The favorites won in our highly ranked clashes on the weekend, leaving UW-Whitewater and Salisbury undefeated and Nos. 1 and 2, respectively. Towson, losing by a meager four points, stands pat at No. 3, while UW-Stout falls two spots.

Colgate became likely the first team in the country to punch its ticket to the Sweet 16 Saturday, winning the NY Upstate conference championship game 31-15 over Oswego. We don’t know if they have an automatic bid for sure, yet, as the AQ conferences have not been released, but we suspect they do. So Colgate moves up one spot ahead of Stout.

So does Providence, which scored an impressive 30-point win over previously ranked Bentley.  The Friars have a massive game coming up against Holy Cross Saturday. These teams are likely to meet in the Rugby Northeast conference championship game, no matter this coming weekend’s outcome, just two weeks later – Nov. 17.

Our rankings held serve in a third game last week, too, as Mary Washington beat Old Dominion 25-14. The one upset was UNC-Wilmington falling to Appalachian State in a shortened tournament match. Though we don't count shortened matches in the records, we moved the Mountaineers ahead of UNCW.

Niagara, which lost in the NY Upstate quarterfinals to unranked Hamilton, has fallen out of the Top 25 along with Bentley. Replacing them are Longwood and Principia. Longwood is 3-0 and atop the Cardinals Conference, but are there without having played Radford or Mary Washington, yet, which is why it’s taken some time to get them in the rankings. And Principia is in first place in the Gateway, having played one more game than Saint Louis University.

1. (1) UW-Whitewater  6-0  Won 34-15 over UW-Stout 
2. (2) Salisbury  7-0  Won 16-12 over Towson 
3. (3) Towson  5-1  Lost 16-12 to Salisbury 
4. (4) Coast Guard  6-0  Won 50-26 over New Hampshire
5. (6) Colgate  9-1  Won 31-15 over Oswego
6. (8) Providence  7-0  Won 43-13 over Bentley
7. (5) UW-Stout  5-1  Lost 34-15 to UW-Whitewater
8. (7) SLU  4-0
9. (10) Holy Cross 6-0  Won 50-7 over Saint Anselm 
10. (11) IUP  6-0  Won 36-13 over Xavier
11. (12) UW-Milwaukee  3-2  Won 41-7 over UW-Platteville
12. (13) Mary Washington  2-1  Won 25-14 over Old Dominion
13. (16) Idaho State  4-1
14. (17) Vassar  7-0  Won 39-7 over New Paltz 
15. (18) Appalachian State  Finished 2^nd at Rucktoberfest to ECU
16. (20) Minnesota-Duluth  6-1  Won 73-10 over Bemidji State 
17. (9) UNC-Wilmington  Lost in semis of Rucktoberfest to App. State
18. (24) Northern Iowa  6-1  Won 35-27 over ND State 
19. (19) Old Dominion  2-1  Lost 25-14 to Mary Washington 
20. (21) Radford  2-1 
21. (22) Norwich  6-2  Won 34-0 over Boston 
22. (Unr.) Longwood  3-0 
23. (Unr.) Rowan  6-0 
24. (23) North Dakota State  5-2  Lost 35-27 to Northern Iowa
25. (Unr.) Principia 4-1  Won Gateway 7s

Dropped out:
14. (15) Niagara  5-1  Lost in NY Upstate quarterfinals
23. (16) Bentley  4-3  Lost 43-13 to Providence