Where every SEC team ranks after Week 13 in ESPN’s updated SP+ rankings
By Keith Farner
Published:
After a flurry of non-conference games in Week 13, there was little change in the overall SP+ rankings from Bill Connelly at ESPN.
Oregon’s loss at Arizona State was the biggest upset of the week, however, the Ducks weren’t viewed that great in the SP+ system.
“Part of the reason for this stagnation at the top: SP+ never liked Oregon very much,” Connelly said. “The Ducks ranked just 15th heading into last week, and SP+ was far friendlier to Arizona State’s chances (Oregon by 10.2) than Vegas was — the line began around Oregon -15 before shifting toward -13.”
The SEC portion of the rankings continue to be a head scratcher as Alabama is ahead of LSU, and Missouri ahead of Tennessee despite the results from those games being the opposite.
Here is Connelly’s explanation of the rankings and every SEC team:
What is SP+? In a single sentence, it’s a tempo- and opponent-adjusted measure of college football efficiency. I created the system at Football Outsiders in 2008, and as my experience with both college football and its stats has grown, I have made quite a few tweaks to the system. SP+ is intended to be predictive and forward-facing. That is important to remember. 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.
2. Alabama
3. LSU
5. Georgia
9. Florida
11. Auburn
16. Texas A&M
36. Missouri
38. Tennessee
43. South Carolina
47. Kentucky
49. Mississippi State
55. Ole Miss
102. Vanderbilt
108. Arkansas
A former newspaper veteran, Keith Farner is a news manager for Saturday Down South.
