Glazing Texas

For a few weeks, I’ve been pointing out that I thought Texas was getting more love than deserved in the polls. Some young people would say I was upset at poll voters for“glazing” Texas. I was wrong.

Just so we are all staying up to date with the latest slang, if you see this in team tweets or Instagram captions, now we all know what it means. (I had to ask a kid what it meant after seeing it on an MCLA Instagram comment).

Maybe I need to glaze Texas now after they traveled to California and came home with wins over #1 Georgia Tech and #13 California.

That was the big story of the weekend, but let’s dive into my ballot.

#1 Virginia Tech

Wins over 7, 8, 11, 15, 16, 22, 23.

7 ranked wins. The next closest is 3. They are the only team with 2 Top-10 wins (that could change this week).

For me, the value of their wins outweighs the impact of a road loss to Colorado. I’m bumping them back up to #1.

#2 Chapman

Chapman’s solid win over #11 Florida was overshadowed by the rest of the happenings in California last weekend, but it was a solid win for the Panthers. They have a bit of a gauntlet over the next two weeks.

#5 Utah Valley on 3/14
#22 Arizona on 3/16
#3 Virginia Tech on 3/21
#7 Liberty on 3/23

That’s a stacked schedule for March. They can pick up a few marquee wins that will matter a lot of seeding come May.

#3 Texas

If you view Texas as having beaten the #1 team in the country in combination with being undefeated, it’s reasonable to say you think they should be the new #1. When I look at my reconstructed poll it has Texas with 2 wins in the 10-15 range.

That doesn’t put them far behind Chapman, who has 3 wins in that same group, but it’s still behind.

Texas’s schedule lightens up quite a bit moving forward. Oregon will be a tough matchup, but it will likely be their last ranked contest until the MCLA tournament.

That’s a long stretch to go without playing elite competition, and if they drop any games expect their fall to be more drastic than someone like Virginia Tech who has a long resume of ranked wins.

The Longhorns should be huge Georgia Tech/Cal fans the rest of the way. They need them to climb into the top 10 before Selection Sunday.

#4 BYU

BYU picked up 2 unranked wins in Vegas this weekend, easily dispatching Nevada and Grand Canyon.

They travel to Florida this weekend to take on Liberty and Florida. These are huge games for the Cougars, especially since their schedule is on the lighter side compared to historical schedules. After their game against Liberty, their only other Top 10 game (right now) is against UVU on April 20th.

Jac Coyne did a nice job breaking down why cross-country travel can be tough. Florida is a long way from Utah.

#5 Utah Valley

Utah Valley picked up a conference win over Utah Tech this weekend. The final was 26-7. Things get much more intense for them starting Thursday.

They travel to California to take on Chapman and the following week head east to play Liberty and Virginia Tech in Virginia. The Virginia Tech game wraps up their out-of-conference schedule.

By the next poll, either Chapman or UVU will likely drop out of the top 5.

#6 San Diego State

I’m not sure what to make of San Diego State yet. They have an impressive 5 goal victory over UCSB, but that was almost January. They haven’t really had a competitive game yet this season. The UCSB game was their closest game, and they won by 5.

Their schedule doesn’t get more difficult until they play Arizona State at the end of March and their only game against a team ranked higher than them is Chapman on April 20th.

I think they will sit around the #5 spot for a while while teams with losses, but more solid wins pass them by. There is no real reason to think they aren’t great this year, but there isn’t proof to point to to say they are.

#7 Liberty

Not much to add here. They climb one spot after easily dismissing Pitt and NC State. The trip to Florida is huge for the Flames. 2-0 gives them a Top 3 resume.

#8 South Carolina

The good news for the Gamecocks is they still have 3 ranked wins. The bad news is that FSU and Florida both took losses this weekend that will drop them a bit in the polls.

It’s been a few weeks since they’ve laced up their cleats, and the next time they face a ranked team will be on March 30th in a SELC matchup against Georgia Tech. They probably need to run the table to climb into the Top 5 before the tournament.

#9 Tennessee

Last week I called out that Texas and Tennessee had very similar resumes at that point in the season. Texas put a little distance between them with two top-15 wins, but Tennessee picked up their own Top 15 win, taking down Florida State by 5 on the road.

At 9-0, this is a top-10 team.

Realistically, Virginia Tech is their only game before the ALC conference tournament to make a big splash. If they win, they are a lock for Round Rock, but a loss puts them in an interesting spot if they end up hunting for an AL bid.

#10 Colorado

I still think Colorado and Liberty have very similar resumes right now, but I’m dropping them after we learned more about Georgia Tech this weekend. Instead of an easily dismissed loss on the road to the #1 team by 8 goals, they have a loss to 8-15 (my guess?) team and their loss to Auburn.

Not a lot of fanfare about their win over Boise State this weekend, but a 7 goal win over the Broncos who beat #23 Colorado State the next day is a good win. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Boise State crack the top 25 this week.

The next game for the Buffs is UCSB at home on the 24th. Big one.

#11-15

This is probably the hardest group to sort out for me this poll, but here is where I landed.

#11 UCSB
#12 Cal
#13 Georgia Tech
#14 James Madison
#15 Florida

This is a really really big drop for Georgia Tech, but I kept putting them up against all the teams ahead of them and can’t find a team they should be above. For now, I see Cal as their ceiling. Thank goodness for the Jackets that the Buffs have come on strong after their East Coast swing because that win is keeping them a top-15 team now.

In some regards, it’s not even that they lost 2 games in California, it’s that neither was particularly close in the end.

Georgia Tech’s fall blunts Cal’s ability to climb when you couple it with the loss to Texas. I don’t think Cal should jump UCSB yet, and I’m not sure I’d put UCSB ahead of anyone in the top 10.

Florida took an L against Chapman, but I don’t think that should drop them too much. They have 3 games this week that will kind of make or break their at-large chances. It’s going to be an uphill climb if they don’t at least split Liberty and BYU.

#16-20

#16 Florida State
#17 Arizona State
#18 Auburn
#19 Oregon
#20 Simon Fraser

The hardest team to sort out here is Auburn. They have the worst loss of this group (Arizona State) but they also have the best win (Colorado).

I could see you rearranging this group in almost any order and being able to justify it. For now, the Auburn win is giving FSU a boost to the top of the group, but their losses to South Carolina and Tennessee (by 6 and 5 goals) keep them out of the top 15.

I’ve bumped SFU down because there just isn’t much there. A one-goal win over Santa Clara is their best win this year and nobody is that excited about it. Simon Fraser gets a crack at BYU and Utah in 2 weeks in Boise. Big games for the Red Leafs if they want a shot at an AL bid.

#21-25

#21 Northeastern
#22 Arizona
#23 Georgia
#24 Clemson
#25 Boise State

Colorado State drops out after losing to Boise State, which helps usher the Broncos into the Top 25.

Other than that, nobody else in this group played last week. So, not a lot to say until next week.

That’s it! If you want this delivered to your inbox, you can sign up here. Expect ~1 email a week during the season and maybe 1-2 emails in the off-season.