Bill Connelly released his preseason S&P+ rankings on ESPN.com this morning. Along with the rankings, he also gave an excellent primer for what his rankings are.
I have been a big fan of the S&P+ rankings for a long time. Not only are they one of the best advanced metrics out there, but Connelly has always spent a ton of time explaining exactly what goes into the rankings. Back when he was at SBNation, his preseason profiles for each team were invaluable. We didn’t get those from ESPN this year, but hopefully we get as much from him as usual during the year.
That being said, Ohio State is at No. 7 in his rankings to start the year. The Buckeyes were usually, along with Alabama and Clemson, at the top of the S&P+ rankings the past few preseasons. This is a bit of a drop-off, though some of that is almost certainly due to how unproven Justin Fields is. If Fields performs as we expect, Ohio State’s S&P+ numbers will rise.
Additionally, in his conference profile, Connelly has Ohio State as the most likely to win the Big Ten, with 7.0 projected conference wins. Second-favorite Michigan is projected at 6.6 wins.
