Scarlet Sunrise: Buckeyes finish season in top five of ESPN's SP+ rankings

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Buckeyes finish season in top five of ESPN’s SP+ rankings

Ohio State clocked in at fourth in the country in ESPN writer Bill Connelly’s annual SP+ rankings. If you’re not familiar, SP+ is a “tempo- and opponent-adjusted measure of college football efficiency” that Connelly has been measuring since he was at Football Outsiders in 2008.

Connelly: “SP+ is indeed 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. 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.”

Here are the five factors Connelly uses to determine SP+ ratings: efficiency, explosiveness, field position, finishing drives and turnovers. SP+ is listed in the adjusted points per game format. Essentially, it indicates how many points better (positive) or worse (negative) a team is than the average college football team in the current season. There are also offensive and defensive SP+ ratings — presented in adjusted scoring averages (points per game) — within a team’s overall SP+ rating.

Ohio State’s SP+ ratings for 2022, via Connelly:

• Overall SP+ rating: 30.7 (4th)
• Offensive SP+ rating: 46.6 (4th)
• Defensive SP+ rating: 17.5 (23rd)
• Special teams SP+ rating: 1.6 (9th)

The three teams above the Buckeyes in overall SP+ rating? Georgia (first), Alabama (second) and Michigan (third).

Five Ohio State stats that mattered in Peach Bowl

Still trying to wrap your head around how Ohio State let the Peach Bowl slip away? Lettermen Row isn’t leaving a stone unturned. We’ve already covered how the College Football Playoff semifinal was defined by moments and missed opportunities.

But here’s another angle: five Buckeyes stats that mattered in the dramatic SEC/Big Ten showdown.

For the second straight game, it came down to explosives for Ohio State’s defense, which reset a single-game program record in a category you don’t want to touch on that side of the ball. But the Buckeyes offense kept head coach Ryan Day and Co. afloat, and even ahead, throughout the Peach Bowl.

You can get all the stat-based analysis here.

Top Ohio State performers from first two days of All-American Bowl practices

Lettermen Row recruiting analyst Matt Parker is in San Antonio covering the All-American Bowl, where the Buckeyes have seven signees preparing to play in the prestigious postseason all-star game.

Brandon Inniss, Carnell Tate, Malik Hartford, Luke Montgomery, Lincoln Kienholz, Calvin Simpson-Hunt and Joshua Mickens are all in Texas this week.

Matt has Ohio State’s top performers from the first and second day of practice.

READ: Ohio State signee Carnell Tate ready to join Buckeyes wide receiver room

READ: Ohio State wide receiver signee Brandon Inniss speaks about Brian Hartline, Michigan

Good 🌰 on 🌰 rep between @carnelltate_ and @CSimpsonHunt pic.twitter.com/L5GDhYXmOm

— Matt Parker (@MattParkerLR) January 4, 2023

Buckeyes gearing up to host No. 1 Purdue

Ohio State hoops is hosting No. 1 Purdue Thursday night in The Schottenstein Center. The Boilermakers entered the week as the top team in the AP Top 25 for the fourth week in a row before dropping their first game of the season to Rutgers.

Ohio State will have a chance to improve to 3-0 at home against AP No. 1 teams in Chris Holtmann’s now-six-year head coaching run. The Buckeyes took down then-No. 1 Duke, 71-66, last year and also upset then-No. 1 Michigan State, 80-64, in 2017-18.

No. 24 Ohio State has the home-court advantage and can play spoiler, but Purdue has the motivation of an early-week loss.

“I think when you’re in this league, you understand you’re gonna lose in this league,” Holtmann said Wednesday. “No one’s going undefeated in this league. And that’s the reality of the depth of this league and why it’s consistently the deepest league in college basketball. Our guys have obviously a lot to play for as well. Their competitive edge can’t be any greater than ours, but we know we’re gonna get Purdue’s best shot.”

Tip-off is at 7 p.m., and the game will be broadcast on FS1.

Counting down

Buckeyes vs. Indiana: 240 days

Buckeyes vs. Michigan: 324 days

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