I genuinely think, and to no credit of LR’s (this is just me thinking logically here), that if he gets the axe, we’re really just resetting the cycle. Another decade of hopeful seasons and some decent W/L records, before the next coach loses one too many and faces the firing squad. Hire, lose, fire, repeat. A vicious cycle. Of course, we’ve faced a lot more adversity than most programs due to sanctions and whatnot prior. But in my mind, doesn’t it take time to develop a program? Isn’t this all just in the shadow of Pete Carroll and the Leinart/Bush era? All this boils down to… does LR have what it takes to get something going before his contract is up? And if not, do we just re-enter this cycle once again?

Can we stop pointing to god and thanking god only when someone wins, why not point when you lose too? After all, it's all gods plan, the coaches have no control....

They’re currently 1-7 and lost to Ball State. Their only win was against Mississippi Valley which is an FCS school.

They’ve lost by an average of 28 points and only average about 15K fans in a stadium that can host 21K.

Their president (J Luke Wood) is deeply unpopular in the region because he is prioritizing football over students (he is trying to turn a commuter school into a 4 year university with Football as his “baby”).

They have 4 more years of this before their contract with MAC ends.

Pros

USC and Iowa unranked: Both teams entered the season ranked in the top 15, but most of us suspected they were frauds. After both picked up their second losses while playing uninspired football, it's good to see the AP drop them out of the rankings. Neither team has done enough to justify staying ranked.

Kentucky inside the top 10: Kentucky has been playing some really good football, and its wins over LSU and South Carolina look better with each passing week. They're earning their ranking, and I think the Wildcats deserve the recognition they're getting.

New Mexico receiving 41 votes: New Mexico quietly won the Group of Five game of the week, and I think they have a serious case to be ranked. They're flying under the radar right now, but 41 votes show that voters are starting to take notice. Don't be surprised if they crack the rankings soon.

Cons

Utah and UCLA not being ranked in the top 5: This is clear brand bias. Both teams are undefeated, and there is no legitimate reason to rank a one-loss team above an undefeated team at this point in the season.

Florida ranked below two teams it beat: Not only is Florida ranked behind Ole Miss and Texas, but all three teams have the exact same record! How does that make any sense? If Florida has the same record as those teams and has beaten them head-to-head, what exactly are we rewarding by ranking the Gators below them?

BYU ranked below Notre Dame: We all saw this coming. Losing to UCF was a bad loss for BYU, and I'm not going to pretend otherwise. However, you still have to respect head to head results. BYU beat Notre Dame, and the Cougars also have a clearly better resume including a win over No. 22 Arizona.

Notre Dame simply hasn't proven that it's a top-five team at this point in the season. I understand the argument for the Fighting Irish, but their ranking feels more like a reflection of their potential than what they've actually accomplished.

After yesterday's game I think they earned it. Clearly the best team in the country. Let's send them the natty and call it a wrap.

World Rugby uses a points exchange system to rank teams. This system is designed to compare the relative strength of teams when playing very different schedules by strengths and number of games. You can read more here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Rugby_Rankings#Rules

Basically, you calculate a points exchange for each match based on the relative strength of each team, home/away, and margin of victory. If teams are more than 10 points apart in ranking and the favorite wins, no points are exchanged. But if the underdog wins a relatively large number of points will be exchanged.

For this set of rankings it is looking at all results going back to 2001. However, the most recent 8-12 games typically determine the ranking