It may seem a little early, but others already are starting 2026 team threads and I have a new 2026 pre-season resource, so here is a new 2026 Ratings and Ranks thread. My new resource is a downloadable 2026 Team Histories, Predicted Ranks, and Team Scheduling Assistant Excel workbook. It primarily is for coach use in scheduling, but has a wealth of information about teams' rank histories (a page for each team) as well as a lot of other information I collect (coach changes, conference moves, teams joining and departing Division I). If interested, you can find a link and download instructions in the RPI Excel Workbook Library at the top of the page.
Speaking of ranks. Someone is the final United Soccer Coaches Poll voted Duke #1 and Stanford #2. Seems legit. https://unitedsoccercoaches.org/rankings/college-rankings/ncaa-di-women/
The USC ranks seem ok. Something's suspect, however, about the USC region ranks, at least for the West region. Portland finished tied for second in the WCC with St. Mary's, behind Pepperdine in first, and ahead of Santa Clara and Seattle. Portland beat Pepperdine and tied St. Mary's, Santa Clara, and Pepperdine. Yet for the West region they have St. Mary's #1, Pepperdine #3, Seattle #4, and Santa Clara #10 with Portland not on the list.
How did Pacific do? I know the AD made a big point about winning the WCC when they made their coaching change last year.
At the risk of leading a promising thread astray … On the men’s side this year, the home sides lost all four quarterfinal matches, so the College Cup final four RPIs are 13, 14, 26, 37. One of those teams will become the champion, but no reasonable person would argue that that team is/was the best team this season. Happily for the winner, they won’t care (about opinions). They will be the champions. On the women’s side, I would say that Stanford was the best team overall this season, but that doesn’t really lessen FSU’s accomplishment. They are the champions.
Pacific finished 10th of 12. They are a long term project, if they are going to improve. It just doesn't happen that fast, especially in a conference as good as the WCC. Are they likely to be able to win the conference title? Their best RPI rank over the last 20 years has been #113, in 2008. That is not remotely close to what it takes to be WCC champion. Here's their rank history, from the Excel workbook referenced in Post #1:
For some New Year's fun, here is a link to my 2026 Article 1: Ranking Teams, 2026 Conferences, and Regions Based on 10 Years of NCAA Tournament Results. For the conferences, you will be able to see how strong the newly configured Pac 12 is likely to be -- essentially a fairly strong mid-major around #9 after the West Coast Conference, Big East, Ivy League, and American AC, in that order.
Yes, supplemented by the ACC getting credit for Stanford's and Cal's performance over those of the last 10 years that were before they joined the ACC, when they were in the old Pac 12. Put it all together and the ACC is way above the opposition.
During the 2025 season, I reported that there had been a decline in out-of-region travel from past patterns, expressing concern about how this would affect the NCAA RPI's ability to properly rank teams from a geographic region in relation to teams from other geographic regions. I was wrong about the decline. The amount of out-of-region travel in 2025 was pretty consistent with past amounts: 2026 Article 2: Correction - There Has Not Been a Change in Out-of-Region Travel.