LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Following a wild weekend that saw the top three suffer five defeats, Washington held on to the No. 1 spot in this week’s USA Today/NFCA Division I Top 25 Coaches Poll. The Huskies (29-1) collected 23 first-place votes and 781 points.

No. 1 Washington and then-No. 3 UCLA entered the week as the final two undefeated teams in NCAA Division I and both suffered road defeats on the opening weekend of Pac-12 play. Tennessee, which enjoyed an undefeated week in the Aloha State, is the first program to 30 wins and jumped to No. 2. The Lady Vols (30-1) earned eight first-place votes and 748 points. No. 7 Georgia grabbed the final first-place vote after taking two-of-three from then-No. 2 Florida.

The Southeastern Conference (5) and Pac-12 (4) Conference still own nine spots in the top-10. In all, the SEC has 10 programs ranked, while the Pac-12 has six and Big 12 three.

The Huskies had their 28-game winning streak snapped in the league opener at then-No. 13 Arizona State (0-2), but rebounded to take game two, 7-0. UT extended its winning streak to 22 games as it swept through the Bank of Hawai’i Rainbow Wahine Classic, outscoring the opposition, 58-8.

Oklahoma, who is riding a 15-game winning streak, moved up two spots to No. 3 after five wins at the Easton Invitational at Cal State Fullerton.

The Bruins (25-2) and Oregon met at Jane with the Ducks (25-5) taking two-of-three (2-6, 7-5, 3-0). UCLA had its 25-game winning streak ended and fell to the fourth spot. Oregon inched up one position to No. 5.

Georgia powered its way to a 2-1 SEC series won over previous-No. 2 Florida. The Bulldogs (25-2) hit four home runs in a 5-4 walk-off win in game one and run-ruled the No. 6 Gators (23-3), 11-1 in game two. UF picked up the game-three victory, 5-1.

Texas A&M fell one position to No. 8 after a 5-1 week at home. Arizona remained at No. 9 with a three-game sweep of Utah after dropping a non-conference tilt with Minnesota. LSU rounds out at No. 10. The Tigers (23-4) dropped both games at then-No. 24 Kentucky (1-4, 0-2) after knocking off Western Kentucky.

Then-No. 23 Ole Miss (15-9) dropped out of the poll for the first time this year and Texas State returns at No. 25.

The 2018 USA Today/NFCA Division I Top 25 Poll is voted on by 32 NCAA Division I head coaches, one representing each conference. Records reflect games played through March 18.

 

 

2018 USA Today / NFCA Division I
Top 25 Coaches Poll – March 20 (Week 6)

Rank

School

Totals

2018

Last Poll

1

Washington (23)

781

29-1

1

2

Tennessee (8)

748

30-1

4

3

Oklahoma

708

24-2

5

4

UCLA

689

25-2

3

5

Oregon

674

25-5

6

6

Florida

656

23-3

2

7

Georgia (1)

645

25-2

10

8

Texas A&M

566

29-4

7

9

Arizona

538

24-3

9

10

LSU

475

23-4

8

11

Auburn

455

27-6

14

12

Arizona State

435

23-4

13

13

Baylor

412

17-4

11

14

Florida State

379

21-6

15

15

Alabama

361

19-7

12

16

South Carolina

297

24-4

18

17

Michigan

242

22-6

19

18

Ohio State

229

19-4

17

19

Kentucky

219

19-6

24

20

California

203

24-5

16

21

Louisiana

179

18-6

20

22

Long Beach State

142

24-7

22

23

Mississippi State

130

25-4

21

24

Oklahoma State

66

21-6

25

25

Texas State

37

22-7

RV

 

New to Poll: No. 25 Texas State

Dropped Out: No. 23 Ole Miss (15-9) 

Receiving Votes: Ole Miss (31), Arkansas (29), Lipscomb (13), Kennesaw State (11), Notre Dame (11), Wichita State (10), Nebraska (8), Hofstra (6), Oregon State (4), Louisville (4), USC Upstate (4), Minnesota (3).

The 2018 USA Today / NFCA Division I Top 25 Coaches Poll is voted on by 32 NCAA Division I head coaches with one representing each of the NCAA’s Division I Conferences. Records reflect play through March 18, 2018