South Carolina featured in ESPN's SP+ analytics rankings
Saturday marks the first day of March. That means one thing in college football circles: spring practice starts soon. Because of that, more and more offseason prognostications and preseason rankings will start pouring in over the next several months. This week, ESPN’s Bill Connelly released his first preseason SP+ power rankings. As things stand, South Carolina is No. 16 in the country.
The SP+, according to Connelly, is “a tempo- and opponent-adjusted measure of college football efficiency.” The analytics projection system and subsequent rankings are designed “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.” The rankings also highlight returning production, recent recruiting, and recent history on the field.
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Connelly ranks the Gamecocks 16th based on a No. 24 offense, No. 18 defense, and No. 50 special teams. That places USC at No. 9 in the SEC overall, No. 8 on offense, No. 9 on defense, and No. 12 on special teams.
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Carolina’s overall score of +15.4 is above average in the SEC, the country’s best conference by a wide margin. Both the offense (+33.1) and defense (+17.7) are a little above the SEC average, as well.
Connelly also included South Carolina among his teams to “sell” this offseason. Basing that projection on the Gamecocks’ status as a popular College Football Playoff pick by college football pundits, the ESPN analytics guru argues that Shane Beamer’s team (and the rival Clemson Tigers) is a good but not great unit. Only time will tell if his prediction is accurate.
