NOTES: This week’s links also include the Baku apparatus world cup, American Cup, Nastia Cup, and Gymnix. If you’re in the US and mentally ill eager to be awake in the middle of the night to see the people who still showed up for Baku compete in finals live on day 2, the competition begins in the midst of the time change, so be clock-vigilant.

skip to: Top 20 teams

MEET WEEK 10
Wednesday, March 4
8:00pm ET/ 5:00pm PT	SCSU @ UNH	SCORES	FREE
Thursday, March 5
5:00pm ET/ 2:00pm PT	Maryland Penn Towson @ Temple	SCORES	ESPN+
Friday, March 6
5:00pm ET/ 2:00pm PT	Illinois St @ W. Michigan	SCORES	FREE
6:00pm ET/ 3:00pm PT	SCSU @ LIU	SCORES	FREE
7:00pm ET/ 4:00pm PT	Minnesota @ N. Carolina	SCORES	ACC+
7:00pm ET/ 4:00pm PT	Missouri @ Georgia	SCORES	SEC+
7:00pm ET/ 4:00pm PT	Clemson @ Michigan	SCORES	BTN+
7:00pm ET/ 4:00pm PT	C. Michigan N. Illinois SEMO @ Iowa	SCORES	BTN+
7:00pm ET/ 4:00pm PT	Fisk Wilberforce @ Centenary	SCORES	FREE
7:00pm ET/ 4:00pm PT	Gymnix Senior Cup	APP	APP
7:30pm ET/ 4:30pm PT	Kentucky @ Alabama	SCORES	SEC+
8:00pm ET/ 5:00pm PT	Michigan St @ Auburn	SCORES	SEC+
8:00pm ET/ 5:00pm PT	Arizona St @ Arizona	SCORES	ESPN+
8:00pm ET/ 5:00pm PT	Nebraska @ TWU	SCORES	($)
8:30pm ET/ 5:30pm PT	Oklahoma @ Arkansas	SCORES	SEC+
8:30pm ET/ 5:30pm PT	Oregon St @ Utah St	SCORES	FREE
8:30pm ET/ 5:30pm PT	Washington @ So. Utah	SCORES	($)
9:00pm ET/ 6:00pm PT	Denver San Jose St @ Air Force	SCORES	FREE
Saturday, March 7
3:00am ET/ 12:00am PT	Baku Finals Day 1		($)
1:00pm ET/ 10:00am PT	DIII Regional Brockport Cortland Ursinus Rhode Island Ithaca Utica Springfield	SCORES	FREE
1:30pm ET/ 10:30am PT	DIII Regional Winona State Simpson Stout Gustavus Hamline	SCORES	($)
2:00pm ET/ 11:00am PT	¡NASTIA!		FREE
2:00pm ET/ 11:00pm PT	Gymnix Junior Cup	APP	APP
5:00pm ET/ 2:00pm PT	UCLA @ Stanford	SCORES	ACC+
5:00pm ET/ 2:00pm PT	BYU W. Virginia @ Utah	SCORES	ESPN+
6:00pm ET/ 3:00pm PT	Penn Rutgers Yale W. Chester	SCORES	FREE
7:00pm ET/ 4:00pm PT	Boise St @ Cal	SCORES	ACC+
7:00pm ET/ 4:00pm PT	Ball St Temple Cornell @ Maryland	SCORES	BTN+ BTN+
7:00pm ET/ 4:00pm PT	DIII Regional Oshkosh La Crosse Whitewater Eau Claire	SCORES	($)
9:00pm ET/ 6:00pm PT	American Cup	SCORES	USA INT
Sunday, March 8
4:00am ET/ 12:00am PT	Baku Finals Day 2		($)
12:00pm ET/ 9:00am PT	Kent St @ W. Michigan	SCORES	FREE
1:00pm ET/ 10:00am PT	GWU Bowling G. @ UNH	SCORES	FREE
2:00pm ET/ 11:00am PT	W & M Fisk Wilberforce	SCORES	FREE
2:00pm ET/ 11:00am PT	Bridgeport LIU SCSU @ Brown	SCORES	ESPN+
2:00pm ET/ 11:00am PT	Penn St NC State E. Michigan @ Ohio St	SCORES	BTN+
2:30pm ET/ 11:30am PT	Gymnix Finals	APP	APP
3:00pm ET/ 12:00pm PT	TWU @ Oklahoma	SCORES	SEC+
3:00pm ET/ 12:00pm PT	Alabama @ Illinois	SCORES	BTN+
4:00pm ET/ 1:00pm PT	Georgia Clemson Auburn Pitt	SCORES	ACCN
5:00pm ET/ 2:00pm PT	Sac State @ UC Davis	SCORES	($)
6:00pm ET/ 3:00pm PT	LSU @ Florida	SCORES	SECN
Monday, March 9
8:00pm ET/ 5:00pm PT	Air Force @ Denver	SCORES	($)

---

TOP 20 SCHEDULE
Friday, March 6
7:00pm ET/ 4:00pm PT	[13] Minnesota @ [18] N. Carolina	SCORES	ACC+
7:00pm ET/ 4:00pm PT	[7] Missouri @ [6] Georgia	SCORES	SEC+
7:00pm ET/ 4:00pm PT	[14] Clemson @ [9] Michigan	SCORES	BTN+
7:00pm ET/ 4:00pm PT	C. Michigan N. Illinois SEMO @ [19] Iowa	SCORES	BTN+
7:30pm ET/ 4:30pm PT	Kentucky @ [3] Alabama	SCORES	SEC+
8:00pm ET/ 5:00pm PT	[11] Michigan St @ [17] Auburn	SCORES	SEC+
8:30pm ET/ 5:30pm PT	[1] Oklahoma @ [8] Arkansas	SCORES	SEC+
Saturday, March 7
5:00pm ET/ 2:00pm PT	[5] UCLA @ [10] Stanford	SCORES	ACC+
5:00pm ET/ 2:00pm PT	BYU W. Virginia @ [12] Utah	SCORES	ESPN+
7:00pm ET/ 4:00pm PT	Boise St @ [15] Cal	SCORES	ACC+
Sunday, March 8
2:00pm ET/ 11:00am PT	[16] Penn St NC State E. Michigan @ [20] Ohio St	SCORES	BTN+
3:00pm ET/ 12:00pm PT	TWU @ [1] Oklahoma	SCORES	SEC+
3:00pm ET/ 12:00pm PT	[3] Alabama @ Illinois	SCORES	BTN+
4:00pm ET/ 1:00pm PT	[6] Georgia [14] Clemson [17] Auburn Pitt	SCORES	ACCN
6:00pm ET/ 3:00pm PT	[2] LSU @ [4] Florida	SCORES	SECN

---

That’s Our History

NQS Evolution

This week, I’m interested in how the change in formulating NQS for 2026 has influenced the rankings. And to shoehorn that into the “history” theme of this section, let’s first discuss the timeline of NQS/RQS changes in college gymnastics.

For the 2026 season, college gymnastics switched from the old NQS format (take the 6 best scores, minimum three away, drop the high, and average the remaining 5) to the new NQS team format (drop the high and the low and average the rest, using a maximum of 5 home meets).

It’s the first major change to NQS formulation since 2000—not counting 2019’s rebrand from RQS (Regional Qualifying Score) to NQS (National Qualifying Score) because the calculation was the same, just the charade of “regionals” was lessened.

From 1992 to 1999, RQS was determined by taking the 6 best scores from the season, minimum 2 away and 2 home, dropping the high and the low, and averaging the remaining 4 scores. For the 2000 season, the away score counting requirement was raised to 3 and no low score was dropped from the RQS six, creating the system that we came to know through 2025.

Now, to what this year’s change has done to the rankings. Here is how teams would rank if Old NQS were still in place, alongside a comparison to their actual current rankings to see who has benefited from the change and who has not.

2026 Rankings by Old NQS

Old NQS Rank	Team	Actual Week 9 Rank	New NQS Benefit/ Loss
1	Oklahoma	1	=
2	LSU	2	=
3	Alabama	3	=
4	UCLA	5	-1
5	Florida	4	+1
6	Georgia	6	=
7	Arkansas	8	-1
8	Missouri	7	+1
9	Michigan	9	=
9	Stanford	10	-1
11	Michigan St	11	=
12	Utah	12	=
13	Minnesota	13	=
14	Cal	15	-1
15	Iowa	19	-4
16	Kentucky	22	-6
17	NC State	21	-4
18	Penn State	16	+2
19	Auburn	17	+2
20	Clemson	14	+6
21	North Carolina	18	+3
22	Ohio State	20	+2
23	Denver	23	=
24	BYU	24	=
25	Oregon St	25	=
26	Southern Utah	26	=
27	Maryland	27	=
28	Utah St	28	=
29	Arizona	30	-1
30	San Jose St	29	+1
31	Arizona St	32	-1
32	Nebraska	31	+1
33	Air Force	34	-1
34	Washington	36	-2
35	Rutgers	38	-3
36	Central Michigan	33	+3
37	Illinois	41	-4
38	Ball State	37	+1
39	Towson	39	=
40	TWU	45	-5
41	Pitt	40	+1
42	Western Michigan	43	-1
43	Penn	35	+8
44	Kent State	42	+1
45	Boise State	46	-1
46	New Hampshire	44	+2
47	West Virginia	47	=

Biggest Winners of New NQS – Clemson, Penn

The primary aim of the change to the NQS system was to count more meets and emphasize full-season consistency, making those January meets matter a little more and reduce the opportunity for teams to stink up the joint for a month or two and then paper over that by dropping all the bad scores.

I think we can say that’s happening. #14 Clemson would be at #20 in the old rankings, and Clemson’s season thus far is exactly the kind of performance the new rankings are designed to benefit: consistently solid with no dips. Clemson has one 195.925 and one 197.025, both dropped, and everything else is a comfortable 196. No big lows, no big highs.

Penn is the biggest beneficiary of the new system, currently sitting in the regionals spots at #35. If the old system were in place, Penn would be nearly out of contention at #43. Penn had one low score this season, a 194.0 that is dropped, but otherwise has been right around where they need to be each week. No unfortunate meet is counting against them, and they’re basically the only team in the bubble section of the rankings that can say that.

Biggest Loser of New NQS – Kentucky

The major headline in the comparison between old and new NQS is the difference in Kentucky’s ranking. Kentucky started the year disastrously, going 194.925, 194.325, and 195.775 in the first three meets before pulling things together and becoming good. While the 194.325 can be dropped as the season low, the 194.925 and 195.775 are there to stay, impeding how high Kentucky can really go even with a late-season push.

In the old NQS system, both 194s would have already been dropped, allowing Kentucky to get up to #16 and rank ahead of Auburn within the SEC. The 195.775 would be on the verge of being dropped with a road score this week at Alabama, allowing Kentucky to get up close to the likes of Michigan State and Utah. A very different result for the exact same meet scores.

Other Notes

–In Old NQS, UCLA would be ahead of Florida, primarily because of having three higher road scores to count, while Florida would still be using a road 197.100 as one of their three. Old NQS would allow UCLA to drop the road 196.975 and 197.000 from the first two meets, but New NQS forces those to be counted.

–Arkansas would be ahead of Missouri in Old NQS, but that would also be the case in New NQS if the home meet limit were currently reflected in the rankings, which it is still not.

–Iowa, NC State, and Illinois are the other big losers of New NQS as of now. In that 15-22 section of the rankings, Iowa and NC State are worse off now, while Penn State, Auburn, Clemson, UNC, and Ohio State are better off. The reason? Second 195 Syndrome. Iowa and NC State both had a second low score (195) this season that now has to count, while Penn State, Auburn, Clemson, UNC, and Ohio State all have one or zero 195s.

Illinois, meanwhile, has 5 usable 195s and 4 unusable 194s. In Old NQS, Illinois would be on the verge of getting rid of all of those 194s, but now, three of them have to count, salting the season.