The transitive property. You might remember learning about it in a high school algebra class. You’ve also certainly heard it applied as an argument for college football preeminence - Team A beat Team B, and Team B beat Team C, therefore Team A must be better than Team C.
Such arguments are simplistic and often lead to contradictions (what if a fourth team, Team D, has beaten Team A, but lost to Team C?). But it’s still fun to chain together transitive arguments for your team’s superiority over another, Kevin Bacon style. This post serves as your interactive guide to creating such arguments as we near the midpoint of the college football season.