Tag: espn sp+

Clemson drops to No.13 in ESPN’s SP+ rankings following a Week 7 bye

Clemson moves down slightly in ESPN’s SP+ rankings following their Week 7 bye.

Dabo Swinney and the Tigers had a much-needed bye in Week 7 after one of their worst performances of the season against Wake Forest.

During their bye week, Clemson’s coaches and players had opportunities to reflect on their season so far and work on what they deemed most necessary to improve as a team. The talent on this roster is tremendous; they just need to put it all together and show it on the field.

Following their bye week, the Tigers dropped two spots from No.11 to No.13 in ESPN’s latest SP+ ($$$) rankings update. What is ESPN’s SP+? Here’s a little breakdown.

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 will probably fall. If you’re strong and unlucky in a loss, it will probably rise.

There isn’t much to assess from this move, as we did not see the Tigers in action last week. One thing of note is that these rankings still paint this Clemson team as one of the best in the country, which I believe they are. 

Clemson has a strong chance to move back up the rankings with a road win over Miami in Week 8.

Wisconsin remains ESPN SP+’s best team in the Big Ten West

Wisconsin remains ESPN SP+’s best team in the Big Ten West

Wisconsin fell to Iowa 15-6 on Saturday, relinquishing control of the Big Ten West in the process. The Badgers are now 2-1 in conference, 0.5 games behind Iowa yet now without the tiebreaker against the Hawkeyes.

If the Badgers are to lose to Ohio State in two weeks, the team would then need Iowa to find another two Big Ten losses for them to have any chance at the division crown. It is hard to see that happening given the strength of Iowa’s remaining schedule.

Related: Big Ten Power Rankings after Week 7: Iowa wins the Big Ten West

While wins and losses are what matter in the end, many metrics and models don’t overreact to one final score on the field. ESPN SP+ falls into that category and still has the Badgers as the best team in the Big Ten West.

Full Big Ten West ranking:

  • Wisconsin (No. 25)
  • Iowa (No. 37)
  • Nebraska (No. 53)
  • Minnesota (No. 56)
  • Illinois (No. 58)
  • Purdue (No. 75)
  • Northwestern (No. 95)

Wisconsin has a lot of work to do with its backup quarterback now under center to make up the ground lost to the Hawkeyes.

Wisconsin rises in ESPN SP+ after its win over Rutgers

Wisconsin rises in ESPN SP+ after its win over Rutgers:

Wisconsin took care of business on Saturday with a 23-14 win over Rutgers. The Badgers improved to 4-1 on the season and 2-0 in Big Ten play, positioned perfectly entering the meat of its conference schedule

The win was not perfect, as offensive inconsistency and snap issues were still prevalent. But the team looks like the clear favorite in the Big Ten West. Next Saturday’s showdown with 5-1 Iowa could very well decide the division.

ESPN SP+ agrees with that sentiment. Wisconsin rose two spots upto No. 23 in the ranking, with the No. 38 offense and No. 13 defense. It is the highest-ranked Big Ten West team, with Iowa next at No. 41.

Wisconsin and Iowa will take the field on Saturday at 3 p.m. central at Camp Randall Stadium.

Wisconsin rises in latest SP+ ranking after its win over Georgia Southern

Wisconsin rises after its win vs Georgia Southern:

The college football season is heating up. Week 3 gave us an easy Saturday before Week 4 rolls around with matchups including No. 3 FSU vs Clemson, No. 17 Ole Miss vs No. 10 Alabama, No. 24 UCLA vs No. 12 Utah, No. 18 Colorado vs No. 13 Oregon, No. 16 Oregon St vs No. 23 Washington State, No. 6 Ohio State vs No. 9 Notre Dame and No. 25 Iowa vs No. 7 Penn State.

The latter two obviously have a big impact on the Wisconsin Badgers and what we expect to see for the rest of the season.

The Badgers are 2-1 after out-of-conference play but haven’t looked like a top-25 team. They’re still 0-0 in Big Ten play, though, and have the rest of the season to correct their mistakes.

Up next is a trip to West Lafayette, Indiana for a matchup with 1-2 Purdue (fresh off a 35-20 loss to Syracuse).

Wisconsin will enter that matchup ranked No. 25 in ESPN’s SP+, up four spots from last weekend. The Badgers remain the top-ranked team in the Big Ten West, and No. 4 in the conference overall after the top trio of Ohio State, Michigan and Penn State.

How does the Big 12 stack up in ESPN’s post-spring SP+ rankings?

A look at where the Big 12 stacks up in ESPN’s post-spring SP+ rankings.

The spring season can change perceptions or reinforce what many feel about a football team as they break before summer workouts.

The Oklahoma Sooners look like a team that should contend for the Big 12 title in 2023 but will have to prove that defensive improvement is on the way. They brought back a lot of talent from the 2022 season and infused a group of impactful transfers that should help a defense that allowed 30 points per game last year.

Given that they’re bringing back their quarterback, there are high hopes for the Sooners this season.

ESPN’s SP+ rating also feels pretty good about the Oklahoma Sooners ahead of the 2023 season. Based on their analytics, which takes into account returning production, recent recruiting, and recent history, the Sooners will be one of the teams to watch in the Big 12 title race.

Let’s take a look at where the Sooners and the rest of the Big 12 ranks in ESPN’s SP+ after spring ball.

Where Pac-12 teams rank in terms of ESPN SP+ ratings ahead of 2023 season

How does ESPN’s SP+ view the power balance in the Pac-12? The name at the top of the list likely won’t surprise you.

Earlier this week, we talked a lot about the ESPN SP+ ratings that were released ahead of spring football across the nation. While there are a lot of rankings in the world of college football to determine how good each team is, the SP+, in my opinion, is one of the most valuable that we have to look at.

If you are unfamiliar with the SP+ rankings, it’s not too complicated. They are based on the following: Returning production — how many players from last year’s roster are still on the team; Recent recruiting — how the last few classes of recruiting stack up, with more weight placed on the most recent signees; Recent history — quite simply, how good has the team been over the past 2-4 years. More weight has also been placed on the transfer portal in the past couple of years, and the amount of production that each team is expecting to receive from incoming players via the portal.

When ESPN released the full SP+ earlier this week, I was immediately taken aback by how many Pac-12 teams were within the top-25. The Pac-12 had the 4th-highest average SP+ rating of all the conferences, but 5 teams were in the top 25, and 6 were in the top 31.

It’s also impressive how close the Pac-12 teams are to each other in the rankings. The top four teams — Oregon, USC, Washington, and Utah — are all separated by just 2.9 points, and both UCLA and Oregon State aren’t far behind. In a sense, these ratings told us a bit of what we already knew — the top of the conference is incredibly strong — but it gave great insight to just how strong it really is.

Here is where the entire conference ended up in th 2023 preseason SP+ ratings.

How the Big 12 stacks up in ESPN’s SP+ ratings for the 2023 season

Taking into account returning production and incoming players, how does the Big 12 stack up in ESPN’s SP+ rankings for 2023?

2023 is already off to a hot start for the Oklahoma Sooners. They landed one of the best recruiting classes in the cycle and one of the best transfer portal classes this offseason as well.

Brent Venables and his staff have attacked Oklahoma’s weaknesses from the 2023 season and added players to help fill the void left by players departing for the NFL.

Now all there is left to do, is get to September and start playing games.

On paper, the Oklahoma Sooners should be improved from what they were last season. Even though they aren’t bringing back a ton of returning production, the pieces are there for 2023 to result in more success.

And that’s in large part to what they’ve brought in to help the defense. Legit difference makers like Dasan McCullough, Rondell Bothroyd, and Reggie Pearson specifically. Each has the experience and the ability to provide game-changing plays for Oklahoma’s defense, and each could be a week one starter when the Sooners play Arkansas State.

In Bill Connelly’s first SP+ Rankings for ESPN (ESPN+), the Oklahoma Sooners fared far better than what some might imagine, given the way 2022 went. Connelly looks at three factors to help inform his projections.

  1. Returning Production: The Oklahoma Sooners ranked 77th in the nation and ninth in the Big 12 in returning production.
  2. Recent recruiting, which includes transfer acquisitions for the first time, and gives more weight to the most recent classes. Oklahoma had the No. 8 class in the 2022 cycle and the No. 4 class in the 2023 cycle. Pretty good.
  3. Recent success: This one is a bit of a wild card for Oklahoma. They had success prior to Lincoln Riley’s departure, and the first year of Brent Venables didn’t go well. Was 2022 the aberration year? We certainly hope so.

Taking all that into account, let’s check in on the Big 12 and see how they stack up in the first SP+ Rankings for the 2023 season.

Ducks crack top-10 of ESPN’s SP+ rankings for 2023 season

The ESPN SP+ rankings are among the most well-respected in college football. See where the Ducks land ahead of 2023.

There are a million ways to rank and evaluate teams throughout the year in college football. Whether it’s based on overall record, recruiting, returning talent, or strength of schedule, fans are never lacking of different ways in which they can view their team, comparing them to others and assessing the future possibilities.

In today’s era of college football, we have the transfer portal rankings as well. There are so many different rankings, all holding a unique weight and importance, that it can eventually make your head spin. However, there is one set of rankings that I tend to give a bit more credence to in the offseason than others. Those are ESPN’s SP+ rankings, brought to us by Bill Connelly. 

If you are unfamiliar with the SP+ rankings, it’s not too complicated. They are based on the following: Returning production — how many players from last year’s roster are still on the team; Recent recruiting — how the last few classes of recruiting stack up, with more weight placed on the most recent signees; Recent history — quite simply, how good has the team been over the past 2-4 years. More weight has also been placed on the transfer portal in the past couple of years, and the amount of production that each team is expecting to receive from incoming players via the portal.

As you can see, a lot goes into these rankings, and they offer a concise view of how teams stack up in each college football season. So how are the Ducks viewed according to SP+? Take a look:

Oklahoma No. 4 in final ESPN SP+ projections ahead of 2022 season

ESPN’s Bill Connelly updated his SP+; where do the Oklahoma Sooners and their opponents stand in the final projections of the preseason?

Week 0 is upon us! The start of the 2022 college football season is here. Though the Oklahoma Sooners will not kick off against the UTEP Miners for another 13 days (and counting), we get football this week.

Week 0 provides a fantastic opportunity to check out two of Oklahoma’s first three opponents. On Aug. 27, the Nebraska Cornhuskers take on Big Ten foe Northwestern, and UTEP will face North Texas.

With the season getting underway this week, Bill Connelly of ESPN updated his SP+ ratings (ESPN+) for a final look ahead of the 2022 season.

The Oklahoma Sooners come in at No. 4 behind Alabama, Georgia and Ohio State, the top three teams in the USA TODAY Coaches Poll and the AP Top 25. However, Georgia and Ohio State are flipped in the polls compared to the SP+ ratings.

Oklahoma moved up a spot from the last update in May.

The Sooners have the highest projected win total in the Big 12 at 9.8. The next closest is Oklahoma State with a projected win total of 8.3.

As always: SP+ is a tempo- and opponent-adjusted measure of college football efficiency. It is a predictive measure of the most sustainable and predictable aspects of football, not a résumé ranking, and, along those same lines, these projections aren’t intended to be a guess at what the AP Top 25 will look like at the end of the year. These are simply early offseason power rankings based on the information we have been able to gather to date. – Connelly, ESPN

Here’s a look at where each team on Oklahoma’s 2022 schedule ranks in the ESPN SP+ rating and their projected win total for the season.

ESPN SP+ likes Wisconsin’s chances against Purdue on Saturday

ESPN SP+ likes Wisconsin chances against Purdue on Saturday

Wisconsin is set to face No. 25 Purdue in what will be a critical game in the Big Ten West race.

It is undoubtedly a tough matchup for Wisconsin. Purdue boasts a strong defense led by star defensive end George Karlaftis and has the ability to beat teams passing the football.

If the Badgers win, they enter next weekend’s contest against Iowa with a chance to enter the Big Ten West driver’s set. If they lose, the division becomes nearly out of reach.

While many (including myself) are skeptical about Wisconsin’s chances at coming away with a victory on Saturday, Bill Connelly’s SP+ metric likes the Badgers chances.

The final score prediction? Wisconsin 27, Purdue 18.

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