"The Massey Ratings are designed to measure past performance, not necessarily to predict future outcomes. "

As to inputs, Massey states:

"Only the score, venue, and date of each game are used to calculate the Massey ratings. Stats such as rushing yards, rebounds, or field-goal percentage are not included. Nor are game conditions such as weather, crowd noise, day/night, or grass/artificial turf. Overtime games are not treated any differently. Finally, neither injuries nor psychological factors like motivation are considered. While none of these are analyzed explicitly, they may be implicitly manifested through the game scores.

Also

"Preseason ratings are typically derived as a weighted average of previous years' final ratings. As the current season progresses, their effect gets damped out completely. The only purpose preseason ratings serve is to provide a reasonable starting point for the computer. Mathematically, they guarantee a unique solution to the equations early in the season when not enough data is available yet."

[Post edited by VTVOICE at 06/29/2016 11:35PM]