Gators bounce back in ESPN’s SP+ rankings after LSU victory

The football gods smiled on the Florida Gators on Saturday, when they upset the then-22nd-ranked LSU Tigers in the Swamp, 27-16. The win opens the door for a postseason appearance with just two games remaining on the fall slate.

While it was not a perfect performance, the Orange and Blue got a complete effort from all three corps — offense, defense and special teams. The program got a huge boost with the return of [autotag]DJ Lagway[/autotag] under center, who made some key plays down the stretch.

The SEC rivalry win gives Florida a tidy boost in many of the media’s standings despite still receiving no votes in the US LBM Coaches Poll and AP Poll. They did move up in Bill Connelly’s ESPN SP+ rankings, however.

Florida football’s SP+ ranking, rating

Following the victory inside Ben Hill Griffin Stadium, Connelly’s rankings moved the Gators up from No. 39 last week out of 134 Football Bowl Subdivision schools with a 6.9 overall rating to No. 31 with a 9.0 rating. That puts Billy Napier’s squad between the No. 30 North Carolina Tar Heels and No. 32 Army Black Knights.

On offense, the team remained at No. 33 while the rating rose from 31.6 to 32.3. The defense gained some ground in the rankings, moving up from No. 49 to No. 43; however, the rating fell from 25.0 to 23.7.

The special teams unit, which spent a few weeks as the top-rated corps in the country at the start of the schedule, earned back the 0.1 points they lost last week while moving up from No. 25 to No. 12 with a 0.4 rating.

SP+ rankings top 10 teams

The Ohio State Buckeyes maintain the top spot in the rankings for the third straight week, while the Alabama Crimson Tide leapfrogged the Texas Longhorns to take over the second spot; the Ole Miss Rebels and Oregon Ducks round out the rest of the top five.

The Georgia Bulldogs held onto their No. 6 spot, followed by the Penn State Nittany Lions and Notre Dame Fighting Irish — who swapped the seventh and eighth spots, respectively. The Miami Hurricanes and Tennessee Volunteers also switched places for the ninth and tenth spots respectively.

About SP+ predictions

“SP+ is intended to be predictive and forward-facing,” according to ESPN. “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 will probably fall. If you’re strong and unlucky in a loss, it will probably rise.”