College Power Rankings, Presented By NUTC [March 4, 2020]

There's a new #1 in D-III women's!

March 4, 2020 by Ultiworld in Rankings with 0 comments

Here are this week’s College Power Rankings, presented by the National Ultimate Training Camp!

While our College Power Rankings can always been found on our permanent rankings page, every week during the season we will post the current edition here on the front page to facilitate discussion in the comments and serve as a permalink for each week’s rankings.

D-I Women’s Power Rankings

D-I Women’s Discussion

• With no ranked teams in action this past weekend, there are no changes for the D-I Women this week. BYU‘s undefeated weekend at least made us think about returning them to the Top 25, but wasn’t enough to propel them past any of the idle teams currently populating the list.

D-I Men’s Power Rankings

D-I Men’s Discussion

• In one of the quieter weekends of the spring, the only action on the men’s board comes near the back end. William & Mary crash out of the Top 25 after a seventh-place finish at Easterns Qualifier that included losses to South Carolina and Dartmouth. South Carolina also fall out and are replaced by EQ champions Alabama, making their first-ever appearance in our Power Rankings.
• Making their 2020 debut bow in the Top 25 are Oregon State. While they were idle this past weekend, they have been hovering around the back of our list for about a month — their early season win over UCLA and close losses to Colorado and Oregon continue to age well. We’ll see if they can hang on to their spot this weekend at Stanford Invite.

D-III Women’s Power Rankings

D-III Women’s Discussion

• We have a new #1 this week! Puget Sound put together a dominant tournament-winning run at PLU BBQ, crushing all comers and firmly establishing themselves as the team to beat in the Northwest. Couple those results with Oberlin’s shaky showing at Commonwealth Cup and it was time to bump Clearcut ahead of the reigning national champs.
• Mount Holyoke flexed their regional strength on Sunday, sweeping a five-team round robin event in Maine. The result sees them rise four spots to #11 and has hem sitting as the highest-ranked team in New England according to the algorithm, though neither Middlebury nor Williams have taken the field for sanctioned play yet this spring. At the same event, #16 Colby knocked off Bates to hop up seven positions, sending Cold Front toppling back 12 spots to #18.
• On the opposite coast, Occidental collected a pivotal win over regional rivals Claremont at the latter’s home tournament. Not only does WAC climb to #20, the victory over Claremont has the potential to decide the region’s auto bid.
• Catholic returns to the board at #25 after two weeks on the outside, thanks to a one-point win over North Georgia at Cutlass Classic in Greenville, NC. Aurea otherwise looked like the stronger D-III side at the tournament, and only dip a couple places to #12

D-III Men’s Power Rankings

D-III Men’s Discussion

• With eight ranked teams squaring off in North Carolina, it’s no surprise that FCS D-III Tune Up lights up our board this week. Near the top, Richmond‘s showcase game victory over Missouri S&T earns the Spidermonkeys the #2 spot in our rankings this week, though Miner Threat holds on to the #3 spot with an otherwise tidy weekend in North Carolina. Portland also vault into the Top 5 thanks to a 5-2 record on the weekend, including the lone win over Richmond.
• FCS also produced big swings elsewhere in the Top 25. #13 Xavier, #14 Brandeis, #15 Navy, and #16 Shippensburg all rocket up the board after all finishing the weekend at 5-2. None have a consistently solid resume over the course of the season so far, but all have flashed the potential of a Top 10 team with wins or tight losses to the division’ elite tier. The same can also be said of new-to-the-rankings #18 Messiah, though their 3-4 record at FCS certainly raises a few flags.
• Going the other direction coming out of FCS are Oberlin and UNC Asheville. The Flying Horsecows sink six places to #21, dragging Cedarville down with them. Meanwhile, Asheville falls out of the Top 25 entirely, though by all accounts their 2-5 record on the weekend belies how well they actually played.
• A one-day round robin in Maine muddled the New England pecking order, as Colby, Bowdoin, and Bates traded wins against each other. While Colby holds tight at #7 as the only one of the trio to notch a victory over D-I Maine at their home tournament, Bowdoin drops down four spots to #9 and Bates enters the rankings at #19, further crowding an already packed set of New England contenders.
• Southwest rivals Occidental and Claremont clashed for the first time this season at the Claremont Ultimate Classic, with the visitors taking two wins off their hosts. That brings Occidental in at #24, while dropping Claremont right to the precipice at #25, sixteen spots lower than last week.
• With so many new squads earning their way into the Power Rankings this week, several others needed to make way. Georgia College, Luther, and Amherst all fall out while idle. Sul Ross State, last week’s #16, also drop out, despite some decent results this past weekend. However, they traveled to Mardi Gras with far too few players, precipitating a pair of forfeits on Sunday as the team chose to bail early for a head start on the drive home. That early exit earns them the scorn of both our voters and tournament directors, and could be a sign that they may not have the depth to truly compete in the South Central.