How do you punish an upset? Do you make the assumption that the losing team selected down and didn't have its top players? Or do you immediately assume that both squads had their best lineup and punish the loser.

Or do you just promote the winner? It's the big question when it comes to rankings. This past week, Iowa Central Community College, a varsity lower-division team, beat Lindenwood-Belleville. Should that result move Iowa CCC into the rankings? No, of course not. The Tritons are not even in D1. Should we drop L-B out because of that game? No, the Lynx rested some players, and this was a non-conference game.

But... Lindenwood-Belleville should have won regardless, and so the Lynx get dinged a little bit.

Then there's the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, who beat No. 12 Davenport 36-24. Did the Panthers have some injuries? Yeah, maybe, but that's rugby. You've got to have depth as well as quality.

However, we didn't reward Notre Dame by moving the Irish up to No. 12, because they have also lost to Ohio State, Lindenwood-Belleville, and Indiana. Those are all tough teams, but they were losses. After Notre Dame fell 19-18 to Ohio State, it would seem the Irish deserve to be closer to No. 20, where the Buckeyes are currently ranked. Maybe, but we're moving L-B down, so Notre Dame stays behind the Lynx.

However, the Irish are now in the top 50, and Davenport gets smacked down to No. 18 pending a chance to redeem itself.

So we were conservative with the effects of these upsets, but there was some movement there anyway.

And One More

We couldn't decide between Louisville and Ohio, and so they're tied at No. 50.