Well, it happened, and it happened in a big way. Idle as they are, the top four teams in our rankings are vulnerable to being pushed down by teams that play in the fall.
But the teams in the fall can't just do it on one or two victories; they have to build up a portfolio of results against strong opposition.
As it is, Navy finally did that, beating St. Bonaventure (in a shutout), Iona, Kutztown, Davenport, Air Force, Clemson, and Penn State. While Lindenwood could regain a top-four spot this coming weekend as the Lions play Navy on Saturday. But, it seems right to reward the team on the field, and Navy hasn't put a foot wrong.
And actually, we move Kutztown up past Lindenwood too. Why? Because Kutztown's loss to Navy was only by four points (and somewhat contested, too, to be honest). And Kutztown, other than that, has blown through a very tough Rugby East team.
Notre Dame gets a big boost. The win over St. Bonaventure was one we were suspicious of, but beating Syracuse and Michigan over the same weekend solidifies Notre Dame as a Top-20 team. Syracuse lost to the Fighting Irish, but in a close game, and then won on Saturday, and the Hammerheads move up.
Meanwhile, we struggled with sevens. We don't base our rankings on sevens, but sometimes good or poor sevens performance is a bit of an indicator of what we might expect later on. So, with that, we've made a few moves with the Californian teams, using the performance of Cal Poly and Santa Clara, especially, in the West Coast 7s to bump those teams up.
Yes, we know, Santa Clara isn't in the Top 40, but they're close, as is Utah, Fairfield, Mary Washington, and Buffalo.
Goff Rugby Report D1A Rankings: Week 8 | |||
| Rank | Prev | Team | Notes |
| 1 | 1 | Life | |
| 2 | 2 | Cal | |
| 3 | 3 | St Mary's | |
| 4 | 5 | Navy | Beat Penn State (9) |
| 5 | 6 | Kutztown | Beat St. Bonaventure (18) |
| 6 | 4 | Lindenwood | Beat St. Louis Bombers |
| 7 | 7 | Arkansas State | |
| 8 | 10 | BYU | Beat Wyoming |
| 9 | 9 | Penn State | Lost to Navy (5) |
| 10 | 8 | Davenport | Tied Notre Dame College (11) |
| 10 | 11 | Notre Dame College | Tied Davenport (8) |
| 12 | 12 | Army | Beat Mary Washington (42) |
| 13 | 13 | Iona | Beat AIC (35) |
| 14 | 14 | Indiana | Beat Purdue (46) |
| 15 | 15 | Ohio State | Beat Wisconsin (34) |
| 16 | 17 | Arizona | |
| 17 | 16 | Colorado State | Beat Utah Valley (39) |
| 18 | 29 | Notre Dame | Beat Syracuse (36), Michigan (32) |
| 19 | 19 | UCLA | |
| 20 | 20 | Central Washington | |
| Goff Rugby Report D1A Rankings: Week 8 | |||
| 21 | 21 | Illinois | Beat Minnesota (37) |
| 22 | 22 | Colorado | |
| 23 | 23 | Grand Canyon | |
| 24 | 18 | St. Bonaventure | Lost to Kutztown (6) |
| 25 | 36 | Syracuse | Lost to Notre Dame (29), beat Albany |
| 26 | 25 | Clemson | |
| 27 | 26 | Texas A&M | |
| 28 | 27 | Oklahoma | |
| 29 | 30 | Boston College | Beat UMass |
| 30 | 33 | Northeastern | Beat Fordham (38) |
| 31 | 24 | UC Davis | |
| 32 | 28 | San Diego State | |
| 33 | 31 | Michigan State | |
| 34 | 32 | Michigan | Lost to Notre Dame (29) |
| 35 | 35 | American International College | Lost to Iona (13) |
| 36 | 39 | Utah Valley | Lost to Colorado State (16) |
| 37 | 38 | Fordham | Lost to Northeastern (33) |
| 38 | 40 | Air Force | Beat Utah State (44) |
| 39 | 34 | Wisconsin | Lost to Ohio State (15) |
| 40 | 45 | Cal Poly | |
| Goff Rugby Report D1A Rankings: Week 8 | |||
