With six games down and six to go, teams are giving us a pretty good idea of who they are, what they want to do, what they do well, and what they aren’t so good at. The Iowa Hawkeyes are no exception. In fact, they might be the leader in the clubhouse of not hiding what they want to do.
Iowa wants to play a field position battle won by the defense and special teams. Their rankings in the updated ESPN SP+ rankings (subscription required) are very indicative of that based on where each of their three units are slotted.
Before we take a look at the SP+ rankings at the halfway point, here is a quick reminder of what these rankings are based upon:
What is SP+? In a single sentence, it’s a tempo- and opponent-adjusted measure of college football efficiency. I created the system at Football Outsiders in 2008, and as my experience with both college football and its stats has grown, I have made quite a few tweaks to the system.
SP+ is indeed intended to be predictive and forward-facing. It is not a résumé ranking that gives credit for big wins or particularly brave scheduling — no good predictive system is. It is simply a measure of the most sustainable and predictable aspects of football. If you’re lucky or unimpressive in a win, your rating probably will fall. If you’re strong and unlucky in a loss, it probably will rise. – ESPN.