The DII fall championship enters its penultimate weekend, as the field of 16 shrinks down to four semifinalists. A lot of playoff rugby has occurred since our previous rankings, and we lend some explanation to the moves.

The top four teams have done nothing to sway opinion on their respective strength. Davenport clobbered the at-large Slippery Rock 132-3 in the Round of 32, and saw All American Danielle Ordway lead the box score with five tries (read more). No. 2 Winona put a long-anticipated post-season into motion, defeating Great Waters runner-up Univ. Illinois-Chicago 114-5 (read more), and No. 4 Bowdoin posted another shutout over New England Small College compatriot Tufts on Saturday.

Vassar won its opener 50-12 over the Mid-Atlantic’s third-best team, Delaware, but that wasn’t the most impressive result in the Brewers’ recent history. The Round of 16 host won the Tri-State championship with a 118-point win over Rutgers.

One hundred and eight points-against is more than enough reason to be removed from the Top 20, but Rutgers explained that it was using the match, which had no post-season ramifications in terms of advancement or hosting rights, to gain experience for its youth. They got further exposure in last weekend’s 31-24 win over Stonehill College. In the end, we used the Tri-State championship result to enforce Vassar’s offensive capabilities. This weekend will determine if we were being overly generous to Rutgers.

And Bloomsburg will be a big part of that answer, as the MARC champion will play Rutgers in Saturday's Round of 16. The Pennsylvania team took the conference title from Kutztown to the tune of 76-8, and followed with a 78-5 win over Grand Valley State in the Round of 32. Consequently, Kutztown fell from #6 to #10, but is still alive in the playoffs after a 26-17 win over Upstate #2 SUNY Geneseo Saturday.

Ithaca College inched up two spots after surviving a 24-19 Round of 32 match against Tri-State #3 Albany. We rewarded Albany with two spots in the rankings because while it hasn’t produced any upsets this season, the team has well pressured several teams still in the running for final four spots.

St. Michael’s and Stonehill essentially swapped spots after the former won the Rugby Northeast title 41-12. The Purple Knights followed with a 36-17 Round of 32 win last Saturday against Smith College.

In the middle of it all are Salisbury and Mary Washington. The pair met in the Capital conference final for the third consecutive year, only this time the title went to Salisbury, 31-17 (read more). The teams are the first two to clinch spots in the spring DII championship.

We added two new teams to the list: Montana State, which proved its worth during big wins against Colorado Mesa and Colorado College at the Rocky Mountain conference championship; and Cincinnati, which bettered Eastern Kentucky in the Ohio Valley final and followed up with a 41-13 Round of 32 win over UW La Crosse (read more).

Stay tuned for this weekend's playoff results.