College Power Rankings, Presented By NUTC [Mar 6, 2024]

After a packed weekend, #1 spots change hands

March 6, 2024 by Ultiworld in Rankings with 0 comments

 

Ultiworld’s College Power Rankings, presented by the National Ultimate Training Camp!

While our College Power Rankings can always be 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.

Ultiworld Subscribers have access to team-by-team coverage in the Breakdown sections.

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D-I Women’s Division Power Rankings

D-I Women’s Division Discussion

• Vermont’s monumental win over UBC to take down Stanford Invite pushed them to #2, where they began this preseason. Not bad for winning your first regular season tournament since 2018.
• Both of the biggest fallers this week hail from the Northwest: Washington Element (-6) and Victoria Vikes (-10). Washington may have taken down Stanford, but also lost to both Pitt and SLO. UVic went 2-4, with their only wins coming in consolation against the teams that fell from the top 25 altogether.
• The benefactors of those wins over Washington, Pittsburgh returned to the top 25 while Cal Poly SLO cracked in at #20. Both the Southwest and surprisingly Ohio Valley look deep and could garner a healthy cut of the bid pie.

D-I Men’s Division Power Rankings

D-I Men’s Division Discussion

• UMass claimed the #1 spot with a win at Smoky Mountain Invite, knocking off UNC and initiating conversation comparing their resume to SLO’s spotless record with a lower SOS. The committee decided the strength of UMass’ success was enough. They are the only team aside from UNC that’s been ranked #1 since Nationals in 2022; this stint is very reminiscent of last year’s at present.
• Aside from the actual winner, big SMI upward movers were NC State, Vermont, and Pittsburgh. The latter assuaged FWU-inspired worries by falling just one goal short of reaching the final. Vermont looked strong in wins over Carleton and Brown. NC State shocked with a 5-2 weekend that included two wins over Minnesota.
• North Central reps Carleton and Minnesota took after SMI, while the SC’s Texas also underwhelmed. CUT and Grey Duck combined for 5-9. Meanwhile, Texas dropped games to both Cal and Minnesota.
• Utah State and Utah inspired some debate for the 25th spot, but Utah State convinced the committee by competing ably with the upper crust at SMI.

D-III Women’s Division Power Rankings

D-III Women’s Division Discussion

• Williams and St. Olaf flip flop after Williams notched two wins over ranked teams at No Sleep Till Brooklyn, most notably taking down #9 Wellesley on universe in the third place game. St. Olaf are dinged slightly for a universe point loss to then-unranked Truman State at a windy Midwest Throwdown.
• Speaking of which, welcome to the rankings Truman State TSUnami! While the wind was potentially an equalizer, rankers couldn’t ignore Truman State’s victory over a top five team and were swayed by TSUnami’s universe win over Northwestern, a team Vortex couldn’t topple.
• Other big movers include Wesleyan Vicious Circle, up four spots after playing Williams to universe, nicely beating Bates 9-6, and beating Mount Holyoke to end their No Sleep Till Brooklyn outing. Mount Holyoke also took losses to three other teams at No Sleep and fall ten spots to settle below Wesleyan.
• Lehigh Gravity are rewarded with the #15 spot for making it to the Cherry Blossom Classic final with strong win-margins over teams, beating #23 Catholic Nun Betta along the way. Catholic return to the rankings after some time away for their .500 showing at Cherry Blossom and are bolstered by playing Lehigh to 7-5 but held back by an earlier loss to Cedarville at Commonwealth Cup.
• After missing the bracket at No Sleep and losing to Wesleyan, Bates cling to the lost spot by the skin of their teeth, with the decision between ranking Cold Front or Claremont coming down to a vote. Ultimately, Bates’ struggles were seen as coming against good regional talent, while Claremont’s few early season wins and ten point loss to Carleton Eclipse seem worse with time.

D-III Men’s Division Power Rankings

D-III Men’s Division Discussion

• FCS D-III Tune Up presented the clearest(?) view of the division yet, and as a result only one team, Colorado School of Mines, retains their ranking from last week.
• Oklahoma Christian are back in front after the pervious top three underperformed to expectations, rose-ifying the Eagles’ results. Middlebury’s lone loss at No Sleep Till Brooklyn came at the hands of Williams, who signaled an early New England changing of the guard with the quarters win en route to an undefeated tournament title, while Richmond similarly performed well on the whole at FCS, only losing to the two undefeated teams by a total of three points. But at the top, those margins matter. And if weren’t their first outing, Colorado College might have suffered a bigger drop for Snow Melt losses to Denver and Colorado B, both teams Colorado Mines beat.
• St. Olaf jump to fill the vacancy at #2 for taking on all comers at Midwest Throwdown and putting Carleton CHOP on the cutting block.
• Whitman, Franciscan, and Lewis & Clark all enter the Top 10 after standout FCS showings. Franciscan in particular exploded onto the scene as the three went a combined 20-1, collecting wins over Berry, Navy, Michigan Tech, Davidson, and Kenyon, with the one L being #8 Lewis & Clark’s universe loss to #7 Richmond.
• Bowdoin drop like a stone for their losses to Penn State B and new-to-the-rankings College of New Jersey at Philly Special, the biggest fall amongst all divisions. Some felt Clown should slide even further, but concessions for terrible weather and a reluctance to overweight one tournament keep them on the right side of the Top 20.
• Both Davidson and Cedarville clear the Top 20, Davidson for their 5-2 FCS weekend with statement wins over Oberlin and Michigan Tech, and Cedarville for playing Davidson to universe back at Commonwealth Cup.
• We’ve still got a bevvy of teams to welcome to the rankings in Michigan Tech, UNC-Asheville, Union, and Puget Sound. #20 UNC-Asheville might have the most FCS wins of the grouping at 5-2, but DiscoTech recorded the coveted head-to-head to land at #16, while two of #23 Union’s five losses came by a combined three points to UNC-Asheville and Franciscan. Puget Sound weren’t at FCS but on the opposite coast, beating up on every team with the potential for a Series-eligible roster at PLU Men’s BBQ.

Ultiworld Subscribers, we have each teams most important result this season.