The first (and second-to-last) NCAA regional rankings have been released.
Remember that regional rankings primarily take regional games into account. Teams are listed with their regional record first, followed by their overall record. For more information about the playoff format and how participants are determined, check out our FAQ.
Teams which have clinched automatic bids are in bold.
EAST
1 Delaware Valley 7-0 8-0
2 Hobart 6-0 6-0
3 Salisbury 6-1 7-1
4 St. John Fisher 7-1 7-1
5 Montclair State 7-1 7-1
6 Kean 7-1 7-1
7 Widener 7-1 8-1
8 Lycoming 6-1 7-1
8 Western New England 8-1 8-1
10 SUNY-Maritime 7-0 7-1
NORTH
1 Mount Union 7-0 8-0
2 Franklin 6-0 7-1
2 Wabash 7-0 8-0
4 North Central (Ill.) 6-1 7-1
5 Case Western Reserve 7-0 7-1
6 Illinois Wesleyan 7-1 7-1
7 Wheaton (Ill.) 7-1 7-1
8 Baldwin-Wallace 7-1 7-1
9 Wittenberg 5-1 7-1
10 Albion 5-1 5-3
SOUTH
1 Mary Hardin-Baylor 7-0 8-0
2 Johns Hopkins 7-0 8-0
3 Wesley 4-1 7-1
4 Trinity (Texas) 8-0 8-0
5 McMurry 5-1 6-2
6 Centre 7-0 7-0
7 Louisiana College 6-1 7-1
8 Thomas More 8-0 8-0
9 Hampden-Sydney 7-1 7-1
10 Washington and Lee 8-1 8-1
WEST
1 UW-Whitewater 6-0 8-0
2 St. Thomas 9-0 9-0
3 Linfield 6-0 7-0
4 Cal Lutheran 6-1 6-1
5 St. Olaf 7-1 7-1
6 Dubuque 7-1 8-1
6 Monmouth (Ill.) 8-1 8-1
8 Redlands 6-1 6-1
9 St. Scholastica 8-0 8-0
10 Lewis and Clark 7-0 7-0
As is often the case, there may be errors in the NCAA’s regional records. We will collect (like Delaware Valley, right off the bat) and send them to the NCAA.
The Redlands resume:
Redlands
6-1 .857 in-region
.575 SOS
Defeated No. 4 North North Central
Lost to No. 4 West Cal Lutheran
St. Olaf
7-1 .875 in-region
.524 SOS
Lost to No. 1 West St. Thomas
Sometimes with these first rankings it’s difficult for a West committee to know who is ranked in the North. I think the assumption has to be that Redlands-North Central wasn’t considered as a result against a regionally ranked opponent. Next week it should be.
Not that it makes a whole lot of difference with the geographical situation, but if Trinity gets past a regionally ranked team in Centre, could they move ahead of Wesley? Would imagine Wesley has a pretty stiff SOS advantage, but 9-0 vs 5-1 should count for something too.
Next Saturday could be interesting for St. Olaf. They are at St. John’s, which is playing a LOT better the last couple weeks.
Assume the Top Ranked Team runs the table!
EAST
1 *Delaware Valley 7-0 8-0 MAC
2 *Hobart 6-0 6-0 LL
3 *Salisbury 6-1 7-1 Assume they beat SJF
4 St. John Fisher 7-2 7-1
5 *Montclair State 7-1 7-1 NJAC
6 Kean 7-2 7-1 Loses to MSU
7 Widener 7-2 8-1 Loses to Del Valley
8 Lycoming 6-2 7-1 Loses to Del Valley
8 *Western New England 8-1 8-1 NEFC
10 *SUNY-Maritime 7-0 7-1 ECFC
All “survivors” have 2 losses
SOUTH
1 *Mary Hardin-Baylor 7-0 8-0 UMHB
2 *Johns Hopkins 7-0 8-0 CC
3 *Wesley 4-1 7-1 Assume they beat Huntingdon Pool B
4 *Trinity (Texas) 8-0 8-0 SCAC
5 McMurry 5-1 6-2 Beats LaCollege
6 *Centre 7-1 7-0 Loses to Trinity
7 Louisiana College 6-2 7-1 Loses to McMurry
8 *Thomas More 8-0 8-0 Pres AC
9 *Hampden-Sydney 7-1 7-1 ODAC
10 Washington and Lee 8-2 8-1 Loses to H-SC
Looks like there are 2 strong Pool C teams in the South, the ASC runner-up and the SCAC runner-up.
NORTH
1 *Mount Union 7-0 8-0 OAC
2 *Franklin 6-0 7-1 HCAC
2 * NCACWabash 7-0 8-0
4 *North Central (Ill.) 6-1 7-1
5 Case Western Reserve 7-0 7-1 Pool B as a C
6 Illinois Wesleyan 7-1 7-1 Pool C
7 Wheaton (Ill.) 7-2 7-1 Lost to NCC
8 Baldwin-Wallace 7-2 7-1 Lost to UMU
9 Wittenberg 5-2 7-1 Lost to Wabash
10 *Albion 5-1 5-3 MIAA
Two good Pool C candidates
WEST
1 * UW-Whitewater 6-0 8-0 WIAC
2 * St. Thomas 9-0 9-0 MIAC
3 * Linfield 6-0 7-0 NWC
4 * Cal Lutheran 6-1 6-1 SCIAC
5 St. Olaf 7-1 7-1 Pool C
6 * Dubuque 7-1 8-1 IIAC
6 *Monmouth (Ill.) 8-1 8-1 MWC
8 Redlands 6-1 6-1 Pool C
9 * St. Scholastica 8-0 8-0 UMAC
10 Lewis and Clark 7-1 7-0 Loss to Linfield
I think there are 2 strong Pool C’s here.
I think that the “East gets shutout” and the other regions contribute 2 teams.
St John’s just appears to be playing better, which is not hard to do playing Gustavus and Carleton back to back. I would not be surprised if St. Olaf goes into Collegeville and beats the Johnnies. The Gagliardi era is ending rapidly
It appears that the committee included the Redlands-North Central game as in-region for both teams, as Redlands’ and North Central’s regional records matches their overall records, minus North Central’s win over NAIA Bethel (Tennessee). Also, while I very much appreciate Ralph’s thoughts on the likely play-off selections, I am more than a little wary of putting the Wheaton game into the win column for North Central just yet.
nccscots, yes, it’s clear they get the records right. But that doesn’t mean they correctly realize that Redlands has a win against a ranked team.
The West committee ranks West teams on one conference call, while the North committee ranks North teams on a separate call, without knowledge of what each other is doing. The spot where that is supposed to come together and be fixed is on the national committee.
I’d like to see Del Valley win out in the East – not going to be easy considering who their last two is against, but, if they can do it, along with Hobart that’d be two “true” east teams as undefeated conference champions and would hopefully compell the NCAA to have MUC back to the North Bracket.
I just went through the conferences posted on the D3 Football website and counted 43 teams that had one or no losses so far this season. I also noticed that at least two of the conferences will have champions that have two or more losses. So we have only 32 spots open for post-season play. In two weeks when the regular season games have played out this number will have dwindled some. What I am curious to know, because it was talked about during the year, is there any chance for a 2 loss team that did not win their conference to be selected by the committee ahead of one of the no loss or one loss teams?
Admin:
Thanks for the explanation regarding regional records and rankings. This may be a foolish question, but is the national committee you referred to the committee that will set the play-off participants and brackets? Thanks.
There are four eight- or nine-member regional committees (made up of coaches and ADs who in theory have played against or otherwise seen every team).
The two co-chairs of each committee come together to form (like Voltron) the national selection committee.
Pat, er, admin makes a good point. So far each regional committee has met separately, not privy to what the other is discussing. Now that the rankings are released, each regional committee knows what the other regional committee thinks, at least as of last week, and can factor that into it its own rankings where relevant (like in the cases of Redlands-North Central or Kean-Wesley-Salisbury)
Keith and Admin (Pat):
This may require completely uninformed speculation on your parts, and is likely not particularly relevant, but would the regional committees have estimated, perhaps informally, how the other regional committees would rank certain teams outside their regions, i.e., North Central for the West Region Committee and Redlands for the North Region Committee? Also, is the published list the complete one, or do the committees rank teams beyond the top ten? Thanks.
I’ll reply with this name if it makes people feel better. 🙂
I suspect they may well rank more than 10. They definitely do, or should, on Selection Sunday, in case all of their 10 teams get selected and more teams could come to the table.
I don’t think the regional committees should speculate how another region would rank its teams, but the national committee conference call, which occurs after the regional committee ranks teams, is supposed to look at all four regions’ rankings and take that information into account.
Someone please explain to me how Thomas More is 8th in the overall rankings and 8th in the South Region. This makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. Once again, no respect given to the Saints. It seems like an ongoing trend over the past few years..
Well, for what it’s worth, Thomas More is probably a little overrated nationally. Take a look at their strength of schedule. Really low.
Top 25 Rankings
Redlands-16th
St. Olaf 19th
Redlands beat an 8 week ranked team.
Dubuque & Monmouth lost to an early ranked team…now not ranked at all.
Redlands only loss is to an 8 week ranked team.
Redlands SOS=26
Monmouth SOS=41
St. Olaf SOS=77
Dubuque SOS=177
How is Redlands NOT in front of these teams in their region?
1st Regional rankings How they fared
SOUTH
1 Mary Hardin-Baylor 7-0 8-0 Beat SRSU
2 Johns Hopkins 7-0 8-0 Beat F&M
3 Wesley 4-1 7-1 Beat Apprentice
4 Trinity (Texas) 8-0 8-0 Beat Centre
5 McMurry 5-1 6-2 Beat LaCollege
6 Centre 7-0 7-0 Lost to Trinity
7 Louisiana College 6-1 7-1 Lost to McMurry
8 Thomas More 8-0 8-0 Lost to Waynesburg
9 Hampden-Sydney 7-1 7-1 Beat W&L
10 Washington and Lee 8-1 8-1 Lost to H-SC
Hey ndoc……St. John’s 27, St. Olaf 24. Tee hee 🙂
EAST
1 Delaware Valley 7-0 8-0 Beat Lycoming
2 Hobart 6-0 6-0 Lost to RPI. Must beat Rochester.
3* Salisbury 6-1 7-1 Clinched E8 with win over SJF
4 St. John Fisher 7-1 7-1 Lost to Salisbury
5 Montclair State 7-1 7-1 Beat Rowan. Faces Kean for NJAC
6 Kean 7-1 7-1 Beat Willy Pat. Faces MSU for NJAC
7 Widener 7-1 8-1 Open date. Faces Del Val for MAC Pool A
8 Lycoming 6-1 7-1 Lost to Del Valley
9 Western New England 8-1 8-1 Beat Mass Dartmouth; Plays Framingham State.
10 SUNY-Maritime 7-0 7-1 Lost ECFC crown to *Norwich
Clinched
ECFC Norwich
Empire 8 Salisbury
NORTH
1 Mount Union 7-0 8-0 Clinched OAC
2 Franklin 6-0 7-1 Clinched HCAC
2 Wabash 7-0 8-0 Clinched HCAC
4 North Central (Ill.) 6-1 7-1 Clinched CCIW
5 Case Western Reserve 7-0 7-1 Pool B. Beat Wash U, faces Carnegie-Mellon
6 Illinois Wesleyan 7-1 7-1 Beat Carthage; faces Augustana
7 Wheaton (Ill.) 7-1 7-1 Lost to NCC
8 Baldwin-Wallace 7-1 7-1 Lost to UMU
9 Wittenberg 5-1 7-1 Lost to Wabash
10 Albion 5-1 5-3 Cinched MIAA Lost to DePauw
Clinched
UMU OAC
Franklin HCAC
Wabash NCAC
North Central CCIW
Albion MIAA
SOUTH
1 Mary Hardin-Baylor 7-0 8-0 Beat Sul Ross ASC
2 Johns Hopkins 7-0 8-0 Beat F&M CC
3 Wesley 4-1 7-1 Pool B Beat Apprentice
4 Trinity (Texas) 8-0 8-0 Beat Centre; faces Austin Coll
5 McMurry 5-1 6-2 Beat LaCollege; faces Miss College
6 Centre 7-0 7-0 Lost to Trinity; faces Rhodes
7 Louisiana College 6-1 7-1 Lost to McMurry
8 Thomas More 8-0 8-0 Clinched Pres AC; Lost to Waynesburg
9 Hampden-Sydney 7-1 7-1 Beat W&L; Clinched ODAC; faces Randy Mac
10 Washington and Lee 8-1 8-1 Lost to H-SC.
Clinched
Centennial JHU
ASC UMHB
ODAC Hampden-Sydney
USA South CNU
SCAC Trinity
Pres AC Thomas More
WEST
1 UW-Whitewater 6-0 8-0 Beat UWEC; Clinched WIAC
2 St. Thomas 9-0 9-0 Beat Carleton; Clinched MIAC
3 Linfield 6-0 7-0 Beat Whitworth; Face L&C
4 Cal Lutheran 6-1 6-1 Plays Chapman tonight
5 St. Olaf 7-1 7-1 Lost to St Johns
6 Dubuque 7-1 8-1 Clinched IIAC
6 Monmouth (Ill.) 8-1 8-1 Clinched MWC
8 Redlands 6-1 6-1 Plays Whittier tonight
9 St. Scholastica 8-0 8-0 Clinched UMAC
10 Lewis and Clark 7-0 7-0 Lost to Willamette
Clinched
WIAC UWW
MIAC St Thoams
IIAC Dubuque
MWC Monmouth
UMAC St Scholastica
Other conferences that have been clinched
North Region: NATHC Bendectine
West Region: SCIAC Cal Lutheran
By my count, 20 have clinched.
Up for grabs:
Liberty League
Middle Atlantic Conference
NEFC
NJAC
NWC
Will Wheaton college make the playoffs this year. What do you think are the odds of that happen