Men DI Top 25

Tuesday Apr 21, 2009 in Rankings DI Men's College

April 21, 2009 – For the staff at the ERugbyNews massive subterranean compound, this week’s men’s DI Top 25 was the hardest of the season to put together. So many upsets and surprising results threw a lot of the rankings for something of a loop.

Here’s what we discovered:
Arkansas State is for real. They brought it superbly the entire weekend and played with courage and tenacity. We knew they were good, but still they did well.

Navy is what they have been all season – maddeningly inconsistent. This was one of their poorer weekend and they needed to be good.

Dartmouth is an excellent team and smart. One sign of a smart team is how they improve over the season. They are better now than they were in the fall, and end up getting ranked above Army as a result.

St. Mary’s is also maddening. They can push Cal to the limit but tie Utah. They can look like the best team in the country, and then get blown out in the first 40 by Army. What do you do with them? We know they had some serious injuries, and their consolation win over Tennessee (20-15) might say more about Tennessee, and St. Mary’s coach Tim O’Brien’s lineup choice, than anything else. In the end we think that St. Mary’s is good enough to be in the top three, but can’t be credited with potential alone. This is the playoffs. We move them down.

San Diego State head coach Dan Payne loved the fact we ranked them lower than they deserved to be for so long. The Aztecs are outstanding.

LSU is also for real. Army is a great team, but are they one of the best four in the nation? Up to them to prove us wrong, because we still have reservations.

Tennessee lost both their games but did so in competitive fashion (26-12 to Penn State and 20-15 to St. Mary’s). Do you move them down because they lost twice, or move them up because they were closer then expected? We move them up.

The solid showing of the Northeast teams made us look again at Northeast programs that didn’t make it. Sticking out like a sore thumb is Syracuse, which lost a close one to Dartmouth in the Northeast playoffs, and did well all other times. They move back in.

Does it all seem fair? Army makes the Big Four and only moves up to #6. Cal Poly beats Air Force, and loses to Cal (who doesn’t?) and drops four places. Utah? They just didn’t do it when needed, and their lost to LSU shows they have a ways to go yet.

So, below, for your consideration, in perhaps the most tumultuous week of the Rankings in some time.