So many great games have occurred since the first Women DI Fall rankings, and some big shifts were needed. There were a handful of cross-conference games that not only provided great competition but also nice contrast.

Penn State, Lindenwood, and Army played a round robin in State College, Pa., and the visitors impressed (read more). The reigning DI champs exited the weekend with two wins, while the Lady Lions split games, and Black Knights dropped to 3-2 overall. But Army was very tough against Penn State and only trailed by one point (22-21) before PSU tacked on two tries for a more comfortable margin.

The question has become whether Lindenwood or Army is better than Central Washington, but a definitive answer won’t be reached this year. The Wildcats haven’t lost much talent, reloaded with All Americans, and they’ve bulked up their fall schedule with senior women’s team games as well as an East Coast tour against Norwich and Quinnipiac. But it’s going to be tough to hold onto that #2 slot.

Norwich has fallen off, dropping to no. 9 after losses to Quinnipiac and American International College. Both opponents celebrated their first-ever wins over the Cadets, who are needing more experience in the forwards. The loss of Ilona Maher was significant, and an injured Sheila Decker didn’t help.

Life University banked its first two games of the fall, heading north to play West Chester and Quinnipiac (read more). After a 45-0 win over the Golden Rams – a result that pushed West Chester off of the rankings for now – the Running Eagles battled to a 19-5 loss to the Bobcats. Life will be playing Army, Lindenwood, and Notre Dame College in Marietta, Ga., before the season’s over.

In the Ivy League, Brown handed Harvard a 44-17 defeat and then fell 8-5 to Dartmouth last weekend (read more). That result was enough to put the Big Green in the Top 20. To make room, North Carolina and Central Florida slid down to the bottom of the rankings simply because they’re still idle and active teams are getting better. This is a traditional trend until they start playing games. UNC and UVA – which has played DII friendlies thus far – will both play Lindenwood this weekend.

BYU and New Mexico opened up their Mountain West season with big wins - as expected (read more). They'll build toward their game against each other on Oct. 17.

UConn is still undefeated in the Northeast, adding a 17-10 victory over Boston University, to improve to 4-0, and Iowa State has beaten all its Midwest opponents. The pair inched up as a result.

And finally, Indiana replaced Michigan on the Top 20, having defeated the Wolverines 48-12 in conference play last weekend (read more). Besides Penn State, Notre Dame will be the team to beat if Indiana is to secure the second seed in the Big Ten.