I’ve got no real problems with this one.
BYU, as I expected and was really hoping, are the unanimous #1. All 16 first-place votes. Irvine remain second, with Long Beach State climbing back into third. Pepperdine got punished for their loss to USC (and hold that thought) more than I figured they would, as the Waves fall to 5th in this poll. UCLA take position #4.
There’s a great deal of transition in this week’s poll. BYU, Irvine, and Stanford (6th) are the only top-10 teams in the same position they were in last week. Cal Baptist make the greatest gain I think any team has from one poll to the next, surging ahead 4 ranks to be #7 in the nation this week. That’s….pretty high. But then again, I had Loyola at #8, so I can’t really criticize any over-rankings this time ’round.
Lewis and Ohio State both got hit pretty hard, as their results last week merit. To my surprise and immense satisfaction, USC fall out of the rankings this week (it’s nothing personal, it’s just they’re freaking 5-13), despite my certainty that their win over Pepperdine would keep them in the top 15. They’re only 2 rankings points off the cutoff, but Ball State do indeed enter the poll this week, at #15. This gives us five non-MPSF teams in the poll, which I believe is a season-high.
You can view the complete poll here.
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
