Welcome to the sixth week of our NCAA coverage in the 2016 season! Tonight kicks off with the annual IGI Chicago Style meet at the Navy Pier, featuring No. 33 Central Michigan, No. 43 Northern Illinois, No. 56 Alaska, and No. 64 Temple. Such an eclectic mix of teams from all over the conference spectrum, which should make for a super fun quad meet. I caught NIU’s bars last weekend and was shocked at how great they were there, so keep your eye out for them to kill it on that rotation.

No. 1 Oklahoma is kind of at home, but not really. They’re participating in Nadia Comaneci and Bart Conner’s invitational alongside No. 12 Denver, No. 17 George Washington, and No. 30 Utah State. While Oklahoma will most likely run away with this one, the Denver and GWU showdown should be awesome. Both teams are capable of solid scores in the 196 range so this could be a down-to-the wire exciting finish.

The SEC starts with No. 2 Florida hosting No. 9 Arkansas. Both teams had losses as the away team last week, so I wouldn’t be surprised to see Florida come back with a 198 given that they’re at the O’Dome where they always do well. The Razorbacks can hold their own, but I don’t see an upset happening on Gator turf. No. 15 Missouri travels to No. 25 Kentucky as well, while No. 4 Alabama will compete at No. 8 Auburn for the second match-up of the year for these two conference and state rivals. Bama took it last time, but Auburn is killing it and I think if everything comes together at home, they could definitely come out on top for the first time in a very long time.

We’ll also see No. 10 Boise State traveling to No. 45 San Jose State, No. 14 Nebraska hosting No. 18 Minnesota, and No. 21 Southern Utah hosting No. 31 BYU and No. 36 Sacramento State tonight.

Saturday begins with No. 5 LSU traveling to No. 11 Georgia in the afternoon. Both teams are coming off of major highs from last weekend, with LSU finally blasting through the 197 mark and Georgia counting a beam fall but coming back to defeat Florida with one of the best floor rotations in the country. LSU has the edge but don’t count Georgia out. The Tigers have their own beam demons to deal with, while the Gym Dogs might have finally found a level of confidence that can take them to the next level.

The PAC 12 is also highly represented on Saturday, as No. 6 Utah hosts No. 32 Washington, No. 7 UCLA hosts No. 16 Oregon State, and No. 13 Stanford travels to No. 27 Arizona. Utah and UCLA should add another win apiece to their credits, but Stanford and Arizona could get interesting. Arizona is super hit or miss whereas Stanford has been holding steady in the high 195 to low 196 range. It could be a close one, and should be especially fun to see former Stanford standout Tabitha Yim – now the head coach of Arizona – face-off against her old coach. Get ready for the fluff!

The other Saturday meets include Big Ten rivalries No. 20 Illinois hosting No. 26 Iowa (I’ll give this one to Iowa…they’ve been kicking butt!) and No. 23 Ohio State hosting No. 29 Penn State. The second-best beam team in the country, No. 22 New Hampshire, should have an easy win over No. 68 D2 squad Southern Connecticut, though the real test for this team will be seeing if they can hit more than just beam so they can continue to rise in the rankings.

On Sunday, No. 3 Michigan will try to hold onto that spot another week as they host No. 40 Michigan State. They finally broke 197 last week, but Bama and LSU are hot on their tail. Speaking of Bama, the No. 4 squad will compete for a second time this weekend, hosting No. 24 West Virginia, which should be a nice cool-down after Friday’s battle against Auburn. No. 25 Kentucky also has a second meet, as they compete at the quad meet at No. 48 Ball State alongside No. 34 Kent State and No. 47 Lindenwood.

The weekend continues into Monday, when the up-and-coming No. 19 Cal will travel to No. 50 Arizona State. This will be their first road meet after two killer home sessions, so their big test will be to see if they can continue their dominance on enemy turf.

The full schedule is below. All times listed are EST. We’ll update links as they become available.

Article by Lauren Hopkins
Photo thanks to Texas Woman’s Gymnastics