Tag: S&P+

Michigan State Football No. 60 overall, No. 17 defense in ESPN SP+ Rankings

Michigan State’s defense was still looked at favorably in the lastest ESPN SP+ Rankings.

[jwplayer Csm3J5fS]

While Michigan State Football has a new coach this year in Mel Tucker, we saw a lot of the old problems in Saturday’s loss against Rutgers. As we have seen more and more in these last few years with the Spartans, their defense and special teams are still looked at favorably by most analytics, but it is the offense that is bogging the team down.

In ESPN’s latest SP+ Rankings from Bill Connelly, MSU was ranked down at No. 60 overall, but the defense was ranked No. 17 and the special teams up at No. 34. It is the offense, ranked No. 113, that is dragging things down, and that’s what we saw on Saturday.

[lawrence-auto-related count=3]

Michigan State football No. 40 in ESPN’s latest SP+ rankings

The Spartans don’t move much after a pretty neutral win over Rutgers.

A win over Rutgers didn’t do much for Michigan State in the eyes of Bill Connelly’s computer.

The Spartans are at No. 40 this week in Connelly’s SP+ rankings. Michigan State ranks 86th in offense, 12th in defense and 114th in special teams. MSU is a projected 7.6 points better than an average college football team on a neutral field.

MSU’s upcoming opponent, Maryland, is rated 88th in SP+, although the Terps have been in a bit of a free fall lately. They’re ranked No. 73 on offense, No. 82 on defense and No. 127 on special teams. They’re a projected 5.7 points worse than an average college football team on a neutral field.

SP+, according to Connelly, is “(A) tempo- and opponent-adjusted measure of college football efficiency.”

[lawrence-auto-related count=3 category=1362]