Question about the Ratings

Can you explain to me exactly how the ratings are done? My coaches and I have been watching the past three weeks and we can't for the life of us figure out how they compile the information to come up with the ratings. This past weekend Hillsboro lost, we won, we dropped they either rose or stayed the same. Alvarado 2 had a bye
and they passed us. Doesn't make sense to me. Could enlighten me a little please?
Thanks,
Doug Minchey
Cleburne 2 Bantam
The ratings treat each game the same. Since they started from scratch, all teams began with the same rating. The season rating is the average of all the team's games. Since this is only the third week the ratings are not very well tied together. After the first week the team rating is based on one team, its opponent. The second week its rating is based on up to three teams. After three weeks it is based on up to seven teams. If the teams were infinite, by the ninth week a team's rating could be affected by as many as 511 different teams. Each week more teams are tied together by playing one or more common opponents and each week they become more accurate. It is not unusual for a team that lost to rise in the ratings if most of the teams they have played did better than usual the past week. Even if a team doesn't play, its rating will probably go up or down. This early in the season there is a lot of movement based on a team's opponents and their opponents and their opponents, etc. So instead of looking at one game we have to look at all the games because the latest outcome of any game affects many teams ratings.
Thanks for the interest,
   Ray