We have 10 games in which both teams in the matchup are ranked by GRR either in our D1A ranking or NCR D1 ranking.
"Hey Goff" we hear you call out "how about merging those two rankings?"
Eh ... maybe. What good would it do? We would have to rank Queens at about #18 or #19 among D1A teams after their loss to Penn State. Brown? Possible #16 ... hard to list them above Davenport (who sits at #15).
At the same time, you could look at our NCR D1 rankings and say Notre Dame beat Ohio State so Notre Dame should be ranked above Ohio State. It's a rich tapestry. But we think there wouldn't be much mixing in that ranking ... so what good would it do?
Moving on to this weekend, the Big Rivers have their semifinals in Chicago. GRR will be there for Friday's action and there's a decent chance of an upset there. The Big 10 has their 5th-place semifinals and their Cup semifinals. Predictions? Right now we'd have to say that Notre Dame and Ohio State are favored, but we think Indiana will play a lot better against Ohio State than they did a couple of weeks ago. Head Coach Luke Gross is looking for consistency both week-to-week and half-to-half and even moment-to-moment.
Elsewhere, Life vs Queens is a huge test for both in the Rugby East.
All-CRAA matchups we're excited about include #11 Arizona at #18 Colorado State, #12 Arkansas State at #4 Lindenwood, and #13 Adrian at #15 Davenport.
That first one is a non-conference game and part of Arizona's fall buildup. CSU is coming off a tough win over Colorado. The other two are in the Midwest D1A Conference, which is becoming more and more competitive. Don't get us wrong; we still think Lindenwood is the top dog in this pound, but the addition of Arkansas State makes this better, and both McKendree and Adrian are getting stronger. That, in fact, was the topic of a discussion we had with the Adrian players last year.
Here are the standings in the early going. This week's games could move these around a lot.
| Midwest D1A | W | L | T | PF | PA | PD | BT | BL | Pts |
| Adrian | 1 | 0 | 1 | 56 | 46 | 10 | 1 | 0 | 7 |
| Arkansas State | 1 | 0 | 1 | 36 | 27 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| Lindenwood | 1 | 0 | 0 | 72 | 0 | 72 | 1 | 0 | 5 |
| McKendree | 0 | 2 | 0 | 29 | 111 | -82 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Davenport | 0 | 1 | 0 | 10 | 19 | -9 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
