So, yes. We're mostly just splitting hairs here. YSR is definitely _way_ better than Got Soccer. We played the supposed number one team in the country according to got soccer and lost 1-0 (we are definitely not just one goal below the best team in the country). Got Soccer's model is closer to the one used in tennis. You give each tournament a numeric value and assign points based on how well teams do. This works in tennis because the value of the tournaments is set by prize money, but it fails miserably in youth soccer. This is why a... reasonably good, but nothing special team from New Jersey, can be ranked number one. They would probably be, top 20 or 30 if they played in SoCal.So I would agree with much of that. ...
But I do think that DA teams are (were) undervalued in the YSR rankings because of the lack of games between groups - not out-of-state DAs, I have no way to assess them - but in so cal, the same sandbagging effect holds. Beating up everyone in flight 1, especially, as you say, if you pour on the goals at the end of a blowout, inflates your ranking. This happens less often in the DA (LAFC notwithstanding).