College Rankings: Week 7… Oklahoma Still #1, Florida State Moves Into Top 10

It was a fairly static week in the Top 10 of the DI polls as Oklahoma remained unbeaten and a unanimous #1 while UCLA remained #2 despite being unable to play because of COVID restrictions. The Bruins’ away series at Cal was cancelled and the Pac-12 team will be off again this week.

Oregon is on a roll and has won 14 straight to lock in at #3 while Florida State is the program making the biggest jump as the Noles moved to #10 in both major polls, the USA Today/NFCA and ESPN.com/USA Softball rankings.

After all the action in Week 7, here are the latest college rankings…

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Oklahoma still unanimous, Florida State joins top 10 in 2021 USA Today/NFCA DI Top 25 Poll

Oklahoma is still the unanimous No. 1 and Florida State joined the top 10 in this week’s 2021 USA Today/NFCA Division I Top 25 Coaches Poll.

The undefeated Sooners (25-0) swept their Big 12 opening series against Iowa State, while the Seminoles (20-6) rolled to four wins in ACC play at Boston College.

Additionally, the poll welcomes No. 24 Northwestern and No. 25 Baylor. It marks the Wildcats’ (15-1) first ranking this season and the Bears (21-5) are back after being in the first three polls of 2021.

After holding off a seventh-inning rally by the Cyclones for a 9-7 game-one win in Ames, Iowa, OU captured a pair of run-rule victories to complete the sweep.

No. 3 Oregon, No. 7 Texas and No. 9 Arizona joined Oklahoma and FSU with unblemished records last week. The Ducks (23-1) and Longhorns (24-3) posted three and four non-conference wins, respectively, while the Wildcats (18-5) took all four contests from Pac-12 foe Oregon State, three of which counted towards league standings.

No. 4 Alabama split the first two matchups at then-No. 7 Kentucky and also earned a mid-week win over North Alabama. Along with the split, the Wildcats (24-4) dropped a mid-week non-conference affair at Western Kentucky.

No. 5 Florida (24-3) rebounded from a non-conference road defeat against No. 22 UCF (24-6) by sweeping then-No. 13 LSU (18-11) at home in Southeastern Conference play. No. 6 Washington (24-4) split four games at No. 14 Arizona State (19-8), bouncing back with two triumphs after dropping the first two to the Sun Devils (19-8).

No. 2 UCLA was idle due to COVID-19 protocols. No. 23 South Carolina (17-10) and No. 24 Auburn (19-8) dropped out.

The 2021 USA Today/NFCA Division I Top 25 Poll is voted on by 32 NCAA Division I head coaches, one representing each conference.

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2021 USA Today / NFCA Division I
Top 25 Coaches Poll – March 30 (Week 7)

New to Poll: No. 24 Northwestern, No. 25 Baylor.

Dropped Out: No. 23 South Carolina, No. 24 Auburn.

Receiving Votes: Texas A&M (34), Auburn (32), South Carolina (26), Liberty (12), Texas State (10), Wichita State (8), James Madison (3), Western Kentucky (3), Minnesota (2), Fresno State (1), Miami (Ohio) (1), Notre Dame (1), Southern Illinois (1).

The 2021 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 games played through March 28.

*Programs not competing in 2021 will not be eligible for ranking consideration.

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ESPN.com/USA Softball Collegiate Top 25

2021 Season – Week 7 – Mar. 30, 2021

No. 1 Oklahoma (25-0, 3-0 Big 12) continues their #RoadToOKC, improving their program record for the best unbeaten streak to start a season in program history after their series sweep over Iowa State.

The Sooners also improved their win streak to 32 consecutive games and Big 12 regular season unbeaten streak to 46 contests to keep their hold on the top spot in the Week 7 ESPN.com/USA Softball Collegiate Top 25 Poll.

UCLA (19-1, 3-0 Pac-12) remains steady at No. 2 after their second Pac-12 series against Cal was canceled due to COVID-19 developments within the UCLA program. Rising to No. 3 is Oregon (23-1, 3-0 Pac-12) who extended their win streak to 14 games, winning 23 of the first 24 games to start a season for the second time in program history.

Alabama (26-3, 6-2 SEC) dropped to No. 4, recording a mid-week win over North Alabama and splitting the series 1-1 against then-No. 7 Kentucky during Week 7 of play. Florida (24-3, 8-1 SEC) remains at No. 5 with their series sweep over then-No. 11 LSU, marking the first sweep over the Tigers since the 2016 series in Baton Rouge.

1.	Oklahoma (19) Big 12 Record: 25-0	Previous Rank: 1
		Points: 499
2.	UCLA Pac-12 Record: 19-1	Previous Rank: 2
		Points: 479
3.	Oregon Pac-12 Record: 23-1	Previous Rank: 4
		Points: 448
4.	Alabama (1) SEC Record: 26-3	Previous Rank: 3
		Points: 439
5.	Florida SEC Record: 24-3	Previous Rank: 5
		Points: 426
6.	Washington Pac-12 Record: 24-4	Previous Rank: 6
		Points: 383
7.	Kentucky SEC Record: 24-4	Previous Rank: 7
		Points: 347
8.	Arizona Pac-12 Record: 18-5	Previous Rank: 8
		Points: 344
9.	Texas Big 12 Record: 24-3	Previous Rank: 10
		Points: 336
10.	Florida State ACC Record: 20-6	Previous Rank: 13
		Points: 293
11.	Arkansas SEC Record: 28-3	Previous Rank: 15
		Points: 272
12.	Oklahoma State Big 12 Record: 26-5	Previous Rank: 9
		Points: 264
13.	Arizona State Pac-12 Record: 19-8	Previous Rank: 14
		Points: 255
14.	Duke ACC Record: 26-3	Previous Rank: 12
		Points: 246
15.	LSU SEC Record: 18-11	Previous Rank: 11
		Points: 233
16.	Virginia Tech ACC Record: 19-5	Previous Rank: 16
		Points: 201
17.	Louisiana Sun Belt Record: 20-6	Previous Rank: 17
		Points: 168
18.	Tennessee SEC Record: 23-5	Previous Rank: 19
		Points: 129
19.	Clemson ACC Record: 22-4	Previous Rank: 21
		Points: 119
20.	Missouri SEC Record: 24-7	Previous Rank: 20
		Points: 118
T21.	Northwestern Big Ten Record: 15-1	Previous Rank: 22
		Points: 87
T21.	UCF AAC Record: 24-6	Previous Rank: 24
		Points: 87
23.	Georgia SEC Record: 22-5	Previous Rank: 18
		Points: 79
24.	Texas A&M SEC Record: 23-5	Previous Rank: RV
		Points: 65
25.	Auburn SEC Record: 19-8	Previous Rank: 25
		Points: 32

Parenthesis denotes first place votes.

Dropped Out: South Carolina
New to Poll: Texas A&M

Others receiving votes: Baylor (27), Michigan (22), Texas State (22), James Madison (21), Stanford (17), Liberty (12), South Carolina (10), Minnesota (9), USF (6), Ole Miss (4), Western Kentucky (4), Southern Illinois (1).