Week 5 Top 25

Note: These rankings include the meets from Monday because, you know, they’re already happened. They will therefore differ from the official week 5 rankings, which do not include Monday meets.

1.	Michigan	198.035
2.	Oklahoma	197.640
3.	Utah	197.540
4.	Florida	197.535
5.	LSU	197.258
6.	Minnesota	197.225
7.	Auburn	197.185
8.	Alabama	197.090
9.	Missouri	196.994
10.	Kentucky	196.925
11.	Cal	196.819
12.	Denver	196.790
13.	Oregon State	196.625
14.	Arkansas	196.544
15.	Michigan State	196.470
16.	UCLA	196.300
17.	Iowa	196.242
18.	BYU	196.175
19.	Stanford	196.063
20.	Arizona State	196.050
21.	Utah State	196.010
22.	Ohio State	195.985
23.	Western Michigan	195.800
24.	Boise State	195.688
25.	Southern Utah	195.650
26.	North Carolina	195.545
27.	Illinois	195.500
28.	Towson	195.338
29.	Kent State	195.331
30.	Georgia	195.300
31.	West Virginia	195.269
32.	Penn State	195.255
33.	San Jose State	195.238
34.	Washington	195.200
35.	Nebraska	195.145
36.	NC State	195.131

What Is a Good Score?

Michigan’s basically unprecedented 198.525 over the weekend—the highest team score since 2004 and the highest road score ever recorded in college gymnastics—has reignited my question of what actually constitutes a competitive score in the 2022 season. When Utah is scoring 197.7 with a counting fall and Oklahoma is scoring 198 even with vault rotation that tied for their worst score on that event in nine years, it’s clear the typical expectations need not apply. 

But what are we actually dealing with here? How good is a 197 this year? Is that helpful? What are teams trying for?

This season, for the first time ever, it’s expected to take an NQS over 196 just to finish in the top 36 and qualify to regionals. Scores are on pace to obliterate last season’s cutoff of 195.769, and the NC State team currently sitting on the bubble has an average of 195.131, a score that would have seen them rank 8 spots higher at this point in each of the last three seasons. Based on how things have changed in the last 10 years between now and the end of the season for teams in this area of the rankings, that would put this season’s projected regionals cutoff somewhere in the vicinity of 196.300.

Similarly, the current scores would indicate an NQS of roughly 197.150 required to finish in the top 16 (seeded at regionals), and an NQS of 197.900 to finish in the top 8 (seeded to advance to nationals). Right now, I’m leaning toward the lower end of the range with these because we have one fewer week in the regular season this year compared to most years and because of COVID meet cancellations mucking up the plans (and because 197.900????????), but we shall see.

With those benchmarks in mind, I’m giving teams an X for every score they currently have that reaches each level. As long as NQS is done the normal way this season, you’re going to want to end up six weeks from now with at least four countable scores at the desired level to feel safe and dandy. Next week, many teams should have enough scores to start doing real NQS projections.

	Top 8 Score 197.900	Top 16 Score 197.150	Top 36 Score 196.300
Michigan	XXXX	XXXXX	XXXXX
Oklahoma	XXX	XXXX	XXXXX
Utah		XXXX	XXXXX
Florida	X	XXX	XXXXX
LSU	X	X	XXX
Minnesota	X	X	XXX
Auburn		XXXX	XXXX
Alabama		XX	XXXX
Missouri		X	XXXX
Kentucky		XX	XXX
Cal		X	XXXX
Denver		X	XXXX
Oregon State		X	XXX
Arkansas		X	XXX
Michigan State			XXXX
UCLA		X	XXX
Iowa			XX
BYU			XXX
Stanford
Arizona State			X
Utah State			XXX
Ohio State			XX
Western Michigan
Boise State			X
Southern Utah			XX
North Carolina			X
Illinois			X
Towson			X
Kent State
Georgia
West Virginia
Penn State			X
San Jose State			X
Washington
Nebraska			X
NC State
Arizona
Iowa State
George Washington
Ball State
Northern Illinois			X