Question: App State sports as or vs ranked teams

[AppfaninCAALand]

After seeing the post about womens tennis getting a win versus a ranked opponent (congrats to the ladies), I got to thinking about all App teams histories with national rankings at the top level (FBS for football, and post 1971 D1 for everyone else) and thought it would be more interesting here than just using AI to look up the answers. I have two questions.

1-How many App teams have ever been nationally ranked themselves?

Other than football, I do not know of any. The two mens basketball teams that went to the NITs were in the "others receiving votes" section at different points during those seasons, as I recall. And I have no idea how/if rankings happen in wrestling but as good as they have been I kind of expect they must have been ranked in the past. But that is it.

2-How many App teams have beaten ranked opponents?

Off the top of my head:
-Football has 4 (Michigan, Texas A&M, Coastal, JMU)
-Mens basketball has at least 3 that I know of (Auburn recently, Steph Curry era Davidson at least once, and UNCC when I was in school in the late 90s) Any others?
-Baseball has a handful that I remember but likely has many more (Southern Miss and Coastal for sure). Didn't they beat Oklahoma once in the CWS regional only to lose to them twice more for the double elimination?
-Field hockey has 2 in the last few years (JMU, Louisville) FH also gets my vote for the most likely App team to break into the national ranking if they stay on the path they've been on over the past 5 years.
-And now womens tennis last week

What am I missing? I am sure wrestling has more than a few. Anything from the 70s or 80s maybe? I have heard mens soccer was pretty good in 80s.

[scatman77]

After seeing the post about womens tennis getting a win versus a ranked opponent (congrats to the ladies), I got to thinking about all App teams histories with national rankings at the top level (FBS for football, and post 1971 D1 for everyone else) and thought it would be more interesting here than just using AI to look up the answers. I have two questions.

1-How many App teams have ever been nationally ranked themselves?

Other than football, I do not know of any. The two mens basketball teams that went to the NITs were in the "others receiving votes" section at different points during those seasons, as I recall. And I have no idea how/if rankings happen in wrestling but as good as they have been I kind of expect they must have been ranked in the past. But that is it.

2-How many App teams have beaten ranked opponents?

Off the top of my head:
-Football has 4 (Michigan, Texas A&M, Coastal, JMU)
-Mens basketball has at least 3 that I know of (Auburn recently, Steph Curry era Davidson at least once, and UNCC when I was in school in the late 90s) Any others?
-Baseball has a handful that I remember but likely has more (Southern Miss and Coastal for sure). Didn't they beat Oklahoma once in the CWS regional only to lose to them twice more for the double elimination?
-Field hockey has 2 in the last few years (JMU, Louisville)
-And now womens tennis last week

What am I missing? Anything from the 70s or 80s maybe? I have heard mens soccer was pretty good in 80s.

Go back and check men's soccer from 1970-1980 and you'll find those Vaughn Christian coached teams consistently in the top 10 nationally. The matches vs Clemson at the time were epic.

[311neers]

After seeing the post about womens tennis getting a win versus a ranked opponent (congrats to the ladies), I got to thinking about all App teams histories with national rankings at the top level (FBS for football, and post 1971 D1 for everyone else) and thought it would be more interesting here than just using AI to look up the answers. I have two questions.

1-How many App teams have ever been nationally ranked themselves?

Other than football, I do not know of any. The two mens basketball teams that went to the NITs were in the "others receiving votes" section at different points during those seasons, as I recall. And I have no idea how/if rankings happen in wrestling but as good as they have been I kind of expect they must have been ranked in the past. But that is it.

2-How many App teams have beaten ranked opponents?

Off the top of my head:
-Football has 4 (Michigan, Texas A&M, Coastal, JMU)
-Mens basketball has at least 3 that I know of (Auburn recently, Steph Curry era Davidson at least once, and UNCC when I was in school in the late 90s) Any others?
-Baseball has a handful that I remember but likely has more (Southern Miss and Coastal for sure). Didn't they beat Oklahoma once in the CWS regional only to lose to them twice more for the double elimination?
-Field hockey has 2 in the last few years (JMU, Louisville) FH also gets my vote for the most likely App team to break into the national ranking if they stay on the path they've been on over the past 5 years.
-And now womens tennis last week

What am I missing? I am sure wrestling has more than a few. Anything from the 70s or 80s maybe? I have heard mens soccer was pretty good in 80s.

I believe we were top 25 in baseball in 2012. Numerous rankings had us in the top 30 most of that year. That's probably the most impressive as there are something like 300 D1 baseball teams.

Baseball has a ton of ranked wins. Virginia, OU, LSU x2, Wake a few times, NCState...all the Sun Belt ranked wins v USM, Costal, UL and Troy. (just in the past 10-15 years)
Baseball also get's a lot of volume opportunities to capitalize on ranked wins over other sports.

[AppfaninCAALand]

Go back and check men's soccer from 1970-1980 and you'll find those Vaughn Christian coached teams consistently in the top 10 nationally. The matches vs Clemson at the time were epic.

When I was in school, I remember hearing how great the soccer team used to be. That's perhaps the saddest part of dropping the sport.

[AppfaninCAALand]

I believe we were top 25 in baseball in 2012. Numerous rankings had us in the top 30 most of that year. That's probably the most impressive as there are something like 300 D1 baseball teams.

Baseball has a ton of ranked wins. Virginia, OU, LSU x2, Wake a few times, NCState...all the Sun Belt ranked wins v USM, Costal, UL and Troy. (just in the past 10-15 years)
Baseball also get's a lot of volume opportunities to capitalize on ranked wins over other sports.

I dont remember being ranked in 2012, but that was a great team for sure. And definately accomplished impressive levels - 1 win away from the super regionals.

Baseball, with all its opportunities, was were I figured there was the most.

[311neers]

I believe we were top 25 in baseball in 2012. Numerous rankings had us in the top 30 most of that year. That's probably the most impressive as there are something like 300 D1 baseball teams.

Baseball has a ton of ranked wins. Virginia, OU, LSU x2, Wake a few times, NCState...all the Sun Belt ranked wins v USM, Costal, UL and Troy. (just in the past 10-15 years)
Baseball also get's a lot of volume opportunities to capitalize on ranked wins over other sports.

I dont remember being ranked in 2012, but that was a great team for sure. And definately accomplished impressive levels - 1 win away from the super regionals.

Baseball, with all its opportunities, was were I figured there was the most.

https://appstatesports.com/news/2012/5/ ... 27462.aspx

Depending on what ranking it was, we were somewhere in the 20-30 range most of the season.
Baseball doesn't have an end all be all ranking, there are a few polls out there.

[t4pizza]

After seeing the post about womens tennis getting a win versus a ranked opponent (congrats to the ladies), I got to thinking about all App teams histories with national rankings at the top level (FBS for football, and post 1971 D1 for everyone else) and thought it would be more interesting here than just using AI to look up the answers. I have two questions.

1-How many App teams have ever been nationally ranked themselves?

Other than football, I do not know of any. The two mens basketball teams that went to the NITs were in the "others receiving votes" section at different points during those seasons, as I recall. And I have no idea how/if rankings happen in wrestling but as good as they have been I kind of expect they must have been ranked in the past. But that is it.

2-How many App teams have beaten ranked opponents?

Off the top of my head:
-Football has 4 (Michigan, Texas A&M, Coastal, JMU)
-Mens basketball has at least 3 that I know of (Auburn recently, Steph Curry era Davidson at least once, and UNCC when I was in school in the late 90s) Any others?
-Baseball has a handful that I remember but likely has many more (Southern Miss and Coastal for sure). Didn't they beat Oklahoma once in the CWS regional only to lose to them twice more for the double elimination?
-Field hockey has 2 in the last few years (JMU, Louisville) FH also gets my vote for the most likely App team to break into the national ranking if they stay on the path they've been on over the past 5 years.
-And now womens tennis last week

What am I missing? I am sure wrestling has more than a few. Anything from the 70s or 80s maybe? I have heard mens soccer was pretty good in 80s.

Wrestling has been nationally ranked recently, including finishing the 23 season at #20. Probably our most consistent sport in the past 5 years, maybe even back 10 years.

[Stonewall]

My memory grows cloudy but I seem to remember we reached number three nationally at one time in the Usyian years.