Out-of-state games are the road trips that don't show up in any district standing. A Bristol school slipping over the Virginia line, a Memphis private flying to a Florida showcase, a border town that plays Kentucky more than half its own state. Strip them out of the schedule and you barely notice. Add them up, though, and you get a clean little test: when Tennessee leaves Tennessee, does it win?
Mostly, it's a coin flip with a thumb on the scale. I'm using results only here, not ELO, because the rating engine doesn't track out-of-state programs, so a Georgia opponent's "strength" is a guess I won't pretend to make. What I can count is wins, losses, ties, and goals. Ties are common in these one-off matchups, so I count them as half a win throughout.