Men DI College Rankings 2014-2015 #1
Men DI College Rankings 2014-2015 #1
Goff Rugby Report opens up the 2014-2015 Men's college season with our pre-season DI Men's College ranking.
In this ranking, which we will look to post every week, we may well expand the list, which currently numbers 30, depending on how teams perform.
Ideally, we'd like to rank as many as 100 teams, but for the pre-season, we'll start with 30.
Some notes: BYU and St. Mary's were the top two teams of last season, and they are the top two this season. It's highly debatable who would win a rubber match between these two, but BYU gets the nod based in part on history - St. Mary's a great every year, but BYU is a national champion contender every year. Life gets the nod over Cal for 3rd based on the Running Eagles' closer score v. St. Mary's last season, and based on the fact that Cal's best player, Seamus Kelly, has graduated.
Further down it remains a mishmash. Some teams were in the Varsity Cup, some in DIAA playoffs (the first round of which was dubious in its value), some were in ACRC, and some were in DIAA. Central Florida was clearly the class of DIAA, while Kutztown won ACRC.
Lindenwood and Davenport rank basically because they played Life close last year. Lindenwood were thrashed by St. Mary's in the playoffs, while Davenport did manage to beat Army on the road. It's a guess, at best.
We expect Indiana and Michigan to be strong again this year, and we expect the rebuilding Utah team to be tough, too. Army is a question-mark, and we dropped them in at #29 because we're just not sure what we'll see from the Black Knights this first year of varsity rugby.
| Goff Rugby Report 2014-2015 Preseason Men DI College Rankings | |
| Rank | Team |
| 1 | BYU |
| 2 | St. Mary's |
| 3 | Life |
| 4 | Cal |
| 5 | Arkansas State |
| 6 | Kutztown |
| 7 | UCLA |
| 8 | Cal Poly |
| 9 | Navy |
| 10 | Lindenwood |
| 11 | Central Washington |
| 12 | Central Florida |
| 13 | Utah |
| 14 | Dartmouth |
| 15 | Indiana |
| 16 | Penn State |
| 17 | Arizona |
| 18 | Arizona State |
| 19 | San Diego |
| 20 | Davenport |
| 21 | Bowling Green |
| 22 | Michigan |
| 23 | Stanford |
| 24 | Washington |
| 25 | Clemson |
| 26 | Maryland |
| 27 | Santa Clara |
| 28 | South Carolina |
| 29 | Army |
| 30 | Texas A&M |
Honorable Mention: There are many, many colleges that had solid years in 2013-2014, and others that have a shot to do well this year. Stony Brook, St. Bonaventure, LSU, Brockport, Wheeling Jesuit, San Diego State, Florida State, Florida, MTSU, Tennessee, Colorado State, Chico State, Miami (Ohio), West Virginia, Shippensburg, St. Joseph's, Harvard, Cornell, Brown, Long Beach State, AIC, Middlebury, Wisconsin, Oklahoma, Washington State, Oregon, Texas Tech.
