is really just a dumb move by GRR, as you'd expect an institution like the Coast Guard Academy to be able to muscle through COVID shutdowns because of the the serious life choices the students have made. We should have foreseen USCGA would be ready to go.
The results, then, prompt Marquette to get a big boost and Whitewater to drop, but not too far. We think they are still strong. Northern Iowa vaults into the Top 10 but that is a shaky spot. They have to back it up. Coast Guard moves up, but we remind you the result was 15-11 over BU so it's not like they dominated. (UNI kind of dominated.) We had Northern Michigan on our watch list, and then UW-Platteville beat them 24-7, so, yes, Platteville jumps in. Also coming into the rankings is Scranton, while Lehigh (no result reported yet), Villanova (same), and York (loss to Bloomsburg) drop out. We fully expect more MARC teams to come in soon.
Big drops: West Virginia has lost two games by big margins, so they drop. WVU had beaten Alderson Broaddus, so they drop, and lost to Kent State 17-15, which had pushed Kent State into #6. Kent State's basis for that ranking is frittering away, so they drop 18 places. Why 18? Because other teams won games, often against good competition.
Illinois State drops after their loss, but not too far. Minnesota-Duluth just hasn't played so we dropped them from #14 to #38. Once they start playing we expect them to move up.
Meanwhile, Furman's strong defensive effort led them to a big win and they stay at #1.
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| Rank | Prev | Team | Conference | Notes |
| 1 | 1 | Furman (SC) | Southern | Beat Appalachian State |
| 2 | 2 | Adrian (MI) | Great Lakes | Beat Central Michigan (7) |
| 3 | 3 | Marian (IN) | MCRC | Forfeit win |
| 4 | 5 | Norwich (VT) | New England-Wide | Beat Sacred Heart |
| 5 | 9 | Vermont (VT) | New England-Wide | Beat New Hampshire |
| 6 | 26 | Marquette (WI) | Great MW | Beat UW-Whitewater (4) |
| 7 | 4 | UW-Whitewater (WI) | Great MW | Lost 36-31 to Marquette (26) |
| 8 | Unr | Northern Iowa (IA) | Great MW | Beat Illinois State (13) |
| 9 | 7 | Central Michigan (MI) | Great Lakes | Lost to Adrian (2) |
| 10 | 10 | Loyola-Chicago (IL) | Great MW | Beat UIC |
| 11 | 11 | UMS&T (MO) | Gateway | Forfeit win |
| 12 | 11 | Central Missouri (MO) | Gateway | Beat John Brown |
| 13 | 16 | UMass-Lowell (MA) | New England-Wide | Beat Bentley (25) |
| 14 | 18 | IUP (PA) | Allegheny | Beat West Virginia (29) |
| 15 | 15 | MTSU (TN) | SCRC | Beat Ole Miss |
| 16 | 17 | Memphis (TN) | SCRC | |
| 17 | 19 | Belmont Abbey (NC) | Southern | |
| 18 | 20 | UNC-Charlotte (NC) | Southern | Beat Lander |
| 19 | 21 | UNC (NC) | Southern | Beat Coastal Carolina |
| 20 | 39 | Coast Guard (CT) | New England-Wide | Beat Boston University (24) |
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| 21 | 13 | Illinois State (IL) | Great MW | Lost to Northern Iowa |
| 22 | 32 | USMMA (NY) | Tri-State | Beat RPI (33) |
| 23 | 23 | Marist (NY) | Tri-State | Forfeit win |
| 24 | 6 | Kent State | Allegheny | |
| 25 | 25 | Bentley (MA) | New England-Wide | Lost to UMass-Lowell (16) |
| 26 | 24 | Boston University (MA) | New England-Wide | Lost to Coast Guard (39) |
| 27 | Unr | UW-Platteville (WI) | Great MW | Beat Northern Michigan |
| 28 | 27 | Montana State (MT) | Rocky Mountain | Forfeit win |
| 29 | 30 | Miami (OH) | MCRC | |
| 30 | 37 | Ferris State | Great Lakes | Beat Oakland |
| 31 | 38 | Virginia (VA) | Cardinals | Beat Washington &Lee |
| 32 | 33 | RPI (NY) | Tri-State | Lost to USMMA (32) |
| 33 | 40 | Thomas More (KY) | MCRC | Beat Eastern Kentucky |
| 34 | Unr | Scranton (PA) | MARC | Beat Shippensburg |
| 35 | 29 | West Virginia | Allegheny | Lost to IUP (17) |
| 36 | 22 | Alderson Broaddus (WV) | Allegheny | |
| 37 | 35 | SLU (MO) | Gateway | Forfeit win |
| 38 | 14 | Minnesota-Duluth (MI) | Northern Lights | |
| 39 | 31 | Pitt State (KS) | Gateway | Forfeit win |
| 40 | 34 | Grand Valley State (MI) | Great Lakes | Forfeit win |
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