432, nothing you say is incorrect. The bottom line, it's all opinion based on a collection of facts. Not all of the facts - but as many as can reasonably be collected and massaged. All the standings and rankings and polls go away when two teams hit the field. But every team can't play every other team, and even if they did, it's hard to judge a team on one outcome. You mention things about tired legs, sometimes key players are missing, all factors that when added together affect a game's outcome - but very, very hard to quantify in a ranking system. You, like most people have an opinion of a team's quality, based on what you know and that's appropriate. I don't know much about many of the teams so things like this poll, or index, give me an idea. I know it's tainted - but it's better than nothing - to me.
