There's little doubt that the national champion crowned on December 8 will be our #1 as every team in that final four has done more than just win a couple of playoff games, but has been consistently strong.
However, they're not untouchable. Norwich lost an early regular-season game, albeit by a single point. Whitewater lost the conference final, albeit only 10-5. Queens raced through its conference season, but lost a non-league game to Southern Virginia.
UMS&T beat everyone in their league but most of the games were very close. What we're trying to say is, this has been a hugely competitive DII season with at least the top eight teams capable of winning it all.
As to the rankings: Norwich stays #1 because they won twice. Queens jumps to #2 after finally playing out of their conference and logging impressive scores. Queens could have jumped to #1 but it's difficult to drop a #1 team that doesn't lose. In addition, Norwich's overtime victory over Furman was against the team we had at #2. That tells us we had those rankings right. Furman hangs close at #3.
Whitewater's 10-5 loss to Illinois State in the Great Midwest final is somewhat put aside thanks to a pretty impressive performance in the playoffs. But again we buck the actual playoff order of finish in keeping Vermont in the top five. UVM lost to Whitewater 19-17—they don't deserve to be dinged to much for that.
UMS&T was a surprise for us, not that they were good, but that they were good enough to beat Illinois State. They did well and jump to #6, but could be higher. Illinois State, in losing only 13-10 to S&T, hangs close at #7.
The success of Memphis also drags up MTSU from the SCRC. We see some other conference coattails, notably for Coast Guard in the NEWCRC, and for Pitt State in the Gateway. The Great Lakes all drop a little because GVSU couldn't take the field—the reasons are good reasons, but still if your team can't play, we can't put you in the top 20. GVSU, Bethel, and Central Michigan all seem to be pretty close and are in the 20s.
Also moving u is Thomas More. After Whitewater proved its mettle in the last two playoff rounds, we went back and saw how a 48-24 loss to Whitewater is in fact better than most Great Midwest teams did against the Warhawks, and on further reflection we felt More should move up six spots to #31.
Goff Rugby Report Fall 2019 Men's DII College Rankings Nov 25 2019 | ||||
| Rank | Prev | Team | Conference | Notes |
| 1 | 1 | Norwich (VT) | Rugby Northeast | Beat Loyola (9), Furman (2) |
| 2 | 7 | Queens (NC) | Cardinals | Beat Lehigh (15), UMass-Lowell (8) |
| 3 | 2 | Furman (SC) | Southern | Beat WPU (24), Lost to Norwich (1) |
| 4 | 6 | UW-Whitewater (WI) | Great MW | Beat Vermont (3), Memphis (26) |
| 5 | 3 | Vermont (VT) | New England-Wide | Lost to UW-Whitewater (6) |
| 6 | 13 | UMS&T (MO) | Gateway | Montana State (14), Beat Illinois State (9) |
| 7 | 5 | Illinois State (IL) | Great MW | Beat Moorhead (20), Lost to UMS&T (13) |
| 8 | 26 | Memphis (TN) | SCRC | Beat Villanova (4), Lost to UW-Whitewater (6) |
| 9 | 8 | UMass-Lowell (MA) | Rugby Northeast | Beat Central Michigan (29), lost to Queens (7) |
| 10 | 9 | Loyola-Chicago (IL) | Great MW | Lost to Norwich (1) |
| 11 | 4 | Villanova (PA) | MARC | Lost to Memphis (26) |
| 12 | 10 | Boston University (MA) | New England-Wide | |
| 13 | 11 | Bentley (MA) | Rugby Northeast | |
| 14 | 12 | Marquette (WI) | Great MW | |
| 15 | 14 | Montana State (MT) | Rocky Mountain | Lost to UMS&T (13), Beat Moorhead (20) |
| 16 | 15 | Lehigh (PA) | MARC | Lost to Queens (6) |
| 17 | 17 | Northern Colorado | Rocky Mountain | |
| 18 | 19 | UNC (NC) | Southern | |
| 19 | 20 | MSU-Moorhead (MN) | Northern Lights | Lost to Montana State (14), Illinois State (5) |
| 20 | 32 | MTSU (TN) | SCRC | |
| Goff Rugby Report Fall 2019 Men's DII College Rankings Nov 25 2019 | ||||
| 21 | 16 | Grand Valley State (MI) | Great Lakes | |
| 22 | 18 | Bethel (IN) | Great Lakes | |
| 23 | 21 | Minnesota-Duluth (MI) | Great Midwest | |
| 24 | 27 | Pitt State (KS) | Gateway | |
| 25 | 24 | William Paterson (NJ) | Tri-State | Lost to Furman (2) |
| 26 | 29 | Central Michigan (MI) | Great Lakes | Lost to UMass-Lowell (9) |
| 27 | 22 | Colorado Mesa (CO) | Rocky Mountain | |
| 28 | 23 | UNC-Wilmington (NC) | Southern | |
| 29 | 28 | SLU (MO) | Gateway | |
| 30 | 25 | RPI (NY) | Tri-State | |
| 31 | 37 | Thomas More (KY) | MCRC | |
| 32 | Unr | Coast Guard (CT) | New England-Wide | |
| 33 | 33 | Northern Michigan (MI) | Great MW | |
| 34 | 34 | UW-Platteville (WI) | Great MW | |
| 35 | 30 | USMMA (NY) | Tri-State | |
| 36 | 31 | Marist (NY) | Tri-State | |
| 37 | 35 | Shippensburg (PA) | MARC | |
| 38 | 36 | York (PA) | MARC | |
| 39 | 38 | UNC-Charlotte (NC) | Southern | |
| 40 | 39 | North Dakota State (ND) | Northern Lights | |
| Goff Rugby Report Fall 2019 Men's DII College Rankings Nov 25 2019 | ||||
