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Men’s College Soccer RPI: Wake on top, Akron third

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The men's college soccer season is nearing the postseason, and with it comes the Ratings Percentage Index (RPI). In the second installment, released earlier this week, Akron found itself in ranked third despite their outstanding 15-0 record. Wake Forest and UCLA sit ahead of the Zips, who are certainly punished for playing weaker opponents in the Mid-American Conference.

One thing clear about the RPI is that it doesn't like the Big East. Louisville, ranked at No. 5 by the NSCAA, sits at a distant 44 in the RPI. Meanwhile, Connecticut, No. 8 in the NSCAA poll, gets shuffled down to 30 in the RPI. Then just look at the ACC, who has four teams in the top 10.

The RPI has other interesting contrasts — take Princeton, who is 7-5-2 in the top 10, ahead of Ivy League counterparts Harvard, who boast a much better mark of 10-3-1. Though it makes a bit more sense when considering Princeton beat Harvard on the weekend.

The complete RPI is available here, ranking 204 schools across the country. Be sure to check out the top 25 after the jump.

  1. Wake Forest, ACC (11-2-2)
  2. UCLA, PAC-10 (9-2-2)
  3. Akron, MAC (15-0-0)
  4. Northwestern, Big Ten (9-2-4)
  5. San Diego, WCC (10-4-0)
  6. North Carolina, ACC (10-2-2)
  7. Indiana, Big Ten (7-7-1)
  8. North Carolina State, ACC (10-3-1)
  9. Duke, ACC (10-4-0)
  10. Princeton, Ivy (7-5-2)
  11. San Diego State, PAC-10 (6-4-4)
  12. Charlotte, Atlantic 10 (9-1-4)
  13. Butler, Horizon (10-1-1)
  14. Maryland, ACC (10-4-1)
  15. Loyola Marymount, WCC (7-7-1)
  16. Penn State, Big Ten (9-4-2)
  17. Stanford, PAC-10 (9-4-1)
  18. Tulsa, CUSA (9-4-2)
  19. Harvard, Ivy (10-3-1)
  20. Virginia, ACC (10-3-1)
  21. Monmouth, Northeast (13-1-1)
  22. South Carolina, CUSA (7-5-3)
  23. Michigan State, Big Ten (9-4-1)
  24. Ohio State, Big Ten (8-4-4)
  25. American, Patriot (8-3-2)

What do you think of this week's RPI? Think it makes no sense? Who should jump into the top 25?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. There is a serious problem here< the Big East Conference is one of the most difficult conferences in the country to get a result in and there isn't a single team here in the top 25, so me the formula , and i'll tell you what's wrong with it.

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  2. The RPI is a severely flawed measure. It weights quite heavily who you played, but not if you beat them. The is a big weight on the record of who you played and on the record of who they played.

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  3. Unreal, no Big East teams????

    7-7 Indian over U of L, USF, or UCONN?

    How do these rankings come into play with the seeding?

    GO BULLS!

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  4. I’m also an NCSU guy, and I agree. I’m happy they’re better than usual, but the RPI is all sorts of messed up if you can play only 3/14 away and get in the top ten.

    What do you think of the Tarantini? I think he should have been fired years ago, but nobody seems to care about the soccer program.

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  5. This is truly a screwy ranking. Princeton (7-5-2) is #10, ranked ahead of Harvard (#19), Dartmouth (#32) and Brown (#41), all of which have defeated Princeton and which are ranked in the top twenty-five in most, if not all, other rankings. In the Soccer Times poll, the rankings are Harvard (#16), Brown (#20), Dartmouth (#23) and Princeton gets no votes. The NSCAA poll has the same order, but at #15, #20 and #24. Again, Princeton gets no votes.

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  6. the thing I love about college Soccer is that no one is afraid to play hard games, there are so many quality games and nearly every good team plays a lot of other good teams, at least all the ACC teams do

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  7. Indians, RPI Ranked 7th, is not in the NSCAA’s top 25, CSN’s top 30 (37 if you count all of the vote-getters), Top Drawer’s top 48, or CSN’s top 25 (top 44 for all vote-getters).

    Can all of these people (coaches and soccer media who participate in the above rankings) be that far off on Indiana?

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  8. Wow has UC Davis gone down after an impressive 2 years. Losing Soley and Amarikwa (SJ quakes) overtime has taken its toll. It was not to long ago when we were ranked in the top 10.

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  9. I’ve never been able to find an explanation of how RPI is calculated for soccer. Somewhere on the NCAA Web site there is an explanation for basketball, but anyone know if it’s the same for soccer?

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  10. While I’m thrilled that NC State (my alma mater) is in the top 10, I can’t believe they’ve only played 3 real road games. Sheesh… sure there are some neutral site games in there, but damn – go out and beat someone already!

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  11. I agree G, they might have had some questionable loses but the bigger wins have to offset that, not the mention the schedule as a whole.

    The Big West conference isn’t where it was last year,but UCSB deserves a higher RPI. And Akron’s 3rd place is more proof that something is wrong with the RPI.

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  12. UCSB beat Indiana 3-0, has an 11-3-1 record, is currently ranked #4(NSCAA), #5(Soccertimes), #6(TopDrawer Soccer) and #6 (CSN) and is RPI ranked #48? While a 7-7-1 Indian is ranked #7 by RPI? Something doesn’t add up in the RPI calculations. I don’t think they have the strength of schedule weighted properly.

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  13. Wow, this makes the BCS look like Nostradamus. How is Wisconsin outranking South Florida? I went to both schools and follow both teams, and I could tell you right now that if South Florida came up to Madison and played the Badgers, the Bulls would win by at least 3.

    And of course, that’s just one of the many, many problems with this. They must have picked out of a hat.

    Reply

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