If Furman had lost to Belmont Abbey it's likely Norwich, having beaten two highly-ranked teams in convincing fashion, would have been #1.
As it is, Furman did enough to hold onto the top spot. For now. Any of the top 10 could potentially make a run for a title. Unfortunately for many, having a team unable to play you ends up hurting the team able to take the field. For all their ability, Adrian and Marian have been forfeited to far too much, and you need to play to move up. Several teams in the rankings, five in fact, moved down because they were unable to play a game, and therefore couldn't provide enough of a case to move up. With other teams in action, then, inaction is not your friend.
It might be a bit much to move Marian down to #6 from #3, but Marquette and Whitewater are playing some very, very good rugby right now, and you know we think the Great Midwest is a tough conference, so that's why they both move past the Knights. Notice that Northern Iowa, idle this week, didn't.
Memphis gets a boost after beating MTSU, and Montana State keeps flying the flag of the West, and doing it well—they move up five spots. The biggest mover is Principia, which has been on fire of late.
Some other things to note: Several teams that won games saw their rankings drop. This is generally due to another team getting a big boost and those drops are usually just one spot. Secondly, you will see four new teams in the Top 40, and here's why ... Villanova has been really good and beat a ranked team by a lot; Pitt State beat a ranked team, and it was a close game so we ended up not penalizing Central Missouri; Loyola beat a ranked team and is now 4-0 in conference play; Drexel is now unbeaten in conference play. Three of these teams are form the MARC and that's no surprise given that we said a few weeks ago it was all a bit of guesswork with that conference.
Basically what has happened is some teams that have been historically strong have struggled, and teams that are relatively new to the DII league have done well. Villanova was just a team we were waiting on, and their shutout win over TCNJ (38-0) is definitely a head-turner.
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| Rank | Prev | Team | Conference | Notes |
| 1 | 1 | Furman (SC) | Southern | Beat Belmont Abbey (17) |
| 2 | 4 | Norwich (VT) | New England-Wide | Beat Boston University (21) |
| 3 | 2 | Adrian (MI) | Great Lakes | Beat Fort Wayne men's club |
| 4 | 5 | Marquette (WI) | Great MW | |
| 5 | 6 | UW-Whitewater (WI) | Great MW | Beat UW-Platteville (12) |
| 6 | 3 | Marian (IN) | MCRC | Forfeit win |
| 7 | 7 | Northern Iowa (IA) | Great MW | |
| 8 | 8 | Central Michigan (MI) | Great Lakes | Forfeit Win |
| 9 | 9 | IUP (PA) | Allegheny | Beat West Virginia |
| 10 | 10 | UMass-Lowell (MA) | New England-Wide | Beat New Hampshire |
| 11 | 11 | Vermont (VT) | New England-Wide | Beat Quinnipiac |
| 12 | 16 | Memphis (TN) | SCRC | Beat MTSU (15) |
| 13 | 14 | Illinois State (IL) | Great MW | Beat UIC |
| 14 | 13 | UMS&T (MO) | Gateway | |
| 15 | 15 | MTSU (TN) | SCRC | Lost to Memphis (16) |
| 16 | 17 | Belmont Abbey (NC) | Southern | Lost to Furman (1) |
| 17 | 22 | Montana State (MT) | Rocky Mountain | Beat Colorado Mesa |
| 18 | 12 | UW-Platteville (WI) | Great MW | Lost to UW-Whitewater (6) |
| 19 | 18 | UNC-Charlotte (NC) | Southern | Beat Appalachian State |
| 20 | 19 | Auburn (AL) | SCRC | Beat Ole Miss |
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| 21 | 20 | Coast Guard (CT) | New England-Wide | Beat Bentley |
| 22 | 21 | Boston University (MA) | New England-Wide | Lost to Norwich (4) |
| 23 | 26 | UNC-Wilmington (NC) | Southern | Beat Citadel (29) |
| 24 | 27 | Bucknell (PA) | MARC | Beat York |
| 25 | Unr | Villanova (PA) | MARC | Beat TCNJ (36) |
| 26 | 24 | Loyola-Chicago (IL) | Great MW | Beat Northwestern |
| 27 | 34 | Principia (IL) | Gateway | Beat Washington University |
| 28 | 23 | Marist (NY) | Tri-State | Forfeit Win |
| 29 | 25 | USMMA (NY) | Tri-State | Beat Seton Hall |
| 30 | 28 | UNC (NC) | Southern | |
| 31 | 29 | Citadel (SC) | Southern | Lost to UNC-Wilmington (26) |
| 32 | 32 | Thomas More (KY) | MCRC | Beat Miami of Ohio |
| 33 | Unr | Pitt State (KS) | Gateway | Beat Central Missouri (39) |
| 34 | 35 | Virginia (VA) | Cardinals | Beat Christendom College |
| 34 | Unr | Loyola (MD) | MARC | Beat Georgetown (33) |
| 35 | 37 | Grand Valley State (MI) | Great Lakes | Beat SVSU |
| 36 | 39 | Central Missouri (MO) | Gateway | Lost to Pitt State |
| 38 | Unr | Drexel (PA) | MARC | Beat East Stroudsburg |
| 39 | 38 | RPI (NY) | Tri-State | Forfeit Win |
| 40 | 33 | Georgetown (DC) | MARC | Lost to Loyola Md. |
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