College Crosse 2017 Power Rankings: Week 4 Edition

There’s a lot of movement in the polls this week, which means plenty of movement in this week’s Power Rankings.

Let’s get right to it.

1. Denver (Last Week: 1) - The Pios are still the top team in the land, and got the first shutout of 2017.
2. Johns Hopkins (LW: 4) - When you dominate the defending national champions on their home turf, that definitely puts some respect on your name.
3. Maryland (LW: 2) - It could be worse, you could’ve lost the game!
4. Notre Dame (LW: 5) - Thank you for beating Michigan.
5. Yale (LW: 7) - Yeah they lost, but they showed a ton of promise without their star stud Ben Reeves.
6. Penn State (LW: 10) - The Nittany Lions’ offense is (infinite fire emojis).
7. Loyola (LW: 11) - They could easily be 3-0 if they were on the other end of one-goal games over Virginia and Hopkins, and they haven’t reached their full potential yet.
8. Syracuse (LW: 6) - We saw how they are without Ben Williams, so hopefully he’s back next week against a dangerous Virginia team inside the Carrier Dome.
9. North Carolina (LW: 3) - Including the postseason, the Tar Heels had the nation’s longest winning streak, with the key word in that sentence being “had.”
10. Albany (LW: 12) - Make the Great Danes great again?
11. Virginia (LW: 8) - Tough loss to a pretty darn good Penn team, and hopefully they can play better in a zone defense.
12. Richmond (LW: 15) - They put on a clinic against Marquette, and it was magical to watch (if you weren’t a Marquette fan).
13. Towson (LW: 13) - They almost lost to Georgetown, but they have their first big test of the season against Loyola tomorrow!
14. Penn (LW: 19) - They’re in the top 10 in many polls, but I’m not getting ahead of myself with this team just yet...let’s see how they play against Penn State first.
15. Rutgers (LW: 14) - They went down a spot, despite the pretty good win, because we started to really see some teams play and that’s how the cookie crumbles.
16. Boston University (LW: 20) - They should be ranked in the top 20, end of discussion.
17. Duke (LW: 18) - Can they get a big win this weekend against Richmond?
18. Ohio State (LW: 22) - Similar to Michigan, the Buckeyes have played teams that haven’t been good this or last year, and will also have their first big game this weekend against Marquette.
19. Stony Brook (LW: 28) - The Seawolves put up a 25 number on Brown and started on an 8-0 run.
20. Army West Point (LW: 31) - They gave Syracuse their second buzzer-beater in as many meetings, but they were the ones that came out on top.
21. Brown (LW: 9) - Their defense isn’t the same defense from last year.
22. Hofstra (LW: 30) - The Pride always have pretty good starts, but can it last for an entire season?
23. Providence (LW: 24) - If they defeated BU in their season-opener, they’d be a top 20 team.
24. Air Force (LW: 23) - Two easy wins against Canisius and Cleveland State didn’t show me a ton.
25. Harvard (LW: 25) - The Crimson have a sneaky good game this weekend against Vermont, which will be their first big test of the season.
26. Navy (LW: 17) - Their offense, even without Jack Ray, still needs work.
27. Princeton (LW: 33) - I am a big fan of Michael Sowers, and Matt Madalon’s crew is off to a fine start.
28. Marquette (LW: 16) - Which Marquette will we see against Ohio State: the one against Jacksonville, or the one against Richmond?
29. Marist (LW: 21) - After a tough loss to Princeton, the Red Foxes got back on track with a win over Binghamton.
30. Vermont (LW: 26) - The Catamounts played well against Providence, but they need to get Ian MacKay out there very soon.
31. Hobart (LW: 45) - The Statesmen crushed Cornell, and are still scoring a lot of goals.
32. Fairfield (LW: 29) - The Stags’ slow offense showed against a tough Rutgers defense, and Colin Burke had an assist.
33. Bucknell (LW: 27) - The Bison didn’t play in a one-goal game this week, but lost to Colgate, which is kind of concerning for the group that thought they would be a darkhorse team (like myself).
34. Michigan (LW: 32) - THEY FINALLY LOST TO A GOOD TEAM AND THEY STILL NEED WORK, Y’ALL.
35. Delaware (LW: 42) - The Blue Hens could potentially have a semi-special season for Bob Shillinglaw’s final season as head coach.
36. Robert Morris (LW: 40) - This is another fun offense to watch.
37. Villanova (LW: 35) - They hope to get out of Reverse Survivor with a win over Drexel today.
38. Monmouth (LW: 34) - What’s going on here, Hawks...
39. High Point (LW: 39) - A good win over St. John’s, although a win over Virginia might do something.
40. Bryant (LW: 40) - Tucker James is probably the best player in the NEC.
41. Drexel (LW: 41) - Will losses against Virginia and Albany help the Dragons as they take on Villanova tonight?
42. St. Joe’s (LW: 36) - A yikes game in Durham against Duke, but their schedule gets easier for the next couple of games.
43. Georgetown (LW: 48) - They are winless, but their performances against Notre Dame and Towson show some promise.
44. Sacred Heart (LW: 49) - The NEC is going to be a fun conference to watch this year.
45. Colgate (LW: 55) - Last year, the Raiders defeated Bucknell in Patriot League play, but struggled for the rest of the season...just saying.
46. Quinnipiac (LW: 37) - I don’t think this is the same Bobcat team we saw last year when they won the MAAC.
47. Furman (LW: 52) - They finally got a win on Sunday!
48. UMass (LW: 47) - They’ve played their last two games pretty well, but get ready for a dose of reality against Albany.
49. Hartford (LW: 46) - Tough times for the defending America East champions.
50. Cornell (LW: 44) - Is Jeff Teat overrated?
51. Binghamton (LW: 50) - The Bearcats played Marist to a three-goal game, and it smells like the Bearcats are improving under Kevin McKeown.
52. Canisius (LW: 51) - Did you think they were going to beat Air Force or Denver?
53. Lehigh (LW: 38) - I thought Holy Cross was the second-worst team in the Patriot League...
54. UMBC (LW: 57) - After getting bullied around by UNC, Hopkins, and Richmond, the Retrievers bullied around Mercer for their first win under Ryan Moran.
55. Bellarmine (LW: 59) - A great win over Quinnipiac to get their season back on track.
56. UMass Lowell (LW: 63) - Year three can also be a year of improvement, as we’re seeing with the Riverhawks.
57. Mercer (LW: 53) - Not a good look for the Bears this weekend against UMBC.
58. Detroit Mercy (LW: 58) - They earned their first win of the season over Jacksonville, but also lost to Robert Morris.
59. Holy Cross (LW: 65) - Hey the Crusaders might not be so bad after all!
60. St. John’s (LW: 54) - Things aren’t looking good up in Queens.
61. Manhattan (LW: 61) - They had an off week.
62. Wagner (LW: 62) - They battled Monmouth to a tight loss last Tuesday.
63. Siena (LW: 60) - Virginia was an expected loss, but the UMass Lowell defeat was kind of unexpected.
64. Jacksonville (LW: 56) - It’ll take some time for John Galloway to make the Dolphins a competitor in the SoCon.
65. Cleveland State (LW: 64) - A first year program played two strong Colorado programs to losses.
66. Mount St. Mary’s (LW: 66) - Five goals each in their first two games and seven in each of their next two, so can they get nine in each of their next two games?
67. Lafayette (LW: 67) - They got destroyed by Loyola, so there’s that.
68. VMI (LW: 70) - They won a game...against NJIT.
69. NJIT (LW: 68) - They lost to VMI.
70. Dartmouth (LW: 69) - Things aren’t looking to good for the Ivy League school.
71. Hampton (LW: 71) - They lost to the University of District Columbia, but they played in their closest game ever, losing by four goals, and scored 15 goals in the game, their most since the program began last year.

If you decided to skip the small explanations for each team above, here’s a table for ya.