A new, interesting way to rank teams
ThunderThumbs has a very interesting way to rank teams — by looking at their “beat paths”. I don’t know that I’d say it necessarily ranks them well, but I do find the graph intriguing. I’m also trying to figure out how does the beatpath method handle things like: NE beats PIT, PIT beats SD, SD beats NE?
(via)
UPDATE:
Never mind — I found the earlier ThunderThumbs post that explains how cycles are dealt with. As TT himself says, his system is inferior to FO’s DVOA, but I really do like it since (a) it is a fresh way of looking at rankings, (b) does give some new insights into how teams relate, (c) is still way better than usual power rankings, and (d) appeals to the math geek :-).