DI Rankings: Texas A&M, Clemson Now Lead The Way

NEW ORLEANS – It was a big week for moving among the top 25 of the USTFCCCA’s National Team Computer Rankings for NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field. For the first week of the outdoor season, only marks from the current season account for a team’s rankings (sans combined events). As a result, there are two new number-one teams to report – Texas A&M’s men and Clemson’s women. Florida’s men, the previous No. 1 slipped to No. 2 while national indoor champion Oregon women moved down four spots to No. 5. Oregon had been the No. 1 women’s team since the preseason.

National Ranking PDFs: Top 25 | Full by Team | Event-by-Event | Week-by-Week
Regional Index: Top 15 | By Team | By Event
Previous Rankings

Texas A&M is the three-time defending national outdoor champions and jumped three spots from No. 4 to take the top helm for the first time since May 31, 2011. Clemson, fresh off their third-straight ACC title, moved up two places to the top spot, and is No. 1 for the first time since the ranking system began in 2008.

On the men’s side, the new top five includes No. 1 Texas A&M, No. 2 Florida, No. 3 Arizona State, No. 4 LSU, and No. 5 Florida State. Arizona State moved up five spots from No. 8. No. 6 Southern California, No. 7 Indiana, and No. 8 Mississippi State all reached season-high rankings this week. Inside the top 25 the biggest mover up was No. 12 Oklahoma who moved up nine spots from last week. No. 23 Virginia is making their first appearance in the top 25 this season.

In the women’s rankings, No. 2 LSU has been the only team in the country to maintain the same ranking throughout the ranking season (five updates: preseason plus four weeks). Texas’ women made a five-spot leap to No. 3 which beats their previous season-best of No. 8. Florida also made a three-spot jump to land at No. 4. Among the top ten, season-best rankings were also handed to No. 7 Kansas, No. 8 Arizona, and No. 10 Arizona State. Illinois State, who made their first appearance in the national top 25 last week, propelled to No. 12 in this week’s update. No. 16 Louisville and No. 22 Ohio State are making their first showing in the top 25 this season.

About the Rankings

For more on the rankings and links to guideline and rationale information visit …
/rankings/division-i-rankings

The purpose and methodology of the national team computer rankings is to create an index that showcases the teams that have the best potential of achieving the top spots in the national-title race – not as a method to compare teams head-to-head.

The Regional Index is determined using a similar method as national rankings, but on a smaller scale, comparing teams versus others within the same region. The result is a ranking that showcases squads with better all-around team potential — a group makeup critical for conference or similar team-scored events. A team may achieve a better regional ranking than a counterpart that has a better national ranking. Historically, some teams are better national-championship teams than conference-championship teams, having a few elite athletes that score very well in a diverse environment where teams do not have entries in more than a few events. Some teams are better at conference championships or similar team-scored events where they enter, and are competitive, in many of the events.

How a team fares in a national championship, conference championship, or scored meet with only a couple or few teams (like a dual or triangular) can be very different, given the number of events, competition, scoring, and makeup of entries — thus the rationale behind each of the ranking systems. Similar arguments about team makeup and rankings can also be found in swimming & diving and wrestling as their sports also have a similar trichotomy when it comes to team theory.