Well, well, what to do. 

As often happens, the playoffs shake up the rankings pretty nicely. The question, as has been the question all season, is what results do you push aside and what results do you hold onto?

Chief among these results:

Kentucky over Lindenwood-Belleville 17-14 on October 19.

Lindenwood-Belleville 33-16 over Iowa Central CC on October 9.

Kennesaw State 29-19 over Tennessee on September 14.

Western Michigan 24-17 over Bowling Green on September 28 OR Bowling Green over Western Michigan 23-20 November 10.

Louisville over Bowling Green 27-18 on October 26.

All of these results make it less easy to just automatically say this team or that team is the top team.

Here's what we're thinking: 

1. Western Michigan has lost one game and that one by a last-second penalty goal 23-20. 

2. Dartmouth has not lost to a DIAA opponent, but their schedule is not super-strong. They lost close games to Penn State and Army, but we don't have a definitive result that says "these guys are #1." So, yes, we could put Dartmouth at #1, but we like to reward strength of schedule.

3. Iowa Central CC did indeed lose to Lindenwood-Belleville, who lost to Kentucky, who lost to both Tennessee and Kennesaw State, but the Tritons also beat Lindenwood-Belleville this fall and beat, Notably, Notre Dame College, a strong DIA team.

4. Virginia Tech barely lost to Iowa Central, and had they prevented that last try, could have been sitting at #1 right now. But Tech also lost a game this fall. 

5. The strong showing of the MAC helps the rest of the MAC. 

As a result, we're picking the most almost-perfect team as #1, and that's Western Michigan. Iowa Central or Dartmouth could be #1 as well, and they will have opportunities to prove it. Dartmouth will have more 15s games to play in the spring, and Iowa Central plays Western Michigan in two weeks.

GoffRugbyReport Men's D1AA Rankings 2019-20 Nov. 25 2019
Rank	Prev	College Team	Notes
1	6	Western Michigan	Beat Tennessee (4), St. Joseph's (1)
2	11	Iowa Central CC	Beat Virginia Tech (3), Bowling Green (5)
3	2	Dartmouth
4	3	Virginia Tech	Lost to Iowa Central (11), Beat Kennesaw State (7)
5	5	Bowling Green	Beat Kennesaw State (7), lost to Iowa Central (11)
6	4	Tennessee	Lost to WMU (6), Beat NC State (15)
7	1	St. Joseph's	Beat NC State (15), lost to Western Michigan (6)
8	7	Kennesaw State	Lost to Bowling Green (5), Virginia Tech (3)
9	8	Chico State	Lost to Cal Poly
10	9	Kentucky
11	11	Lindenwood-Belleville
12	14	Louisville
13	15	NC State	Lost to St. Joseph's (1), Tennessee (4)
14	10	CSULB
15	13	Kansas
16	16	Western Washington
17	17	West Chester
18	18	UCF
19	19	Boise State
20	20	Oregon
GoffRugbyReport Men's D1AA Rankings 2019-20 Nov. 25 2019
21	21	Salisbury
22	22	Oregon State
23	23	IUPUI
24	24	Maryland
25	25	Mount St. Mary's
26	26	Towson
27	31	Cincinnati
28	27	Iowa
29	29	Brown
30	28	Alabama
31	29	South Florida
32	30	Temple
33	32	Iowa State
34	33	Stanford
35	34	Pittsburgh
36	35	Rowan
37	37	Missouri
38	38	Sam Houston State
39	39	UT San Antonio
40	Unr	Delaware
GoffRugbyReport Men's D1AA Rankings 2019-20 Nov. 25 2019