I think there is some argument to be made that the implied multiplication (bc) has higher precedence than the division. Interestingly, Wolfram Alpha interprets 48/2(9+3) as 288 but a/bc, and also a/b(c), as a/(bc). In any real situation this expression should be clarified; it's just poorly written as is and there's no need to establish a correct interpretation.
A way to incorporate the idea of "strong wins" into your first set of rankings: give the edges weights inversely proportional to margin of victory (so blowout wins are "shorter" than close wins) and then look for the shortest path.
While it is true that we always want to make the most +EV choice, in the case of a football team, the EV in question is not yards gained or points scored, but games won. We can choose a play that does not maximize our yardage EV, but does maximize the chance of winning the game. (This is where the analogy of tournament poker comes in; we want to maximize chances of winning the tournament, not our chip EV.)
A completely obvious example of this is a late-game scenario. It's 4th and goal on the 1 with 5 seconds left in the game, and the team trails by 2 points. Our points EV is maximized by going for the touchdown, but clearly the right choice is to kick a field goal, since the goal of a football team is to win games, not score as many points as possible.
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For those of you who think this is so obvious:
Let a=48, b=2, c=12.
What is a/bc?
I think there is some argument to be made that the implied multiplication (bc) has higher precedence than the division. Interestingly, Wolfram Alpha interprets 48/2(9+3) as 288 but a/bc, and also a/b(c), as a/(bc). In any real situation this expression should be clarified; it's just poorly written as is and there's no need to establish a correct interpretation.
A way to incorporate the idea of "strong wins" into your first set of rankings: give the edges weights inversely proportional to margin of victory (so blowout wins are "shorter" than close wins) and then look for the shortest path.