1. Florida Gators

Average: 197.613

Despite Florida’s relatively dominant lead by team average, there’s still work to do maintain a ranking advantage as Florida’s NQS lead over Oklahoma is quite slim. Watch that back-and-forth as we go.

2. LSU Tigers

Average: 197.325

LSU is in 2nd place by average but 3rd place by NQS and will have to improve upon those 197.2s and 197.3s to hope to get back to #2.

3. Oklahoma Sooners

Average: 197.132

The switch to NQS will allow Oklahoma to drop those two bad meets from earlier in the season and zoom up toward the top, entertaining the possibility of passing Florida for #1 depending on how the scores play out this weekend. Oklahoma has the higher peak score and the lower score to drop, and therefore has more room to improve than Florida does during week 8—and overall, since Oklahoma has three more meets than Florida this season.

4. Utah Utes

Average: 197.113

Utah has been competitive with the top teams on average so far, but a deficit emerges when switching to NQS because of the lack of a huge 198 on Utah’s slate (the not-dropping-the-high-score thing this year doesn’t help Utah at all right now. Utah needs some fancy scoring soon in order to hope to hang onto a #1 regionals seeding.

5. Michigan Wolverines

Average: 197.025

Michigan’s funky schedule means the team won’t be able to fill out an NQS picture until after the March 5th road meet and will therefore be absent from the rankings entirely next Monday. But once there are enough scores, things look healthy here.

6. Arkansas Razorbacks

Average: 196.854

Arkansas is experiencing a home-road disparity in scores that will handcuff NQS to some degree, so keep an eye on those final two road scores in March to see if Arkansas can match that home level.

7. Alabama Crimson Tide

Average: 196.842

Despite being behind Arkansas by average, Alabama ranks ahead on NQS because of the stronger road-score picture—and not having to drop that massive home 197.7.

8. Minnesota Gophers

Average: 196.613

Minnesota’s early-season inconsistency is still making itself known in the NQS situation, so a good road score at the Big Five next weekend should allow Minnesota to challenge the likes of Arkansas and Alabama.

9. Cal Bears

Average: 196.588

Cal’s ranking by average is much stronger than its current place in the NQS hierarchy because Cal has competed only four times and can’t drop any scores yet. But because Cal has five meets left and needs only two more good results out of those five in order to have a high NQS, the opportunity for growth is quite high.

10. Denver Pioneers

Average: 196.517

Denver has seen its scoring pace drop in recent weeks, putting some pressure on the remaining four meets to be in that 197 zone. Every other team in the current top 10 has at least two 197s so far.

11. BYU Cougars

Average: 196.478

BYU is among the teams that really benefits from NQS because of the team’s ample schedule (BYU has already competed 8 times and can drop 4 scores). If we were doing NQS this week, BYU would be 8th.

12. Iowa Hawkeyes

Average: 196.458

Iowa’s thing this season (until Saturday’s meet) has been consistency, which is famously not rewarded by NQS, so Iowa currently has a lower NQS total than several of the teams ranked behind it by average.

13. UCLA Bruins

Average: 196.445

UCLA’s NQS situation is currently a bit better than its average situation because NQS allows the Washington adventure to be dropped, though that 196.150 is still weighing things down.

14. Kentucky Wildcats

Average: 196.350

Kentucky will be fairly pleased with the current setup because this score is pretty competitive even with a 195.8 on there itching to be dropped.

15. Georgia Bulldogs

Average: 196.329

Georgia is being saved right now by the fact that the top score doesn’t have to be dropped this season. Otherwise, it would be a mess. But that one score can only do so much work and Georgia needs to start matching it immediately. Actually, literally every team wants Georgia to start scoring better now that Georgia is hosting a regional. No one wants to be matched with a low-seeded Georgia in a Georgia regional.

16. Southern Utah Thunderbirds

Average: 196.171

Southern Utah enjoys one of the biggest boosts from the NQS switch and would be ranked in the top 10 this week if NQS were happening. So watch out for that in next week’s rankings.

17. Arizona State Sun Devils

Average: 196.163

Arizona State’s scores have been all over the map this year, but with five meets left including three away, there’s room to expect those low(ish) numbers to go away.

18. Auburn Tigers

Average: 196.013

Auburn’s dramatic disparity between home and road scoring is a thing, and with just two away meets left, there is some real pressure this Friday to take advantage of the glowing warming glow of a meet at Florida to hit for a big road total. It’s necessary if Auburn hopes to get a seeded spot this year (top 16).

19. Illinois Illini

Average: 195.938

20. Boise State Broncos

Average: 195.850

Boise State has only one road meet left, so last Friday’s away 196.900 was actually an important result to get everything looking shipshape. Which it now does.

21. Ohio State Buckeyes

Average: 195.642

22. Utah State Aggies

Average: 195.550

23. Missouri Tigers

Average: 195.529

With the score pressure on, Missouri delivered against Arkansas last Friday. But with three meets left, the score pressure isn’t done yet. Just deferred for another meet.

24. Iowa State Cyclones

Average: 195.388

Iowa State’s 193splosion in the last meet has to count right now, so once that’s dropped, expect a major blast up the rankings.

25. NC State Wolfpack

Average: 195.354

26. Maryland Terrapins

Average: 195.279

27. North Carolina Tarheels

Average: 195.270

28. Kent State Golden Flashes

Average: 195.264

29. Western Michigan Broncos

Average: 195.175

30. Penn State Nittany Lions

Average: 195.154

31. Michigan State Spartans

Average: 195.138

Time is of the essence for Michigan State once the team resumes with four meets left on the schedule and three scores to get.

32. West Virginia Mountaineers

Average: 195.120

33. Eastern Michigan Eagles

Average: 194.994

34. Arizona Wildcats

Average: 194.894

35. Oregon State Beavers

Average: 194.835

36. Ball State Cardinals

Average: 194.833

37. Central Michigan Chippewas

Average: 194.750

38. Nebraska Cornhuskers

Average: 194.604

39. Towson Tigers

Average: 194.492

40. Temple Owls

Average: 194.021

41. Northern Illinois Huskies

Average: 193.913

42. New Hampshire Wildcats

Average: 193.863

43. Rutgers Scarlet Knights

Average: 193.860

44. Lindenwood Lions

Average: 193.813

45. TWU Pioneers

Average: 193.790

46. Washington Huskies

Average: 193.610

47. Pittsburgh Panthers

Average: 193.466

48. George Washington Colonials

Average: 193.275

49. Southeast Missouri Redhawks

Average: 192.358

50. Illinois State Redbirds

Average: 191.865

51. Air Force Falcons

Average: 191.375

52. William & Mary Tribe

Average: 189.450

53. Long Island Sharks

Average: 189.167

54. Centenary

Average: 187.825

55. Bowling Green Falcons

Average: 179.171