I’ve never believed that the transitive property applies in sports. For those who need a refresher of high school math, the transitive property states that if A=B, and B=C, then A=C. How does this apply to sports? Just because one team beats another team, and that team beats a third team, does not mean that the first team would beat the third team.
That’s because, especially at the collegiate level, schemas are diverse and complex enough that teams will have near certain advantages over some and significant disadvantages against others. Rock, paper, scissors is a much more applicable principle, then, than the transitive property.