Expanding Darkness

Like the Northern Sun Conference, it has been brought to my attention that the MIAA conference within Division II has also dropped interconference games during the regular season.  Regrettably, we will have to discontinue ranking these teams as well.  While our critics have suggested that this destroys the credibility of our D2 rankings, it's unclear how anyone could do credible rankings of a D2 conference relative to the rest of the division when that conference only plays games among themselves.  From a fan base that seems to pride itself on its playoffs ("we determine things on the field"), I must confess that I wrestle to reconcile the criticisms when the chasm between "sorting it out on the field" and "I can't even find a team that played a team that played a team that played a team that you insist should be ranked higher (or lower)."  Of course, there is the usual invocation of common sense, kind of like one blogger whose "perfect rankings" would grant points for turnover margin.  I guess he would be disappointed to find out that a positive turnover margin is actually a negative indicator for future performance -- most turnovers are just luck and reversion to the mean for teams that depend on them are a killer.  Just like most things, the less you know, the easier it seems.