**Including scores from Monday meets

Rk	Chg	Team	Avg	This Week
1	=	Oklahoma	197.875	197.900
2	+4	Cal	197.363	197.875
3	-1	Utah	197.333	196.975 197.725
4	=	Alabama	197.175	197.225
5	NR	Arkansas	197.150	197.150
6	+3	Kentucky	197.125	197.475
7	NR	Florida	197.100	197.100
8	-3	LSU	197.063	197.150
9	=	Ohio State	196.963	197.150
10	-4	Denver	196.875	196.900
11	+1	UCLA	196.825	197.100
12	-1	Auburn	196.813	197.025
12	-9	Missouri	196.813	196.475
14	+6	Michigan	196.800	197.725
15	-9	Minnesota	196.575	196.300
16	-2	Michigan State	196.513	196.725
17	NR	Arizona	196.475	196.475
18	NR	Iowa	196.400	196.400
19	NR	Clemson	196.325	196.325
20	-5	Georgia	196.275	196.350
21	-8	Oregon State	196.188	195.850
22	-1	Illinois	196.163	196.500
23	NR	Maryland	196.150	196.150
24	NR	Arizona State	196.050	196.375
25	-9	Nebraska	196.000	195.875

Biggest Movers (+)

#14 Michigan (+6) – Michigan made everyone forget about last week’s opening 195 by returning home and penning the triumphant young adult fiction novel “A Life Without Natalie,” scoring 197.725 on Friday, one of the highest scores of the weekend.

#2 Cal (+4) – Cal nearly snatched Oklahoma’s perennial January crown with a 197.875 over the weekend, just .025 shy of Oklahoma’s nation-leading total. This #2 position is the highest weekly ranking in the team’s history, and Cal currently ranks as the top team on vault, which…one would not have predicted. Stop being such vault specialists and work on your bars. 

#6 Kentucky (+3) – Kentucky was able to move up this week—despite a bunch of teams entering the rankings—with a 197.475 road score, a very useful mark for this point in the season. Last year, it took Kentucky until late February to start recording countable away totals at this level.

Biggest Movers (-)

#12 Missouri (-9) – Missouri was in the cool club last week with an opening 197 but dropped to 196.475 on the road against Alabama after getting stuck with a bunch of sub-9.8s on bars and beam.

#15 Minnesota (-9) – Minnesota dipped in the rankings this week after a 196.300, which again is not a bad total in itself but there will be wild ranking swings at this early point in the season. The real concern is the boot on the foot of Brooklyn Rowray, whose 9.975 was instrumental to Minnesota’s New Beam Beginnings meet in week one.

#21 Oregon State (-8) – Oregon State dropped under the 196 mark this week for the first time since the opening meet of last season with a 195.850 at Rutgers, the product of a somewhat surprising fall-counting floor rotation. It’s not yet time to turn both keys and hit that big red button labeled JADE. yet. 

#25 Nebraska (-9) – Like Minnesota, Nebraska’s 195.875 road score this week (the culprit: a counting miss on beam) isn’t dire, but the injury to transfer Lucy Stanhope on vault is a deep concern as she looked to be vital to those vault and floor lineups this season.

Other Keepers

#3 Utah – 197.725 – Utah started the weekend with a very droppy 196.975 at the Sprouts Quad—the team’s first 196 since that meet in February 2022 when they lost to Arizona—but pulled it back on Monday when there were only Utah people around with a 197.725. That ties Michigan for the 4th-best score of the season thus far, behind only two Oklahoma results and a Cal. Utah finished last season counting a 197.750 road score, so this is right on track to work for them.

#5 Arkansas – 197.150 – Last season, Arkansas had to include two 196s among its final six scores for NQS, so to already have a 197 from the first meet sets the team up on a solid pace for the goal of having only 197s counting in 2024.

#17 Arizona – 196.475 – This is a very strong away result to start the season. Last year’s best away number for the whole year was just two tenths higher than this, so this should give Arizona optimism about its chances to improve the team ranking this year. 

#19 Clemson 196.325 – Not that we have any history to go on for Clemson, but I’m going to say that a 196 in your very first meet to rank in the top 20 is probably a keeper.

Other Drops

Famous teams with low 197s – It’s…fine. For January, it’s fine. But this weekend Oklahoma, Cal, Michigan, and Utah said that it’s time to start getting high 197s, so I guess it’s time to start getting high 197s. These 197.1s from LSU, Florida, and UCLA (and even #4 Alabama at 197.2, though Alabama’s consistency thus far is maintaining a strong ranking) aren’t going to hold up. Good thing they still have 975 more meets and only have to use 6 for their rankings.