But we all know the divergent paths these teams took - one to World Cup glory and umpteenth Bledisloe Cup wins, the other towards mediocrity, scandal, bitterness and ultimately implosion at the height of the Beale/McKenzie/Di Patston texting debacle.
The Carolina Panthers and the Indianapolis Colts played the kind of game expected from two unbeaten teams with divergent styles but similar passion Sunday.
The ripple effect from Baltimore's 4-3 win on that warm Wednesday night has carried the teams on divergent paths, almost as reflective images of each other.
The cross-disciplinary class brings students from widely divergent backgrounds together in teams of three to five, each aiming to tackle a gnarly international problem vexing Foggy Bottom in just 10 weeks by applying Lean LaunchPad methodology.
Another element of the controversy is the modeling approach, for which the two teams took divergent approaches: Rodda et al. adopted a climate suitability algorithm based on first principles, and Pyron et al. used a statistical tool to discover a climate suitability algorithm.
While turning around the troubled Winter Olympics in Utah, "he brought in a management team with divergent views".
There, Hamilton refused an order to let Rosberg by, which was given because the two were on divergent strategies and the team wanted to maximise both drivers' chances.
An example of an unsatisfactory situation was an account of instances where different members of the team gave divergent information and advice to the same patient.
As a result, evaluation work may and in fact, often does present challenges for all involved, ranging from practicalities such as arranging access to data, through conceptual disagreements about the programme and what it is trying to achieve, to concerns about the impartiality and competence of the evaluation team, widely divergent definitions of success and many others.
Divergent goals have cracked other teams with similar foundations.
The teams were on divergent paths entering the series.
