College Power Rankings, Presented by NUTC [February 18, 2026]

February 21, 2026 by Ultiworld in Rankings

Ultiworld’s College Power Rankings, presented by the National Ultimate Training Camp. NUTC is celebrating its 26th Anniversary this summer!

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.

Special this week for subscribers: we’ve got each team’s biggest fear!

D-I Women’s Division Power Rankings

D-I Women’s Division Discussion

• This season was supposed to be a two- or maybe three-horse race, but why run in the race when you can fly? Stanford Superfly’s run to the semis at PDI, where they valiantly lost to Carleton and body slammed Washington 13-1, established them as one of the division’s heavyweights.
• Washington struggled in their opening event, getting smoked by Stanford and eliminated in quarterfinals by UBC 13-7. It is only the start of Element’s journey, but they didn’t hit the ground running by any means.
• New England’s powerhouses, Tufts and Vermont, are headed in opposite directions after their 2026 debuts. Tufts roared back from near defeat in the final with a run of breaks to take the tournament ground, while Vermont was felled in semifinals and put up some concerningly close wins.
• The team that took down Vermont, Pennsylvania Venus, flew into the top 10, nearly toppling Tufts in the final. It’s the first time UPenn has cracked the top 10 Power Rankings, but they might truly be one of the east’s best clubs.

D-I Men’s Division Power Rankings

D-I Men’s Division Discussion

• PDI shook up the top of the Power Rankings this week, with Colorado’s dismantling at the hands of Oregon in the final creating a pecking order for the division’s elite. Cal Poly SLO and UC Santa Cruz both made strides: SLO rebounded from a weak SBI by beating UVic, Stanford, and losing to Mamabird on universe, while UC Santa Cruz reached semis and played very tight to that same Boulder side.
• Meanwhile, QCTU reordered the back end of the rankings. Gone are Tufts and Virginia, making space for semifinalist UNCW and finalist Chicago. Why are they not in order of finish? Wilmington defeated Chicago in pool play, and both were eliminated by UNC. But armed with some fantastic handlers, both teams are on the up.
• Penn State, however, is headed the other direction from the QCTU brethren. A pool play loss to NC State shoved them into UNC’s path in the bracket, where they got trampled 13-6. There were high hopes for Spank to continue to build on the program’s recent success, but instead they might find themselves in competition for a strength bid.

D-III Women’s Division Power Rankings

D-III Women’s Division Discussion

• Carleton Eclipse was clear the big winner of the weekend, defeating all D-III competition at D3 Grand Prix. That includes four-goal wins over both Whitman and Lewis & Clark. Maddy Brown, Charlotte Gringo, and Lucy Zhang performed well for Eclipse in their strong opening performance.
• Sometimes, you have to look beyond the win and loss totals, especially in D-III. Colorado College moves up after a 2-5 D3 Grand Prix performance, with all but one of those losses coming close, and a 13-9 win over Portland.
• Puget Sound’s story is pretty similar to Colorado College’s, although their losses weren’t always quite as narrow. They did, however, defeat CoCo 8-7, good tidings for UPS.
• Welcome Cal Poly Humboldt to their first top 25 ranking! They earned a spot knocking off Claremont 9-5 at Santa Clara Rage during a 3-3 weekend.

D-III Men’s Division Power Rankings

D-III Men’s Division Discussion

• Look who is united back at the top: Middlebury and, now, Lewis & Clark. A 5-1 turn at D3GP, with wins over CHOP and Whitman, give Bacchus a leg up on the competition in a crowded field behind the Pranksters.
• On the other hand, Carleton CHOP ceded ground to the competition with losses to both L&C and Whitman. They did post a 5-2 record, though, so don’t count them out yet.
• Colorado School of Mines was a bigger winner at D3 Grand Prix, earning 13-9 and 13-10 victories over Claremont and Macalester, respectively. Mines is 8-4 on the season already and it isn’t even March.
• But D3GP was not kind to Claremont, who managed just a pair of wins in their six-game slate. Their close losses showed potential, but you can’t advance in the bracket with moral victories.

Just for subscribers, we’ve got each team’s biggest fear!