**Including scores from Monday meets not reflected in official weekly rankings
| Rk | Chg | Team | Avg | This Week |
| 1 | = | Oklahoma | 197.963 | 197.775 |
| 2 | = | Cal | 197.638 | 197.950 |
| 3 | +4 | Kentucky | 197.450 | 197.950 |
| 4 | +1 | Utah | 197.419 | 197.675 |
| 5 | -2 | LSU | 197.369 | 197.225 |
| 6 | = | Alabama | 197.363 | 197.575 |
| 7 | -3 | Arkansas | 197.300 | 197.225 |
| 8 | = | Florida | 197.283 | 197.425 |
| 9 | = | Missouri | 197.088 | 197.325 |
| 10 | +2 | Denver | 197.019 | 197.150 |
| 11 | = | Ohio State | 197.013 | 197.100 |
| 12 | +3 | UCLA | 197.006 | 197.825 |
| 13 | +1 | Michigan State | 196.975 | 197.400 |
| 13 | -3 | Michigan | 196.975 | 196.900 |
| 15 | -2 | Auburn | 196.883 | 196.675 |
| 16 | +1 | Minnesota | 196.681 | 196.725 |
| 16 | = | Oregon State | 196.681 | 196.775 |
| 18 | +1 | Arizona | 196.658 | 197.000 |
| 19 | +3 | Iowa State | 196.381 | 196.650 |
| 20 | +4 | Clemson | 196.358 | 196.550 |
| 21 | -3 | Georgia | 196.313 | 195.650 |
| 22 | +4 | Ball State | 196.300 | 196.600 |
| 23 | +5 | Arizona State | 196.250 | 196.700 |
| 24 | +1 | Illinois | 196.225 | 196.175 |
| 25 | -4 | Maryland | 196.075 | 195.625 |
Score standards note: Last season, it took an NQS of197.720 to get a 1-2 regional seeding, an NQS of 197.100 to get a 3-4 regionals seeding, and an NQS of 196.285 to make regionals overall.
Biggest Movers (+)
#3 Kentucky (+4) — Kentucky was the big winner this week, scoring a program-record 197.950, featuring program-record-tying marks on both vault and floor, to move up to a program-record ranking of #3. So what you’re telling me is, program record. The two 10.000s for Makenzie Wilson’s handspring pike 1/2 and Raena Worley’s literally the exact same floor routine she has done 50 times make Kentucky the third team this season to have scored multiple 10s in the same meet, joining LSU and Ball State. Following last week’s 197.600, this 197.950 means Kentucky has among the strongest banks of January scores on which to rely later if needed.
#12 UCLA (+3) — (Officially UCLA is 11th and +4 in this week’s rankings, but Ohio State re-passed UCLA with its result on Monday night.) The Bruins recorded their first usable score of the season—and first actual, real 5-for-6 hit—for 197.825 in the home opener against Washington. Potentially, this score could quell panicking that may have started to simmer, at least for the moment, as UCLA has now set the foundation for what a good number for this team can look like, and it’s higher than what Utah or Michigan or Florida or Alabama have scored so far.
#19 Iowa State (+3) — Iowa State has now gone 196.900 and 196.650 in its last two meets, scores that should easily be enough to make regionals this year, and also important results to log given ISU’s unusually front-loaded home schedule. Iowa State has already completed three of its four home meets for the whole year (from here, it’s six straight road meets until the home finale against Iowa in March), so taking advantage of these early meets was useful.
#20 Clemson (+4) — Clemson successfully completed another right of passage this week with its first road meet and first road hit, ending in a new high of 196.550 and a ranking jump back into the top 20. At this point, Clemson is certainly looking like the frontrunner to win that critical first ACC gymnastics title before Cal joins the conference next year and steals everybody’s gold.
#22 Ball State (+4) — One might say that the 196.600 Ball State scored directly on the heels of that 198 was the actual important score because NQS requires the highest score to be dropped to protect against exactly this situation. The 196.600, then, becomes a very strong regionals-level counter—and the score that actually served to bring Ball State into the top 25.
#23 Arizona State (+5) — It was kind of a slow burn through the first few meets for Arizona State, but Friday’s visit to Utah proved fruitful for 196.700 to gain quite a bit of ground on many teams nearby in the rankings that counted falls for 195s. Last season, Arizona State didn’t count anything lower than 196.800, so this may still not be an ideal score to keep, but you could count it and it wouldn’t be a problem.
Biggest Movers (-)
#7 Arkansas (-3) — Life at the top, huh? Arkansas scored the t-10th best team total in school history to defeat Auburn with a 197.225, yet dropped a bunch of ranking spots because that was also one of the lowest scores among the top-10 teams this week. But really, Arkansas is still sitting comfortably with three 197s from the first three meets.
#13 Michigan (-3) — It’s been quite a ride so far for Michigan, and Saturday’s visit to Nebraska saw a dip back down into the 196s, largely the result of another surprisingly low vault score. Even with the departures, you wouldn’t have expected this vault lineup to rank 19th through the first month of the season, and that really shouldn’t continue. Michigan will be eager to play Remember That Time We Just All Got 10s on Sunday at home against Michigan State.
#21 Georgia (-3) — While Kentucky was clinching its program record, Georgia was having an actual waking nightmare on beam when Lily Smith got put in acro series prison right after a fall in the lineup, all told dropping the team to a 195.650 total and a ranking outside the top 20.
#25 Maryland (-4) — Bars trouble in Minnesota proved the culprit for Maryland for a 195.625 to sink the team’s average a bit. Maryland’s schedule does provide more buffer against low scores than most do, featuring two consecutive multi-meet weekends right before the conference championship, which adds up to nine regular season meets remaining.
Out of the top 25: #26 Nebraska (-4), #27 Iowa (-7) — Nebraska ended up counting a fall on beam this week for its second 195 in four meets, while Iowa was forced to grapple with the injury to Adeline Kenlin through a two-meet weekend for 195s. This Sunday’s meet is one of only two remaining home meets for Iowa, suddenly an important day for establishing a baseline regionals score and establishing what this team’s most competitive lineup looks like—which is very different from what we would have expected about a month ago.
Other Keepers
#2 Cal (197.950) — Cal extended its margin for the #2 spot with a weekend-high-tying 197.950. That number is important because, while Cal has a bunch of very high scores already, it took an NQS of 197.950 last year to be a #1 seed at a regional, and Cal will very much aim to be the #1 seed at its home regional this year.
#18 Arizona (197.000) — We didn’t have a lot of definite keepers in the top 25 this week—most teams getting either fine/solid/borderline scores or underperforming—but Arizona sure fit the category for a keeper with a 197 and a team bars record. It’s just the second time since 2015 that Arizona has scored a 197.
Other Drops
#1 Oklahoma (197.775) — Oklahoma was quite jumpy on vault this week to end up with a season-low 197.775, which is actually Oklahoma’s lowest home score in almost two years.
#5 LSU (197.225) — LSU had some floor errors (and a distinct lack of Haleigh Bryant there) at Missouri to lose the dual meet and put up a drop score of 197.2, despite a 10 from McClain on beam. LSU has four road meets remaining and doesn’t really have a good road counter yet, so there will start to be some more urgency in those road meets as they come up.
#8 Florida (197.425) — Florida’s season high nonetheless resulted in a loss to Alabama and a missed opportunity overall for a huge home number. No actual missed meets so far for Florida, but we’re all sort of still waiting for the power company to stop by and flip the switch.