Commonwealth Collegiate Power Rankings Week 12 (11-13-24)

By: Joe Dillard Jr.

Headline Photo Credit: Jada Nicholas -LMS Network 

We are approaching the final countdown as teams look to claim conference championships while some want to play the spoiler role. Let’s see how things shape up after this week. 

1. Richmond- (8-2) Richmond is just on fire holding the number one spot for the longest this season and will look to continue after winning 27-24 against Campbell on the road. Next up is Hampton which will be an interesting game as Hampton plays well against good opponents
2. JMU- (7-2) The Dukes look to rewrite the ship as they posted a 38-7 win against Georgia State and will look to continue against Old Dominion. The Dukes will need to win out and see where they may fall for the bowl season. 
3. Virginia- (5-5) This is why they can move up and down the rankings as they upset an undefeated Pittsburgh Panthers 24-19. That leaves them one game short of being bowl-eligible and will travel to South Bend to face 8th-ranked Notre Dame which will be interesting to see how UVA performs. 
4. Liberty-(7-2) Winning 37-17 against Middle Tennessee puts the Flames back into contention and will look to follow up with a trip to UMass which is a big game for the Flames if they want to keep title hopes alive. 
5. Virginia Tech- (5-5) The Hokies fight hard but lose 14-24 to 19th-ranked Clemson and look to become bowl-eligible with Duke up next. 
   
6. William and Mary- (6-4)The Tribe takes another loss 36-40 to Elon and just doesn’t look strong on defense which has been their bread and butter over the years under Mike London. They host Bryant next and look to play spoiler when they travel to Richmond for an end-of-the-year rivalry game. 
7. Virginia State- (7-3) Coming off a 35-28 win against Virginia Union to move from third to first in the conference and win the regular season title. The thing is they get to play again in the championship game and we will see which division II prevails. 
8. Virginia Union- (7-3) already clinching a spot in the title game could have been all the Panthers were thinking about as they lost 28-35 to rival Virginia State but they will get to run it back in the CIAA Championship game. 
9. Old Dominion- (4-5) Coming off a bye week and facing James Madison will give us a gauge of which Monarch team shows up in November. A win would move them up tremendously but a loss, well we are running out of room for under .500 Division I teams. 
10. Hampton- (5-5) Losing to Towson 27-10 was a blowout from the beginning. They host Richmond which is a huge game if Hampton can pull off the upset. 

HM. Randolph Macon- (8-1) Beating Ferrum 38-7 continues their dominance as they hand outscored their opponents 221-40 and look to continue facing Hampton Sydney up next with a chance to go 9-1.