A Look Back On Football's Transitive Property

Oregon State fans celebrating at halftime (RPPC, Personal collection)

Much of the fun of football and sports generally comes from the belief that my team is better than yours, and one way fans have convinced themselves that their team might win is through comparative scores. But, of course, comparative scores have their limit, and some comparisons are better than others. Still, the most straightforward ranking system and most sophisticated computer model both boil down to comparing one team's sco...