Gators rise in ESPN’s SP+ rankings after bye week

Florida moves up one spot despite resting during the bye week in ESPN’s SP+ rankings.

Another week of college football has gone by, which means numerous variations of rankings are being released one by one.

ESPN staff writer Bill Connelly consumes hours of football throughout the week and releases weekly editions of his SP+ rankings. The rankings are based on “a tempo-and-opponent-adjusted measure of college football efficiency.”

This week, the Florida Gators ranked at No. 30, moving up one spot despite resting during the bye week. The Gators were in idle, but the UCF Knights suffered a 31-29 loss after traveling to take on the Oklahoma Sooners.

The Gators’ overall rating rose to 9.2 — a rise of two decimal places. The offense was rated with at 32.0 and the defense earned a 23.1 rating. This could be best summarized as a solid offense with a defense that could use some work after its last contests against South Carolina and Kentucky.

Connelly invented the SP+ system during his stint at Football Outsiders in 2008, and summarizes his thought process while ranking the teams.

“If you’re lucky or unimpressive in a win, your rating will probably fall,” Connelly said. “If you’re strong and unlucky in a loss, it will probably rise.”

The Florida Gators will attempt to dethrone the No. 1 Georgia Bulldogs on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. EDT and will broadcast on CBS Sports.

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