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Updated SP+ rankings has 3 B1G teams in top 25 following Week 6
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Three Big Ten teams made Bill Connelly’s updated list for the SP+ rankings, the ESPN analyst ranking two teams from the conference among his top six teams.
It isn’t a surprise to see Ohio State, No.3 in the AP Top 25 Poll and 4-0 on the season, leads the way in Connelly’s Sunday update. Following the Buckeyes at No. 6 is Wisconsin, who is 2-1 and seemed to have played only once since Columbus Day (an exaggeration but not by much).
Wisconsin lost on Nov. 21 to Northwestern, 17-7.
A look at who Connelly included in his SP+ rankings:
No. 3 Ohio State
No. 6 Wisconsin
No. 18 Iowa
🔥 NEW SP+ RANKINGS 🔥
* Bama and Clemson distance themselves a bit at the top
* COASTAL IN THE TOP 25
* 4 sub-.500 top-30 teams!
* yeesh, Gamecocks
* the Résumé SP+ top 15, a.k.a. why we can do so much better than "BYU ain't played nobody"https://t.co/qA9RQrB9Zj— Bill Connelly (@ESPN_BillC) November 29, 2020
The next tier of Big Ten representation is Indiana (No. 28) and Northwestern (No. 34). Both teams are ranked in the top 20 of the AP Poll, a bit of a discrepancy between the AP Poll and SP+.
According to Connelly, “SP+ is 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,” Connelly once wrote in defining his system.
“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.”