BGSU RUGBY FOOTBALL CLUB FORUM

[Bernie]

Article and ranking courtesy of Goffonrugby.com

Updated: 3/12/08

March 12, 2008 - Midweek games give a last little jolt to the ERugbyNews Top 25. Penn State started their tour with a loss to Claremont, but one that was mostly designed to get all their players on the field. More telling was their 45-29 loss to Cal Poly.

Remember Penn State is still digging out of winter and Cal Poly is in mid-season. A good result, the, really, for both.

Moving up this week are BYU, which won the game they really needed to win, and Utah, who lost that game but showed how close they can be.

San Diego State was very impressive against their two Arizona opponents. Colorado moves up with a Sunday win over New Mexico (that didn't look all that good at halftime, 8-7 Lobos), and a Friday win over the Queen City club. Central Washington, Dartmouth and UCLA all move up as A&M drops a little and Arizona drops out. Coming in for the first time is Kansas State. Often an also-ran team in the Central, they have added a couple of players in the spring that put them over the top for two very impressive victories this past weekend.

UC Davis is down again after a tie with Stanford. Mostly they are hit (five-place drop) because other teams below them did well. The Aggies can bounce back easily.

And Cal. Well, here's the thing. In our opinion, Cal has this sewn up. Unless 30 of their players get hit with the flu (knock on wood that doesn't happen) they will romp to the national championship. Cal teams have been good before, and very good before, and good but vulnerable before. This team is the best we've seen since 2002. And here's the other thing, their 2nd-grade side wins most of their games by at least 80 points. They could conceivable enter their next group of 25 players in the opposite bracket and meet themselves in the final. In all seriousness, it's doubtful it would really happen if we tried it. But what we're saying is this: Cal is ranked #1 and we see nothing right now that will remove them from that spot for the rest of the season.

And if you are a team that succeeds in accomplishing just that, feel free to gloat at our expense.

Men DI College W-L

1 Cal (1) 16-0
78-0 over Texas A&M (21)

2 Air Force (2) 5-1-1
Lost to Glendale club

3 BYU (4) 9-1
30-27 over Utah (7)

4 Kutztown (3) 7-0

5 Bowling Green (5) 9-0

6 Utah (7) 10-4
Lost 30-27 to BYU (4)

7 San Diego St. (8 ) 12-1
42-21 over Arizona (24), 69-0 over Ariz. St.

8 Navy (6) 9-2-1

9 Cal Poly (9) 9-3
Beat Penn State (14) 45-29

10 St. Mary's (10) 11-2
62-7 over Chico State, 42-24 over A&M (21)

11 Wyoming (12) 6-1

12 Colorado (13) 7-2
Beat Queen City club and UNM 38-11

13 Penn State (14) 6-2
Lost to Claremont in scrimmage. Lost 45-29 to Cal Poly (9)

14 Arkansas St. (15) 10-0

15 LSU (16) 7-0

16 UC Davis (11) 8-2-1
19-19 tie with Stanford

17 Delaware (17) 9-2
49-5 over Maryland

18 Army (18 ) 9-3
Lost to Boston Irish Wolfhounds

19 Tennessee (19) 12-1
44-28 over Clemson

20 Minnesota (20) 9-1

21 Cent. Wash. (22) 7-4
43-20 over WSU

22 Dartmouth (23) 8-4-1
Tour of England coming up

23 Texas A&M (21) 14-4
Lost 78-0 to Cal (1), 42-24 to St Mary's (10)

24 UCLA (25) 10-4

25 Kansas St (Unr) 10-2
61-0 over Oka. St., 51-12 over Oklahoma

[Bernie]

A truckload of movement this week in the Down Under Endeavours Top 25 and most of it is within the top 15.

No fewer than eleven teams have improved their rankings, while five others have slipped down the order.

The biggest improver is BYU, which moves back into the top three after gutting out a tight win against instate rivals Utah in the Wasatch Cup.

That victory stitched up the Pacific Coast’s #2 seed for the Cougars and got them an automatic pass into the Round of 16.

St Mary’s is nipping at their heels following another triumph, this time against visiting Texas A&M Tuesday night. Southern California frontrunners San Diego State and Cal Poly are also right up there in the wake of fresh victories. The Mustangs got by Penn State on Tuesday night after their conference win at the weekend.

Other teams on the way up this week include LSU, Colorado, Tennessee, Army, Arkansas State, Delaware, and Dartmouth. On the downward slide are UC Davis, Kutztown, Utah, A&M, and Arizona.

1 (1) California (11-0) [5]
2 (2) Navy (8-2-1) [4]
3 (6) BYU (8-1) [5]
4 (5) St Mary’s (14-2) [5]
5 (7) San Diego State (8-1) [3]
6 (8 ) Cal Poly (10-3) [3]
7 (3) UC Davis (9-2-1) [5]
8 (9) LSU (8-0) [3]
9 (4) Kutztown (7-0) [4]
10 (11) Colorado (7-2) [3]
11 (10) Utah (9-4) [5]
12 (13) Tennessee (10-1) [2]
13 (14) Army (9-2) [2]
14 (15) Arkansas State (10-0) [2]
15 (17) Delaware (6-2) [4]
16 (12) Texas A&M (8-6) [3]
17 (18 ) Dartmouth (7-2-1) [2]
18 (16) Arizona (7-6) [3]
19 (19) Penn State (4-4) [4]
20 (20) Sam Houston State (7-3) [3]
21 (21) Bowling Green (10-0) [1]
22 (22) Oregon State (6-4) [2]
23 (23) Nebraska (5-5) [3]
24 (24) Air Force (3-2) [3]
25 (25) Minnesota (5-1) [1]

[Bernie]

A little bit of movement in this week’s Down Under Endeavours Top 25 even though not all conferences were active this past weekend.

The big mover is Central Washington, which debuts at #16 after wrapping up the Pacific Northwest conference.

The Warthogs dispatched Washington in no uncertain terms to clinch the PNW title, and in doing so, stitched up home field advantage for one of the Pacific Coast’s playoff brackets.

Other teams on the way up this week include LSU, Colorado, and Midwest champs Bowling Green who finally got a game in after a lengthy hiatus due to the weather. The Falcons beat Virginia Tech 48-14 Sunday in Blacksburg, VA.

Several other teams have dropped including UC Davis, Texas A&M, Dartmouth, Sam Houston State, and Arizona, while Oregon State dropped out of contention altogether. So, after plugging all the raw data into the ARN spreadsheet, here is this week’s Down Under Endeavours Top 25.

1 (1) California (13-0) [5]
2 (2) Navy (8-2-1) [4]
3 (3) BYU (8-1) [5]
4 (4) St Mary’s (14-2) [5]
5 (5) San Diego State (9-1) [3]
6 (6) Cal Poly (11-3) [3]
7 (8 ) LSU (8-0) [3]
8 (10) Colorado (8-2) [3]
9 (9) Kutztown (7-0) [4]
10 (7) UC Davis (9-3-1) [5]
11 (11) Utah (9-4) [5]
12 (12) Tennessee (10-1) [2]
13 (13) Army (9-2) [2]
14 (14) Arkansas State (10-0) [2]
15 (15) Delaware (6-2) [4]
16 (unranked) Central Washington (7-2) [2]
17 (16) Texas A&M (8-6) [3]
18 (17) Dartmouth (7-2-1) [2]
19 (19) Penn State (5-4) [4]
20 (21) Bowling Green (11-0) [1]
21 (20) Sam Houston State (7-3) [3]
22 (18 ) Arizona (7-7) [3]
23 (23) Nebraska (5-5) [3]
24 (24) Air Force (3-2) [3]
25 (25) Minnesota (5-1) [1]