I enjoy looking at Bill Connelly's SP+ rankings each week. Sorry for the small font on the graph, but I found it interesting how the SP+ model is creating tiers. The top 5 (Texas, Ohio State, Alabama, Ole Miss and UGA) are pretty far above everyone else (highlighted in green). the next tier of 6-11 in gray are pretty clearly in tier 2 while ranks 12-20 seem to make up a tier 3. I also find it interesting how the rankings change over the course of the season. Clemson started out preseason at #16 before dropping all the way to 31 after our UGA opener...now we've worked our way back in the the middle of tier 3. Oregon started at #3 in the preseason rankings before falling to #9 today. Michigan started preseason at #7 vs #15 today. FSU started the season at #12 vs #44 today (lol). On the reverse side, Miami started behind us at #19 before rising to #7 today. If we keep performing, especially if we can lock it down on defense, we will keep rising in the SP+ model. We currently have the 12th ranked offense but only the 36th best defense...who would have called that at the beginning of this season?
Also of note, the ACC is the 3rd best conference by average SP+ score:
| 1. SEC: 17.3 average rating (36.5 offense, 19.4 defense) |
| 2. Big Ten: 10.0 average (28.3 offense, 18.4 defense) |
| 3. ACC: 7.6 average (31.2 offense, 23.8 defense) |
| 4. Big 12: 7.1 average (31.7 offense, 24.6 defense) |
| 5. Sun Belt: -7.6 average (25.4 offense, 33.0 defense) |
| 6. Mountain West: -8.8 average (22.9 offense, 31.5 defense) |
| 7. AAC: -8.9 average (24.1 offense, 33.0 defense) |
| 8. MAC: -13.0 average (17.6 offense, 30.5 defense) |
| 9. Conference USA: -15.1 average (19.5 offense, 34.4 defense) |
