1. Michigan

This is already the highest NQS in Michigan’s team history, and there’s not really much that needs changing. Still, Utah is closing in and Oklahoma and Florida are lurking with 196s still to get rid of. Plus, Oklahoma has more 198s than Michigan so far this season. So Michigan will still look to improve upon that 197.750 this week to try to fend off the others, among whom Oklahoma has the highest peak after this weekend. A 197.925 would ensure that Michigan stays #1 in next week’s rankings. 

2. Utah

Utah’s road 197.950 against Washington on Monday night pulled the team just ahead of Oklahoma and Florida and into second place. Unlike Oklahoma, Utah doesn’t have a low score left to get rid of to drastically increase its NQS, so Utah cannot catch Michigan this weekend and will instead be looking for fend off OU and Florida. That will take a combination of a good score and some help from Oklahoma not being awesome.

3. Oklahoma

Oklahoma’s third 198 of the season on Saturday proved just enough to bypass Florida in this week’s rankings. While catching Michigan this week will largely be dependent on what Michigan scores, Oklahoma can at least give itself a shot with another 198. Meanwhile, it would take a 197.625 to move back ahead of Utah regardless of what Utah scores, while it would take only a 197.175 to ensure that Oklahoma stays ahead of Florida in next Monday’s rankings since Florida hosts their meet.

4. Florida

Florida hosts Oklahoma this Friday, and since Florida’s home scores are already the better half of the team’s NQS picture, there’s unlikely to be a lot of maneuvering Florida can do in the rankings next week—though it will be possible to pass both Utah and Oklahoma if they put up clunkers. That’s more in Utah and Oklahoma’s hands. Still, there’s room to pop a third 198 home score in there to set up Florida for a chance to zoom up given strong road scores in coming weeks, which always helps.  

5. Auburn

Auburn moved ahead of LSU and Alabama this week for the #2 position in the conference, but because Auburn and Alabama are at home this weekend, while LSU competes away with a 196.850 that can be dropped, it will be LSU’s performance on Friday that most determines the order of these three teams in next week’s rankings. LSU needs 197.350 this weekend to clinch a position ahead of both for week 8. As for Auburn and Alabama, Auburn has a verrrry slightly higher peak than Alabama does this week and can therefore guarantee staying ahead of Alabama with a 197.675. Basically, it will be about whoever has the better competition on Friday.

6. LSU

LSU used a two-meet weekend to get itself both a juicy, juicy 198 and a full NQS slate of six scores. With two 196s still hanging around, there’s lots of room to improve on this number and move up the rankings (see notes under Auburn). LSU still does have a long way to go to challenge the top four since Sunday’s second meet score was just 197.200, which isn’t a top-4 score, but would need three big scores out of four meets to get right up there, which is doable.

7. Alabama

Another strong 197 over the weekend has Alabama hanging close, but with Alabama competing at home for the next couple meets, there won’t be too much space to make a move in the rankings until the Elevate meet on March 6th, at which point they can start getting rid of the 196.9 and 197.1. For now, Alabama looks comfortable in the top 7 but dependent on the other teams for any chance to move higher. 

NR. Cal

Cal does not yet have a third road score and therefore can’t have an NQS because of the cancellation of the Collegiate Challenge in week 1, but the team’s current average of 197.063 would settle in here. For Sunday’s visit to Arizona State, Cal will be looking at the minimum score goal of 196.875 in order to confirm this #8 ranking for next Monday, (though, really, getting some road 197s out there will be imperative).  

NR. Kentucky

Like Cal, Kentucky has an average of 196.958 but not enough road scores for an NQS. After Friday’s meet, Kentucky will have an opportunity to go as high as 8th, though Cal enjoys the higher peak, so that will be dependent on what Cal does. A 197.325 on Friday at Auburn would make sure Kentucky is ahead of Minnesota regardless of what Minnesota scores at home. 

8. Minnesota

Minnesota remains in 8th place this week, but the presence of Cal and Kentucky (and Oregon State) as lurking contenders to pass once they have actual NQSs speaks to the danger that Minnesota’s recent beam problems have put the team in. Two straight beampocalypses have saddled Minnesota with a couple unusable 196s and exactly two road meets left (March 4, March 19) to fix it. Competing at home this weekend means Minnesota has a lower NQS peak than Cal, Kentucky, or Missouri so may find itself falling in the rankings for a moment if they all have good ones. 

NR. Oregon State

Oregon State’s current average of 196.821 compares quite well and would nestle right in among the teams challenging for spots in the top 10. This weekend’s home finale, however, won’t give Oregon State a full NQS, so we’ll have to wait until the very last minute to see if the Beavs’ remaining road scores are going to be enough to challenge.

9. Missouri

Missouri has very competitive bold scores right now, which augurs well for how high the team can climb—provided that exactly all of the remaining meets are good ones. This week, Missouri enjoys a higher potential peak than both Kentucky and Minnesota. It would take a serious score well into the 197s to absolutely ensure it, but even if Minnesota goes say 197 flat, Missouri would need to go only 196.775 in order to pass, which seems very doable.    

10. Michigan State

Michigan State’s scores at this point are all pretty representative of the team’s performance this year with no clunkers hanging around, so mostly it will be about holding the fort for the next month. With a lower peak after this weekend than the teams above (including the unranked teams), MSU would be reliant on them not putting up a great score for any chance to improve its ranking.

11. Denver

It was a disastrous floor rotation that did in Denver this weekend as Mia Sundstrom joined the thanks-I-hate-it club of being out for the rest of the season. It’s getting harder and harder to fill out these lineups, but there should still be six who can go. Denver now has just one road meet remaining on the schedule and will have to count that 196.625, which is not a bad score but is not going to get a team into the top 10 this year, which means a home 197.0 this weekend would be extremely welcome.

NR. Arkansas

Like Oregon State, Arkansas still needs a road score but competes at home this weekend so cannot get an NQS until the following week. The team’s current average of 196.442 is medium-fine, but NQS will help a team like Arkansas because there’s still a chance to drop some of those weaker numbers if they can put together hit meets. There’s still a lot of room to grow for Arkansas (Sunday’s performance was only OK and got 196.800), but is there time?  

12. BYU

A two-meet weekend allowed BYU to get rid of all of its low scores in one fell swoop to create a picture that’s pretty competitive. Still, 196.4s and 196.5s are not going to be high enough this season to get a spot in the top 16, so BYU will still be looking to its remaining road meets to get those numbers a little higher. 

13. Iowa

Iowa will be somewhat concerned about the recent stagnation of scores in the lower 196s because that is a dangerous game to play. Lots and lots of teams, including some that currently sit outside the top 36, are capable of 196.2-196.4. It’s not a safe score. For now, Iowa is still in a solid position to make regionals but will be eager to start getting some high 196s this weekend so that getting relegated to the play-in meets is also not an option because this team is too talented for that. 

NR. Boise State

It was always going to be a late thing for Boise State given the schedule, but this team is now setting itself up to make a move on the top 16 after those two big scores over the weekend. If that’s representative of what the team will continue to score, a high ranking is quite believable. But with just four meets left and a 195, a 194, and a zero still on the slate, there’s little room to count a fall in here. 

14. Utah State

Utah State is in the somewhat unusual position of having better road scores than home scores, which allows for many more opportunities to get rid of those pesky 195s that are keeping the ranking down since they can be dropped at any time.

15. Stanford

Stanford’s setup is currently pretty comfortable-looking—and a mid-196 for a counting fall on Monday is encouraging—but the team will still want a few more road scores to get safely out of the 196.2 purgatory.

16. Arizona State

Arizona State is making a move now. With a 195.275 to get rid of this weekend, expect a huge ranking surge next Monday as ASU’s setup is currently more encouraging than for the teams ranked Iowa-through-Stanford. 

17. Ohio State

Ohio State’s 196.900 on Friday ranks as one of the best scores in team history, and even if that level can’t quite be replicated, it makes those 195.7s hanging around look infinitely droppable to solidify this ranking position. 

18. Southern Utah

It will all come down to the road meets for SUU on March 5 and March 19 because everything else is quite competitive. But counting 195s will put almost any team in ranking danger this year. 

19. UCLA

Sunday’s bars meltdown means that UCLA is stuck counting a 196.300 road score, which is going to curtail how high the team can climb. UCLA’s ranking should improve significantly once that 194.850 is removed (right?) to get the team out of the actual ranking danger it is in right now, but that 197.600 will have to be replicated plenty more times to get to a ranking that even vaguely befits the talent level of the team. 

20. Illinois

21. West Virginia

22. Iowa State

Note a low 194 still to be removed here.

23. Washington

It took Washington a single weekend to go from danger zone to glory. And now with bold scores right up there alongside teams like Arkansas (and some very low numbers to drop), Washington is looking dangerous.

24. North Carolina

UNC came up with a big road score this weekend and not a moment too soon. Those other road scores will still have to go, but both bold scores look safe for regionals.

25. Towson

26. Rutgers

No 196s = big danger

27. Penn State

28. Georgia

Georgia is hanging on. We can assume those 194s will fly shortly even if the performances continue being kind of meh, which should get Georgia to a safe-ish ranking. But if it’s still 196.3s, Georgia won’t sleep well for a while.  

29. Nebraska

The scores have started to come for Nebraska, but only just in the nick of time. There’s no room remaining to count falls with four meets left and four scores that really need to go.

30. NC State

31. Pittsburgh

Pitt is making a late upset bid for a spot at regionals with two very useful bold scores. If those 194s can both go over the next two meets, this starts to look like a competitive slate.

32. Arizona

Arizona’s secret weapon is that 193 still to drop. But will those 196.0s be enough?

33. Western Michigan

34. San Jose State

Watch out for SJSU in the coming weeks. There’s a misleading 192 in there.

35. Kent State

36. Ball State

37. UC Davis

38. Maryland

192 alert.

39. Northern Illinois

40. George Washington

41. Illinois State

42. Temple

43. Central Michigan

44. New Hampshire

45. Pennsylvania

1. Michigan – 197.963

Michigan has competed at only two road meets thus far so will not have an official NQS until after the Big Five meet this Friday. Sunday’s 197.600 was Michigan’s lowest home score of the season so far and was dropped so doesn’t influence the NQS.

2. Florida – 197.638

Like Michigan, Florida will not have an NQS until after Friday’s meet because of the team’s home-heavy early schedule and road-heavy late schedule. Florida has the clear edge on Michigan in home scores, but with just one usable road score thus far compared to Michigan’s two road 198s, Florida will have to start getting the away results to keep up.

3. Oklahoma – 197.604

Oklahoma’s current setup is quite similar to Florida’s, with two home 198s and only one usable road score so far, though Oklahoma lost some ground this week when Florida got a 198 and Oklahoma had a beam dud. One difference in Oklahoma’s favor is that Oklahoma has a busier remaining schedule with 5 road-score opportunities still to come in addition to the home finale against Michigan.

4. Utah – 197.496

Unlike the top 3, Utah has an NQS at this point, using that consistent slate of 197s to come up with an already competitive 197.440. The problem for Utah will be that every team ranked above them already has two 198s (one to drop and one to count) while Utah has none, so Utah’s potential to improve upon a #4 ranking will be largely handcuffed until those 198s come.

5. LSU – 197.400

LSU’s meet cancellations from earlier in the season mean the team has been slightly behind with the number of scores but will officially be caught up following this weekend’s two-meet adventure, with one road meet and one home meet to fill out the picture. With only two scores of LSU level so far, there is a bit more pressure to make sure the remaining meets are mostly good ones, but LSU does have six left.

6. Auburn – 197.250

Auburn’s current NQS is exceptionally healthy and requires the removal of just that one low road score in order to be a perfectly competitive end-of-season total, one that would compare reasonably with what we’re seeing from #4 Utah. With six meets left and only one absolutely necessary score required, Auburn should have the luxury to manage athletes through March without the pressure to put the ideal lineup out every single time.

7. Alabama – 197.154

Alabama will be able to remove that 195 from the road scores easily, but we are currently seeing a large discrepancy between Alabama’s home scores and road scores, and it’s going to be difficult to keep up with Auburn—let alone the top 5—on just the strength of home scores. Alabama will look for a big number at LSU this Friday.

8. Minnesota – 197.095

Minnesota’s 196.225 loss to Maryland and Pittsburgh on Monday was not the highlight of the season and puts a little more strain on the three remaining road meets if Minnesota is to remain in the top 8 as we go. A road peak at 197.125 like Minnesota and Alabama have is good for now, but will it stay good?

9. Cal – 196.960

Currently, the top 7ish have established a fairly sizable gap between themselves and everyone else, so teams in the challenging pack like Cal will be looking to—surprise!—use a heavy March away schedule to improve those pesky road scores. Note that Cal will drop off the rankings next Monday when NQS kicks in, without enough road scores to get an NQS until the following week.

10. Kentucky – 196.880

See above. Everything about Cal also applies to Kentucky as the score-scapes and schedules are both very similar right now.

11. Missouri – 196.850

Missouri is currently in an interesting position because these are already extremely strong scores for Missouri historically (the final NQS last season was 196.444, so the team would basically just have to cough one more time to beat that this season). It’s a win. But if Missouri is entertaining top-10 hopes, that would mean using all five remaining meets to drop these 196s.

12. Denver – 196.800

Unsurprisingly, Denver has suffered a bit of a score dip following the injury to Brown, though did get back up to 196.8 last Sunday, and did log two 197s in the Before Times. That means this is not at all terrible score picture, if still kind of vulnerable to getting dropped out of the all-important top 16 should the 196s continue. With only two road meets left, Denver will be eager to scoop up that good, good Metroplex goodness this Saturday.

13. Oregon State – 196.755

Oregon State did itself a solid on Sunday with another 197, which sets the team up favorably to challenge the likes of #11 Missouri and #12 Denver, while also providing a little buffer in the race to the evening session at Pac-12s (a race that is going to get junky with UCLA still presumably going to finish with high scores but Arizona State with a lot more to give and Stanford getting almost 197s now). The question for Oregon State is that this team is still largely road-untested with just one away meet so far that went medium, part of a season schedule that also means Oregon State won’t actually rejoin the rankings until March 6th.

14. Michigan State – 196.611

This is already obviously better than anyone possibly could have imagined, so, you know…good one? Drop that 195, then chill on the couch. Maintaining top 16 is going to be tough to do with mid-196s hanging around, so those probably do also need to go if MSU is to fend off some of the name brands still ranked lower.

15. UCLA – 196.410

The red flag for UCLA right now is that bold 196.850 at the top. Since there are just two road meets left on the Bruins’ schedule—Pac-12s and this Sunday’s meet at Arizona State—that 196.850 cannot be dropped and will inhibit how high the team can go because…it’s not a 197. There is perhaps no more urgent performance this coming weekend than UCLA’s at ASU because the score pretty much has to count. If it’s a missed meet, it becomes very tough to see a path for UCLA to the top 10 or a good postseason seeding.

16. Arkansas – 196.370

Despite a deeply erratic start to the season—with meets that are just as likely to be 197s as they are multi-fall affairs—Arkansas is also sitting on two usable scores with six meets remaining. So there’s time. Much like Oregon State, Arkansas is still an untested road team and will be eager to compare favorably to Missouri in this weekend’s visit to have a chance at upsetting the current conference hierarchy.

17. Iowa – 196.285

By average, Iowa currently sits outside the top 16 places (those who will be seeded at regionals) and will need to go higher than these 196.4s to change that. Iowa has not scored 49 on bars at an away meet so far this year, which is the main thing that will have to change during this month-long road meet streak.

18. Stanford – 196.230

Last year at this time Stanford had one score on the slate and it was 133. So this is better. 

19. BYU – 196.221

20. Arizona State – 196.160

21. Utah State – 196.142

Watch out for Utah State to make a push once NQS turns on and that 194 goes away. 

22. Ohio State – 195.950

23. Southern Utah – 195.871

Road score alert. SUU does still have four road meets on the schedule, and the juiciest looking score opportunity in the bunch is Friday’s visit to BYU.

24. Boise State – 195.783

Meet cancellations and a late start mean Boise State has barely begun. But with six meets currently left on the schedule and only one usable score by this season’s standards, the time is now. This week’s two-meet weekend is a big one.

25. Western Michigan – 195.720

Western Michigan started so well, but the scores haven’t come lately, and the big lingering question is whether low 196s will be enough to make regionals. They always have been before, but the scores are different this year. 

26. Illinois – 195.658

27. Georgia – 195.600

Teams like Georgia are the ones NQS is designed to protect, teams that started poorly and have low averages but are going to end up getting enough scores to be fine. But in terms of definitely, absolutely safe scores, Georgia still has only one of them and six meets remaining, so can’t afford much dawdling.  

28. North Carolina – 195.554

Road score alert.

29. Kent State – 195.505

30. NC State – 195.450

31. Towson – 195.425

32. West Virginia – 195.395

33. San Jose State – 195.385

Watch out for SJSU in the coming weeks. There’s a misleading 192 in there.

34. Arizona – 195.370

35. Penn State – 195.358

36. Maryland – 195.325

37. Nebraska – 195.225

38. Iowa State – 195.200

39. Washington – 195.050

Washington has just three road meets left, including Saturday at Metroplex, where a regionals-competitive 196 is starting to look like an absolute must. 

40. UC Davis – 194.963

41. Rutgers – 194.961

Since Rutgers has already been able to drop its first-meet 192, Rutgers’ NQS is much higher than a number of the teams that are ranked above on average.

42. Temple – 194.946

43. Pittsburgh – 194.933

44. George Washington – 194.908

45. Northern Illinois – 194.861

46. New Hampshire – 194.538

47. Central Michigan – 194.496

48. Ball State – 194.494

A not-enough-people meet over the weekend sunk Ball State’s average, but keep an eye out because that score is already dropped for NQS, which is a healthier number. 

49. Eastern Michigan – 194.396

50. Pennsylvania – 194.067