The key thing is to never rest on your laurels.
If you think you've figured it out (and we never thought that) then you probably haven't.
With college rugby so fluid we sat back and thought about how we would do the rankings this season. Was it laziness that we came up with a plan that reduced the number of rankings we put out? Maybe. But it's also because, really, there are four different D1 college divisions: D1A, NCR D1, CRAA/Independent D1AA, and NCR D1AA. They mix a little—just enough to give us some good comparisons—but sometimes they don't. So we decided that in our GRR rankings we will put them all together.
We are also dividing the rankings based on seasons. So if a team plays the majority of the season in the spring, you won't see them here. You might see a few teams ranked in both fall and spring, but it will be a relatively small number.
Now, we hear you. Some of you are not going to be happy at the mixing. It means some D1AA teams that would've been ranked among D1AA-only teams will not be ranked. D1A teams ranked below D1AA teams won't be too happy, and will (correctly) point out that a D1A schedule is, for the most part, harder week-to-week than a D1AA schedule. Our answer is this: perform. Do well in a tough schedule and you get rewarded. The tough schedule in and of itself won't get you ranked.
In the list below, if you don't find your team's name and you expect to, here are some reasons why you didn't:
1. You play the vast majority of your season in the spring;
2. You have had some key or large-scale player turnover, or a change in coaching, or both, and so we're just waiting to see how you come out of the gates;
3. The overall strength of your conference means we're probably waiting for someone from your conference to play out-of-conference for some context.
4. You're new to the D1 level.
At the same time, we have taken the plunge with the Big Rivers teams and put all but Aquinas (who are extremely new) in the Top 50 for the moment. Please remember, this is a bit of a new venture in a new format, so we will expect lots of movement. The good news, and we're pretty excited about it, is that we won't have teams floating through the fall (or freefalling for that matter) because they don't play 15s in the fall. But we are waiting on, say, the Southern Conference.
We have a little over 100 teams to worry about in the fall, and about 70 to worry about in the spring. So both rankings will be useful and meaningful. When we're finished in May we will end with a full all-season ranking.
Teams not currently ranked because they play the bulk of their season in the winter/spring: Arizona, Arizona State, Azusa Pacific, Baylor, Cal, Cal Poly, California, Central Washington, Chico State, Claremont Colleges, CSULB, FAU, FIU, Florida, Florida State, Fresno State, Gold Coast, Grand Canyon, Independent, Mira Costa College, Nevada, North Florida, North Texas, Oklahoma, PAC, Sacramento State, Saint Mary's, San Diego, San Diego State, San Jose State, Santa Clara, South Florida, Stanford, Texas, Texas A&M, UC Davis, UCF, UCLA, UCSB, UCSC, UCSD, Utah
Teams that could be ranked in both seasons because they play significant 15s in both seasons: Abilene Christian, Angelo State, Arkansas, Arkansas State, Boise State, Davenport, Houston, Iowa, Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, Life, Lindenwood, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma State, Oregon, Oregon State, Sam Houston State, Texas State, Truman State , UT Dallas, UTEP, UTSA, Washington, Washington State, Western Washington, plus certain D1A teams that make the playoffs.
OK, here goes:
