Georgia takes top spot in Bill Connelly's SP+ rankings
ESPN’s Bill Connelly released his post-spring SP+ rankings this week, first since February, and Georgia remains in the top spot. The Bulldogs are given an SP+ rating of 29.9 overall, ahead of Ohio State in second place, with their offense ranking No. 9 and defense No. 3.
USC holds the No. 1 spot on offense with Ohio State, Tennessee, Oregon, Alabama, Oklahoma, Michigan and Washington also ahead of Georgia’s offense under new offensive coordinator Mike Bobo. Meanwhile, only Iowa – ranked No. 29 overall – and Texas A&M – slightly higher at No. 16 – rank ahead of the Bulldogs on the defensive side of the ball led by Glenn Schumann and Will Muschamp – and of course Kirby Smart.
The SP+ rankings, as Connelly explained before his time at ESPN, is a predictive model designed to track overall team efficiency. He writes, “It is, at its heart, a tempo- and opponent-adjusted measure of what college football teams can most consistently do to win football games.”
Put simply, it’s a point differential than the average college football team. Accounting for various factors including returning production, recent recruiting and recent history, the system spits out a bunch of numbers that ultimately result in a projection attributed to Connelly.
So, what does Georgia’s standing in the SP+ coming out of spring say about the Bulldogs? Not surprisingly, they are expected to be among the best in all sorts of categories coming off of back-to-back National Championships.
While returning production for Kirby Smart and company only ranks No. 74 (102nd offensively and 49th defensively at 52 and 66 percents respectively), Georgia does bring back a lot of important pieces from it’s 2022 team that went a perfect 15-0 on its way to the national title.
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Tight end Brock Bowers, who has led Georgia in receiving each of the last two years, returns for his third season as a candidate for National Player of the Year while wide receiver Ladd McConkey and others add to a group of pass catchers expected to succeed in 2023.
Up front, the Bulldogs bring back four of five starters from the National Championship Game. That starts with Sedrick Van Pran at center, works out to the guard spots with Xavier Truss (left) and Tate Ratledge (right) returning as well as spot-starter Amarius Mims at right tackle. Needless to say, Stacey Searels’s group that was a finalist for the Joe Moore Award should once again be seen as one of the best in the country this upcoming campaign.
Flipping things over to the defense, the team’s top three tacklers (linebacker Smael Mondon, linebacker Jamon Dumas-Johnson and safety Malaki Starks) all return. So too does Defensive MVP of both of Georgia’s College Football Playoff games Javon Bullard, who accounted for a trio of turnovers in the first half of the National Championship, along with team sack leader Mykel Williams, a freshman All-American in 2022.
Yes, there are pieces to replace. Quarterback Stetson Bennett is gone on offense. Top-10 pick Jalen Carter is a thing of the past on defense. Georgia had 10 players picked in the 2023 NFL Draft, a second straight season that the Bulldogs have hit double digits, which opens doors. However, combining the way Kirby Smart has recruited the high school ranks and the players he went and added this offseason from the transfer portal, the Bulldogs should be just fine.
