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