There’s plenty to update as we post our first Women’s DI College Rankings of 2015. The western and southern regions are up and moving, which means we’ll have to gauge those teams’ development against fall-oriented teams that have already peaked.

Speaking of those fall teams, the last ranking went up days before the fall championship’s final four, and a couple of interesting things happened. First, Penn State re-established some distance between itself and the competition, claiming the title with a 42-5 win over Norwich. Second, Quinnipiac was really good. The Bobcats played PSU to a 35-12 loss in the semis, and that performance (and its 55-32 win over Indiana for third) was significant enough to overcome Stanford, for now. We were tempted to place the Bobcats over BYU, but that 36-19 loss stuck in our minds.

Stanford, the perennial leader in the entire Pacific Mountain Conference, came very close to starting its season with a loss. UC Davis led the Cardinal until the final minutes of the game, when wing Chelsea Harris dotted down the tying points. All American flyhalf Nikki Richardson’s conversion awarded the 14-12 win.

The question became: Is Stanford weaker this year, or is UC Davis stronger? Stanford rebounded last weekend with a 52-0 shutout over Chico State and looked much more like a team with Nationals on the mind. But the relatively inexperienced, yet hungry, UC Davis also looked good in its 50-10 drubbing of Cal, so the Feb. 21 rematch with Stanford will have to answer those questions. Davis replaced Cal on the rankings and enters at No. 9, forcing a few idle teams down a spot. 

In the PMC North, the race has zoned in on Washington State and Oregon. Central Washington is the heavy favorite for the North title, and only one other team will accompany the Wildcats to conference playoffs in late April. The Ducks beat WSU 15-7 in January, and the teams will likely end the season with identical records, which means standings points and/or points differential will come into play. Neither of these teams are represented on our rankings, but if we expanded to Top 25, then they would be present.

The PMC South always has us scratching our heads, and predicting which team will end up on top is futile. UC San Diego and Arizona State emerged early on, but then the Sun Devils dropped a 23-12 contest to UC Santa Barbara – a team it had already defeated 34-18 on the road – in Arizona. So we’re keeping an eye on the Tritons, which beat UCLA 30-12 last weekend and Arizona 41-5 in its league opener.

On to the South, where Life University played its first-ever DI matrix match in the South Independent Rugby Conference (SIRC). The Running Eagles dismantled Florida State 90-0, and saw three of its new additions – Kaitlyn Broughton (4), Megan Rom, Heidi Tressler – score tries. The SIRC game-to-watch will occur on Feb. 21, when Life travels to Central Florida, the traditional leader in the conference.

Finally, a big game occurred in the Mason Dixon conference. The North division wrapped up its games in the fall, but the South has extended into the spring to wrap up its season. North Carolina played its first matrix match last weekend and piled on three tries in the final 15 minutes to beat UVA 29-10. Solid breakdown work from the forwards, and line-breaks from Naya Tapper and Tavoiya Whitworth (two tries apiece) aided the victory. We think UVA will get better throughout the spring, but for now, that means a position swap with UNC.

DI College Games: Feb. 7-8
Pacific Mountain Conference
North
Oregon State @ Washington State
Central Washington @ Washington

West
Stanford @ Cal
UC Davis @ Chico State

South
Arizona State @ UCLA
Arizona State @ UC San Diego (Sunday)
UCLA @ UC Santa Barbara (Sunday)

South Independent
Life @ Tennessee
Florida @ Florida State

Non-Conference
UVA vs. James Madison