America East on the Decline: Ryan’s Rundown Week 6

The America East drops to the bottom, the Ivy League continues to flex their muscles, and the ACC is fighting to regain some honor. A bad week for the Big Ten made things pretty interesting overall. So, let’s dive into the rundown!

Scoreboard

Monday

Fairfield 16 v Binghamton 11 (CAA v America East)

Tuesday

Penn State 11 v Bucknell 12 (Big Ten v Patriot)

VMI 6 v Monmouth 11 (SoCon v MAAC)

Lafayette 10 v Rutgers 22 (Patriot v Big Ten)

Wednesday

Vermont 10 v UMass 12 (America East v CAA)

UMass-Lowell 9 v Stony Brook 17 (America East v America East)

Friday

Navy 11 v Johns Hopkins 10 (Patriot v Big Ten)

Saturday

Utah 6 v Georgetown 16 (ASUN v Big East)

Binghamton 18 v Albany 10 (America East v America East)

Air Force 13 v Mercer 10 (ASUN v SoCon)

Bellarmine 17 v VMI 8 (ASUN v SoCon)

Merrimack 4 v Bryant 16 (NEC v NEC)

Bucknell 9 v Loyola 13 (Patriot v Patriot)

St. John’s 10 v Dartmouth 17 (Big East v Ivy)

Drexel 12 v Villanova 15 (CAA v Big East)

Cleveland State 19 v Hampton 6 (ASUN v SoCon)

Hobart 8 v Sacred Heart 9 (NEC v NEC)

Rutgers 22 v Hofstra 10 (Big Ten v CAA)

Jacksonville 22 v UMass-Lowell 8 (SoCon v America East)

Quinnipiac 7 v Manhattan 9 (MAAC v MAAC)

St. Bonaventure 7 v Marist 6 (MAAC v MAAC)

Marquette 7 v Robert Morris 10 (Big East v ASUN)

NJIT 3 v Vermont 14 (America East v America East)

Penn 20 v Princeton 21 (Ivy v Ivy)

Boston U 16 v Holy Cross 10 (Patriot v Patriot)

Lehigh 11 v Army 10 (Patriot v Patriot)

Michigan 7 v Notre Dame 12 (Big Ten v ACC)

Brown 11 v Harvard 12 (Ivy v Ivy)

Providence 11 v Fairfield 15 (Big East v CAA)

Yale 12 v Cornell 13 (Ivy v Ivy)

Wagner 7 v LIU 12 (NEC v NEC)

Lafayette 7 v Colgate 14 (Patriot v Patriot)

Syracuse 14 v Stony Brook 9 (ACC v America East)

Saint Joseph’s 19 v Mount St Marys 6 (NEC v NEC)

Virginia 12 v Maryland 23 (ACC v Big Ten)

Towson 7 v Duke 14 (CAA v ACC)

Sunday

Johns Hopkins 10 v Delaware 12 (Big Ten v CAA)

Denver 14 v Ohio State 12 (Big East v Big Ten)

UMBC 9 v Richmond 14 (America East v SoCon)

North Carolina 14 v High Point 12 (ACC v SoCon)

Siena 8 v Canisius 9 (MAAC v MAAC)

My Top 20

Since transparency is a good thing, here’s my Inside Lacrosse Media Poll ballot for this week:

1. Maryland
2. Cornell
3. Georgetown
4. Princeton
5. Virginia
6. Penn
7. Notre Dame
8. Yale
9. UNC
10. Ohio State
11. Rutgers
12. Jacksonville
13. Denver
14. Boston U
15. Harvard
16. Army
17. Duke
18. Brown
19. High Point
20. Utah

Obviously Maryland is the No.1 team, but things became interesting after that. Had the UVA game been close, they may not have dropped at all, but the game was not close at all. I dropped them down to five behind Cornell, Princeton, and Georgetown. The Cornell and Princeton wins in particular over Yale and Penn respectively were huge for those two to stay at the top of the Ivy.

Aside from the top, there was some light shuffling, but the big changes were in the bottom five. Army fell a bit after losing to Lehigh, Brown dropped after losing to Harvard, while Stony Brook and Hopkins dropped out of my Top 20 completely. Taking their place was High Point and Harvard.

Conference Comparison

This is the section of the rundown to keep track of how conferences are doing against each other. This year we actually don’t have any teams playing as independents, which is a huge step forward. The big reason I keep track of this is it helps roughly gauge how many teams from each conference to expect in the NCAA tournament at the end of the season. Unless you’re in the Top 3 of conferences, you’re probably only sending one team. There are some rare exceptions, but it does help to be aware of what’s going on once everyone switches to conference games and beat each other up.

Plot twist! Who saw the ACC and Big Ten swapping spots this week? Especially when you look at Maryland’s dismantling of UVA in the battle of the two conferences’ top teams, the switch it surprising. But that was just one game, and the only one the ACC lost this weekend.

Syracuse getting a much needed win over Stony Brook while Duke and UNC also had wins was great. But the bonus was Notre Dame beating Michigan in the head-to-head conference matchup provided a nice swing for the ACC. The Big Ten on the other hand had to deal with two Hopkins losses, the Michigan loss, Ohio State’s game to Denver , and a Penn State loss to Bucknell. It was not a banner week for the Big Ten despite the fanfare for Maryland on top.

At the lower end of the table, there was also some shifting. The ASUN had a spectacular week behind a 4-1 record, moving them from the basement to ahead of both the MAAC and America East. That was largely due to the MAAC also only having a single non-conference game this week, which meant there was only so far they could move. But the America East had the worst week in the country, going totally winless in all five tries.

This Week’s Games

Tuesday

Dartmouth @ Ohio State (Ivy v Big Ten)

Boston U @ Harvard (Patriot v Ivy)

St. John’s @ Fairfield (Big East v CAA)

Saturday

Georgetown @ Lehigh (Big East v Patriot)

Stony Brook @ Albany (America East v America East)

Air Force @ Marquette (ASUN v Big East)

Bellarmine @ North Carolina (ASUN v ACC)

UMBC @ Binghamton (America East v America East)

Bryant @ Hobart (NEC v NEC)

Colgate @ Bucknell (Patriot v Patriot)

Dartmouth @ Harvard (Ivy v Ivy)

Delaware @ Villanova (CAA v Big East)

Towson @ Denver (CAA v Big East)

Detroit @ High Point (ASUN v SoCon)

Drexel @ Robert Morris (CAA v ASUN)

Richmond @ Hampton (SoCon v SoCon)

Hofstra @ Providence (CAA v Big East)

St. John’s @ Jacksonville (Big East v SoCon)

Michigan @ Johns Hopkins (Big Ten v Big Ten)

Army @ Loyola (Patriot v Patriot)

Manhattan @ St. Bonaventure (MAAC v MAAC)

Siena @ Marist (MAAC v MAAC)

Mercer @ Utah (SoCon v ASUN)

UMass-Lowell @ NJIT (America East v America East)

Cornell @ Penn (Ivy v Ivy)

Princeton @ Yale (Ivy v Ivy)

Canisius @ Vermont (MAAC v America East)

VMI @ Cleveland State (SoCon v ASUN)

UMass @ Brown (CAA v Ivy)

Lafayette @ Boston U (Patriot v Patriot)

Holy Cross @ Navy (Patriot v Patriot)

Saint Joseph’s @ Wagner (NEC v NEC)

Monmouth @ Quinnipiac (MAAC v MAAC)

Merrimack @ LIU (NEC v NEC)

Duke @ Syracuse (ACC v ACC)

Mount St Marys @ Sacred Heart (NEC v NEC)

Notre Dame @ Virginia (ACC v ACC)

Sunday

Ohio State @ Rutgers (Big Ten v Big Ten)

Maryland @ Penn State (Big Ten v Big Ten)

Games to Look Out For

The headliner non-conference game in a weekend where there are plenty of conference-only battles has to be Georgetown and Lehigh. Lehigh has definitely underperformed compared to preseason expectations, but that does not mean they are not incredibly dangerous to a team like Georgetown. Should the Hoyas take this one? Sure. But I would also expect this to be a great game to watch if you can.

In terms of Conference battles, I love Dartmouth visiting Harvard and Ohio State facing Rutgers. The Ivy league has plenty of sorting out to do, and Dartmouth is improved, but taking down a team like Harvard would create an absolute mess in the standings, and at this point in the season, a mess like that is wonderful. The Big Ten matchup of Ohio State and Rutgers is an excellent battle between the teams fighting for the chance to be No.2 to Maryland.

Sneaky Good Matchups

Delaware @ Villanova (CAA v Big East)

Georgetown @ Lehigh (Big East v Patriot)

Michigan @ Johns Hopkins (Big Ten v Big Ten)

Dartmouth @ Harvard (Ivy v Ivy)

Duke @ Syracuse (ACC v ACC)

Not So Sneaky Matchups

Army @ Loyola (Patriot v Patriot)

Cornell @ Penn (Ivy v Ivy)

Princeton @ Yale (Ivy v Ivy)

Notre Dame @ Virginia (ACC v ACC)

Ohio State @ Rutgers (Big Ten v Big Ten)