1. Florida Gators

Florida had to shuffle on without Trinity Thomas this week following a warmup injury. This manifested in a non-counting 197.425 that allowed Oklahoma to move into a tie for first place and for LSU and others to gain ground as Florida’s 2021 supremacy took one of its first hits. The Gators still remain ahead of Oklahoma on the tiebreak, which goes to the next-best score that isn’t used for NQS (Florida’s 197.500 to Oklahoma’s 197.475).

1. Oklahoma Sooners

Oklahoma’s two-meet weekend of 197.950 and 197.800 allowed the Sooners to move into a tie with Florida and party like it’s 2014. Oklahoma competes next weekend while Florida doesn’t, so Oklahoma will have the opportunity to move into sole possession of first with anything better than 197.800. Though at this point, with Florida aiming to drop a lower score with that 197.500, the Gators probably still enjoy the inside track to #1 following conference championships.

3. LSU Tigers

LSU’s 197.875 performance on Friday allowed the team to (kind of) keep up with the Joneses and the current reality that if you’re not scoring at least a 197.8, you might as well just quit. The Tigers are still couting a very drop-able road score in there but are far enough back of the #1s that it would take a 198.300 at SECs just to get up to that 197.944 NQS status. I mean…scoring these days…but that’s still a tough ask. The focus for LSU is probably on maintaining #3 heading into elimination season.

4. Michigan Wolverines

After being absent from the rankings last week due to a lack of road scores, Michigan returned with a bang and the first 198 in school history (which is still preposterous to me that this had never happened before). What will be concerning to other teams is that, if this 198 is now a representative scoring pace, Michigan has some real room to continue increasing NQS.

5. Utah Utes

Utah recorded a season high on Friday but dropped ground in the rankings because of Michigan’s reentry. These lower bold scores likely won’t allow Utah to challenge the top 3 (and there’s no difference between being ranked 4th and 5th because they go to the same regional, which Utah is hosting), though Utah will be eager to try to join the 198 club in its home finale as conference supremacy is suddenly looking more tentative than it did a week ago.

6. Cal Bears

Cal also recorded the first 198 in program history this week, though the fact that it hadn’t happened before was less surprising in Cal’s case. They’ve never been this good. Cal’s performance came with a 49.825 (!) on bars, tying the NCAA record for a bars score. Amazing what happens when you hit actual vertical handstands while being scored like a famous team. Cal has added a Wednesday road meet, providing the team more opportunities to improve NQS than the others have. It will be interesting to see if Cal goes for the ranking jugular or uses this as a “Gabby Perea exists” depth meet now that those 196s are gone.

7. Minnesota Gophers

Minnesota’s 197.400 and Mya Hooten 10 from early on Friday seem like 1700 years ago—back when we were young enough to think scores under 198 were good. But that score did serve the purpose of keeping Minnesota in the top 8. Minnesota’s visit to Illinois on Saturday has some critical ranking implications because it’s MN’s final road meet—while everyone else still has road conference championships to lean on—and that 196.975 probably needs to go if Minnesota is to retain this top-8 spot.

8. Alabama Crimson Tide

Alabama’s 197.225 against Florida wasn’t poor by any means, but it counts as poor in the current score-scape where 197.225 is now the lowest guaranteed-to-count score for any team in the top 8 and makes Alabama vulnerable to being dropped into a #3 regional seed position. So there will be some pressure on the SECs score to be WELL into the 197s.

9. Arkansas Razorbacks

Arkansas recorded another program-record score on Friday and dropped a spot in the ranking as a result, which is some peak 2021 action. Arkansas has a slightly lower score to get rid of than Alabama does but is also slightly behind in NQS, so we should see those two teams jockeying for position come SECs with not too much between them.

10. Arizona State Sun Devils

Arizona State counted a fall on beam on Saturday for a non-counting score and therefore dropped three spots in the rankings. No room for blinking. ASU does have only road meets remaining, so there’s still room to get rid of those lower away totals. With several teams hot on their tail, that 196.650 really will need to go.

11. Denver Pioneers

Denver counted a fall on beam and still scored the 5th-best total in program history on Sunday with a 197.650, truly the cherry on top of a preposterous weekend. Denver has not gone 197 on the road yet this year, so Thursday’s meet against BYU will provide a wild opportunity to do that against a team that has been scoring pretty similarly to Denver all year.

12. BYU Cougars

The only difference between Denver and BYU thus far is yesterday’s Denver home score. BYU has the stronger road totals, so Denver’s quest to stay ahead relies on bridging that gap on Thursday. BYU’s counting scores are now all very closely packed, so to move up at all, BYU will have to show scoring potential that we haven’t seen yet this season in its home finale.

12. Kentucky Wildcats

Kentucky’s loss to Georgia will have been disappointing because that was a winnable prospect against a lower-ranked team, but the 196.900 score still very much got the job done of dropping that piddly little 195. What Kentucky missed out on this year was that bonkers home score in the mid-197s, and the lack of that will make it tough to move much higher.

14. UCLA Bruins

UCLA will rue the missed opportunity presented by that Cal meet, where the Bruins were easily on track for a mid-197 and probably a spot in the top 10 this week before a missed beam rotation dropped them into the (gasp) 196s. UCLA is a team no one wants to see at regionals, because it’s UCLA, but is also running out of time to develop a competitive ranking. Saturday’s home finale would need to be a serious 197.

15. Auburn Tigers

Auburn’s 197.125 in the home finale against Arkansas was a season high, but also didn’t change a whole lot because Auburn already had two low 197s as home scores. With that 196.1 road score to get rid of, the opportunity still exists to move up several ranking spots after SECs so Auburn will feel somewhat comfortable with its chances to stay in the seeded positions.

16. Georgia Bulldogs

Georgia was saved by the home meet again. A 197.325 allowed Georgia to get back into the top 16 despite the fact that the team has not recorded a strong road performance yet this season (and will need its first one at SECs top stay in the top 16 because this isn’t a safe position). This is also an excellent illustration of why the other teams are scared of a Georgia-hosted regional because Georgia has demonstrated the ability to get non-trivial 197s and upsetting-top-teams scores at home. Not the #4 seed (or unseeded team) you want to meet.

If the season ended today interlude

Alabama Regional
Florida-Alabama-Arkansas-Auburn

Georgia Regional
Oklahoma-Minnesota-ASU-Georgia

West Virginia Regional
LSU-Cal-Denver-UCLA

Utah Regional
Michigan-Utah-BYU-Kentucky

17. Southern Utah Thunderbirds

A miss from Southern Utah on Sunday saw the team drop out of the top 16 this week, but because SUU competes this coming weekend and Georgia doesn’t, we know that SUU will be looking for a 196.650 at Arizona on Saturday to move back ahead of Georgia.

18. Boise State Broncos

Boise State was also not able to break into the counting scores with its performance on Sunday and dropped a few spots in the rankings. Like SUU, Boise State and several of the other teams ranked below also have a chance to move into the top 16 this week, but for them it would take scores into the 197s and help from other teams.

19. Iowa Hawkeyes

Iowa’s 196.450 in its home finale was not enough to break into the counting scores and saw Iowa continue to lose ground in the rankings. Iowa’s weaker scores thus far are road scores, so with two road meets remaining, there is still time to challenge teams like Boise State and Southern Utah.

20. Utah State Aggies

Utah State achieved the third-highest score in program history over the weekend at 196.775 to avoid the ranking drop most of the other teams around this area have been experiencing.

21. Illinois Illini

21. Missouri Tigers

23. Iowa State Cyclones

Iowa State was able to get rid of a 193 this weekend to move up 9 spots in the rankings. With three meets still remaining, other teams will need to watch out for more ISU movement.

24. Oregon State Beavers

If only Oregon State could do bars. The team now has three 196s while working against an auto-48 on bars.

25. Ohio State Buckeyes

26. Central Michigan Chippewas

27. NC State Wolfpack

28. Maryland Terrapins

29. Western Michigan Broncos

30. Penn State Nittany Lions

31. Towson Tigers

32. Eastern Michigan Eagles

33. Kent State Golden Flashes

34. Ball State Cardinals

35. Nebraska Cornhuskers

Nebraska finally got its 196 over the weekend, but that was only enough to just stay afloat at 35th. More of them need to come.

36. West Virginia Mountaineers

A season-high 195.900 also kept West Virginia (barely) in the good portion of the rankings, but WVU does have three meets remaining still rather than the two most teams have.

37. Arizona Wildcats

A much-needed 196 on Saturday kept Arizona (and New Hampshire) in contention for regionals, but it’s going to take getting rid of that 194 to have a shot.

37. New Hampshire Wildcats

39. North Carolina Tarheels

UNC dropped six spots in the rankings this week, the result of a non-counting score on Saturday. That’s how dramatically these things are going to change in the final weeks.

40. Rutgers Scarlet Knights

41. Temple Owls

41. Northern Illinois Huskies

43. Illinois State Redbirds

44. Lindenwood Lions

45. Pittsburgh Panthers

46. George Washington Colonials

Watch out for George Washington to make a late move when those 193s and 192s go away.

47. Southeast Missouri Redhawks

48. TWU Pioneers

49. Washington Huskies

50. Air Force Falcons

51. Bowling Green Falcons

52. Long Island Sharks

53. Centenary

NR. San Jose State Spartans

NR. William & Mary Tribe

NR. Stanford Cardinal