One of the biggest decisions we have to make in our rankings is whether to keep a tie as a tie in the rankings.
Yes Notre Dame College tied Davenport, but does that mean they have to be deadlocked from now on? This week, we've decided to separate the two. This is mostly because Davenport still has some games to play, and the data on NDC is pretty heavy, if a bit confused.
Had NDC beaten St. Bonaventure on September 21, this would be pretty easy. NDC beat Army, lost to Penn State and Kutztown competitively, and while the Falcons lost to Iowa Central CC, it was 22-20 and NDC rested some guys. So we could confidently put NDC up in the Top 10. But this week, NDC lost to Navy in a game they could easily have won. You know we think Navy is strong, so in this case, that loss carries some weight.
At the same tie, St. Bonaventure is also confused. Beat NDC, but lost to University of Notre Dame (switch the wins and losses and our job gets a whole lot easier). Then SBU beats Iona, who beat the Fighting Irish convincingly.
So do we keep SBU behind Notre Dame, but ahead of Iona, who beat Notre Dame? You see the issue.
And finally, one more dilemma; when teams are idle, and those around them lose or don't do what we expect, when can we move them up? We're looking at Arizona, Central Washington, and Grand Canyon.
Well the answer to that question is, there are games to come soon. A good January result for those teams means a lot, because right now we've seen nothing.
As for those other questions, we've decided to value NDC's close loss to Navy and win over Army enough to break the tie with Davenport. We have decided that Davenport could well move past NDC at some point, but losing by 40 to Lindenwood won't do it. NDC hasn't played Lindenwood, but lost by two to Navy, who lost by five to Lindenwood, so there's that.
And we have to kind of dismiss St. Bonaventure's 13-10 loss on the road in the rain to Notre Dame, and instead take SBU's win over Iona this past weekend more at face value.
Our additional problem is that we feel that Indiana is stronger now then they were in early September, but Iona beat Indiana 33-5 in early September. Had that game been really close, we might have tossed the result at some point. But 33-5 is difficult to ignore.
You ever wonder who is #41? This week, it's Fairfield, and even with their season finished, they could move up if the teams 35-40 have trouble.
Goff Rugby Report D1A Rankings: Week 11 | |||
| Rank | Prev | Team | Notes |
| 1 | 1 | Life | |
| 2 | 2 | Cal | |
| 3 | 3 | Lindenwood | Beat Davenport (10) |
| 4 | 4 | Navy | Beat Notre Dame College (10) |
| 5 | 5 | St Mary's | |
| 6 | 6 | Kutztown | |
| 7 | 7 | Arkansas State | |
| 8 | 10 | Notre Dame College | Lost close game to Navy (4) |
| 9 | 9 | BYU | Beat New Mexico |
| 10 | 10 | Davenport | Lost to Lindenwood (3) |
| 11 | 8 | Army | |
| 12 | 12 | Penn State | Game canceled |
| 13 | 26 | St. Bonaventure | Beat Iona (13) |
| 14 | 13 | Iona | Lost to St. Bonaventure (26) |
| 15 | 14 | Indiana | |
| 16 | 15 | Ohio State | |
| 17 | 16 | Colorado | Beat Wyoming |
| 18 | 17 | Illinois | |
| 19 | 18 | Arizona | |
| 20 | 19 | Colorado State | |
| Goff Rugby Report D1A Rankings: Week 11 | |||
| 21 | 20 | Notre Dame | |
| 22 | 21 | UCLA | |
| 23 | 22 | Central Washington | |
| 24 | 27 | Northeastern | Beat Boston College (28) |
| 25 | 23 | Grand Canyon | |
| 26 | 24 | Clemson | |
| 27 | 37 | American International College | Beat Syracuse (31) 19-17 |
| 28 | 25 | Texas A&M | |
| 29 | 28 | Boston College | Lost to Northeastern (27) |
| 30 | 31 | Syracuse | Lost 19-17 to AIC (36) |
| 31 | 30 | Wisconsin | |
| 32 | 32 | Mary Washington | |
| 33 | 29 | Oklahoma | Lost to Lindenwood-Belleville (DIAA) |
| 34 | 33 | UC Davis | |
| 35 | 38 | Utah Valley | Beat Utah State |
| 36 | 34 | San Diego State | |
| 37 | 35 | Texas | |
| 38 | 36 | Michigan | |
| 39 | 39 | Fordham | Beat Binghamton |
| 40 | 40 | Air Force | |
| Goff Rugby Report D1A Rankings: Week 11 | |||
