I’m somewhat reluctant to even engage further, but I can’t really help myself. You do not build robust statistical models by cherry picking a few things like record and subjectively weigh them together as has been done with the RPI. You pick a loss/evaluation function to evaluate performance, then iterate on your chosen model to try to improve performance by seeing how it performs on unseen data. In essence, you want the model to learn what should be weighted from the data rather than just randomly guessing. In this case, the mean squared error (MSE) of a particular rating system’s predicted scoring differential between two teams would be the obvious evaluation function. A simple linear regression model with an indicator variable signifying if the game was played at home/away/neutral, an indicator variable for the opponent, and an indicator variable for the team themselves for each game could be the predictor variables that could be selected. The target variable would be the scoring differential between the two teams. This allows the model to learn weights to put each team’s performance in each game in context of the opponent they played. Simple linear regression utilizes a closed form solution to minimize MSE, exactly our goal here. The coefficients for each team would then give you an estimate of team strength properly controlled for location and schedule. You would then evaluate how well your model does on unseen data by holding out the 20% or so of a given season’s games and evaluating the MSE of your models’ predictions. This is the sort of methodology things like the NET, KenPom, Massey, etc. take when creating and evaluating predictive models. It sounds simple, but this approach will give a far more accurate representation of team strength when it comes to predicting which team is better than what the RPI does. ChatGPT could probably do a good job explaining this further if you were interested in learning more. Of course you are correct that selection is not being done based purely on metrics. Instead, we are allowing people to make arbitrary decisions that give them the flexility to advance their own agendas. Just take a look at the college football playoff committee. I would claim that VT (and essentially all non-SEC teams) would be better off in a system where decisions were made based of a fair, objective evaluation criterion like a rating system with publicly audible code than some committee.