The Nebraska Cornhuskers held the #1 ranking in the country in each of the first 6 polls of the 2016 season, including unanimously for all but the preseason vote, and the top of the pile is where they’ve returned to after 8 weeks of volleyball in the NCAA’s top division.
This week, their selection is not unanimous, however. They’ve received 62 of the 64 first place votes, as the Big Ten has given up a little bit of its stranglehold on the top of the rankings. For the first time since the pre-season polls, a non-Big Ten team has received a 1st-place vote, with Texas picking up a single nod to move up to 2nd after sitting 4th last week.
The other 1st place vote is a bit of an outlier – 1 of the 64 coaches that votes in the weekly rankings picked Penn State as the top team in the land, and chose Nebraska as the second-best team. Penn State is still a perfect 8-0 in conference play, including wins over ranked Big Ten opponents Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, and Purdue – the latter of whom they swept on the road last week.
But the Nittany Lions, who ranked 9th overall in this week’s tally, have the toughest part of their schedule upcoming. They play #19 Ohio State, #16 Michigan, #4 Wisconsin, #3 Minnesota, and #1 Nebraska in their next 5 matches. Then after a two-match reprieve with Iowa and Maryland, they get #19 Ohio State, #1 Nebraska, and the rematch with #24 Purdue.
The only team to move into the top 25 this week was USC, who comes in exactly 25th after beating Oregon 3-1 and Oregon State 3-0 last week. They took over that spot from Western Kentucky, who remained a perfect 7-0 in conference play (and 20-2 overall). The Wildcats very well could win-out their schedule, but Conference USA lacks the level of competition that would keep them in the top 25 even if they did.
Full October 17th rankings are below:
| RANK | SCHOOL | POINTS | RECORD | PREVIOUS |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nebraska (62) | 1598 | 16-1 | 2 |
| 2 | Texas (1) | 1478 | 14-2 | 4 |
| 3 | Minnesota | 1446 | 14-3 | 3 |
| 4 | Wisconsin | 1431 | 15-2 | 1 |
| 5 | San Diego | 1355 | 17-2 | 5 |
| 6 | Kansas | 1235 | 17-2 | 6 |
| 7 | Washington | 1195 | 16-2 | 7 |
| 8 | North Carolina | 1137 | 16-2 | 8 |
| 9 | Penn State (1) | 1119 | 16-3 | 10 |
| 10 | Florida | 1097 | 17-2 | 9 |
| 11 | Michigan State | 838 | 16-4 | 14 |
| 12 | Florida State | 829 | 14-3 | 15 |
| 13 | Hawai’i | 716 | 14-5 | 17 |
| 14 | Stanford | 661 | 11-5 | 12 |
| 15 | UCLA | 629 | 14-4 | 20 |
| T-16 | BYU | 620 | 17-3 | 11 |
| T-16 | Michigan | 620 | 16-4 | 18 |
| 18 | Washington State | 449 | 15-5 | 13 |
| 19 | Ohio State | 430 | 13-7 | 19 |
| 20 | Utah | 379 | 14-5 | 21 |
| 21 | Kentucky | 328 | 15-4 | 23 |
| 22 | Illinois | 291 | 13-6 | 24 |
| 23 | Oregon | 255 | 12-5 | 16 |
| 24 | Purdue | 155 | 12-7 | 22 |
| 25 | Southern California | 108 | 13-6 | NR |
Others receiving votes and listed on two or more ballots: Arizona 104; Western Kentucky 101; Colorado 78; Dayton 46; Creighton 24; Missouri 12; UNLV 8; Kansas State 4
Five teams mentioned on only one ballot for a total of 27 combined points.
Dropped Out: Western Kentucky 25
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