Sample Calculation

Here is a step by step sample of how I calculate my ratings. Below are some sample teams and the games they've played. Each row is a different team and each column shows who they played that week. Opponents shown in capital letters are games the team won, lower case represents a loss.

Team123456
ADEGIHJ
BEDFJIH
CJHIGFe
DabEFGI
EbadHJC
FHIbdcG
GIJacdf
HfcJeab
Igfcabd
Jcghbea

1. Calculate Records

Each team's record is calculated by dividing the number of games they've won by the number of games they've played (when rating games from before the tiebreaker was introduced I counted a tie as half a win).

Team123456Record
ADEGIHJ1.00000
BEDFJIH1.00000
CJHIGFe0.83333
DabEFGI0.66666
EbadHJC0.50000
FHIbdcG0.50000
GIJacdf0.33333
HfcJeab0.16666
Igfcabd0.00000
Jcghbea0.00000

2. Calculate Opponents' Average Records

Next look up the record for each opponent a team has played. Add up all their records and divide by the number of teams played. For example, team A played teams D, E, G, I, H, and J, with records of 0.66, 0.50, 0.33, 0.00, 0.16, and 0.0 respectively. Add those up and you get 1.65. Now divide by the number of teams A has played (6) and you get 0.27.

Team123456RecordOp Rec
ADEGIHJ1.000000.27778
BEDFJIH1.000000.30556
CJHIGFe0.833330.25000
DabEFGI0.666660.55556
EbadHJC0.500000.61111
FHIbdcG0.500000.50000
GIJacdf0.333330.50000
HfcJeab0.166660.63889
Igfcabd0.000000.72222
Jcghbea0.000000.63889

3. Calculate Opponents' Opponents' Average Records

This is similar to how opponents' record was calculated. This time look up the opponents' record for everyone a team has played, add them up, and again divide by the number of teams played. Note how the numbers for opponents' opponents' record are more bunched up around 50% than record or opponents' record. This naturally lends more weight to factors like record, which are much more spread out.

Team123456RecordOp RecOp Op Rec
ADEGIHJ1.000000.277780.61111
BEDFJIH1.000000.305560.61111
CJHIGFe0.833330.250000.60185
DabEFGI0.666660.555560.48611
EbadHJC0.500000.611110.44444
FHIbdcG0.500000.500000.49537
GIJacdf0.333330.500000.49074
HfcJeab0.166660.638890.43056
Igfcabd0.000000.722220.39815
Jcghbea0.000000.638890.43056

4. Calculate Ratings

A team's rating is the average of the three numbers we've calculated. So add up each team's record, opponents' recored, and opponents' opponents' record and divide by three.

Team123456RecordOp RecOp Op RecRating
ADEGIHJ1.000000.277780.611110.62963
BEDFJIH1.000000.305560.611110.63889
CJHIGFe0.833330.250000.601850.56173
DabEFGI0.666660.555560.486110.56944
EbadHJC0.500000.611110.444440.51852
FHIbdcG0.500000.500000.495370.49846
GIJacdf0.333330.500000.490740.44135
HfcJeab0.166660.638890.430560.41204
Igfcabd0.000000.722220.398150.37346
Jcghbea0.000000.638890.430560.35648

5. Sort By Ratings

Higher rating numbers are better than lower ones so sort the list in descending order of rating number.

RankTeam123456RecordOp RecOp Op RecRating
1BEDFJIH1.000000.305560.611110.63889
2ADEGIHJ1.000000.277780.611110.62963
3DabEFGI0.666660.555560.486110.56944
4CJHIGFe0.833330.250000.601850.56173
5EbadHJC0.500000.611110.444440.51852
6FHIbdcG0.500000.500000.495370.49846
7GIJacdf0.333330.500000.490740.44135
8HfcJeab0.166660.638890.430560.41204
9Igfcabd0.000000.722220.398150.37346
10Jcghbea0.000000.638890.430560.35648

Results

You can see that in general teams with good records rank higher than teams with lesser records. Teams A and B were both undefeated, but B played a tougher schedule than A did so B is given the number one spot. Notice also that team C had a better record than team D did, but D is ranked higher because they proved themselves against much tougher competition than C did (team D played both undefeated teams, while C played a one-win team and a winless one, also team D was able to beat team E and team C wasn't).