Georgia assumed the No. 1 spot in the SP+ rankings four weeks into the 2021 season, briefly ceded it to a torrid Ohio State - more specifically, a torrid Ohio State offense - midway through the year, then pulled away from the field late in the year. The Dawgs couldn't reach the finish line 15-0, but they were still the class of college football, and they finish the year as both the national champions and the top-ranked team in SP+.
What is SP+? In a single sentence, it's a tempo- and opponent-adjusted measure of college football efficiency . I created the system at Football Outsiders in 2008, and as my experience with both college football and its stats has grown, I have made quite a few tweaks to the system.
It is, as always, important to note that 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. 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. It is a look at how teams should likely perform moving forward.
Overall SP+ Rankings Team Rating Offense Defense Special Teams 1. Georgia (14-1) 32.0 41.4 (2) 10.3 (1) 0.9 (30) 2. Ohio St. (11-2) 29.3 47.2 (1) 20.6 (20) 2.7 (3) 3. Alabama (13-2) 26.0 40.9 (4) 15.6 (9) 0.7 (44) 4. Michigan (12-2) 23.4 36.5 (19) 15.8 (10) 2.7 (2) 5. Cincinnati (13-1) 21.2 37.5 (13) 15.9 (11) -0.3 (72) 6. Texas A&M (8-4) 21.1 33.6 (35) 14.9 (7) 2.4 (4) 7. Wisconsin (9-4) 20.1 29.8 (59) 10.8 (2) 1.1 (23) 8. Clemson (10-3) 18.7 28.3 (71) 11.6 (3) 2.0 (10) 9. Pittsburgh (11-3) 17.6 38.2 (9) 21.4 (29) 0.8 (37) 10. Tennessee (7-6) 17.5 39.4 (7) 23.8 (47) 1.8 (12) 11. Notre Dame (11-2) 17.4 36.2 (20) 18.9 (15) 0.1 (65) 12. Oklahoma St. (12-2) 17.2 30.6 (53) 14.3 (4) 0.9 (32) 13. Oklahoma (11-2) 16.8 41.1 (3) 25.6 (58) 1.3 (20) 14. NC St. (9-3) 16.1 33.1 (39) 17.7 (14) 0.7 (41) 15. Baylor (12-2) 15.6 33.1 (41) 17.1 (13) -0.4 (77) 16. Utah (10-4) 15.2 37.2 (14) 20.7 (22) -1.3 (111) 17. Ole Miss (10-3) 14.8 36.8 (17) 22.4 (36) 0.5 (51) 18. Minnesota (9-4) 14.4 29.3 (63) 15.4 (8) 0.4 (52) 19. Iowa St. (7-6) 14.3 33.8 (34) 20.2 (19) 0.8 (38) 20. Penn St. (7-6) 14.3 28.0 (72) 14.6 (6) 0.8 (34) 21. Kansas St. (8-5) 14.2 33.5 (37) 19.0 (16) -0.3 (70) 22. Arkansas (9-4) 13.8 34.3 (32) 21.3 (27) 0.8 (36) 23. Kentucky (10-3) 13.4 35.1 (21) 22.3 (35) 0.6 (46) 24. WKU (9-5) 13.3 40.5 (5) 28.8 (90) 1.7 (17) 25. Coastal Caro. (11-2) 13.2 39.5 (6) 26.1 (62) -0.2 (69) 26. Arizona St. (8-5) 11.8 33.5 (36) 20.9 (24) -0.8 (95) 27. Iowa (10-4) 11.4 23.6 (94) 14.4 (5) 2.2 (7) 28. Michigan St. (11-2) 11.2 34.3 (31) 21.7 (30) -1.4 (114) 29. Auburn (6-7) 11.0 30.2 (56) 19.8 (17) 0.6 (45) 30. Florida (6-7) 11.0 35.0 (23) 23.2 (39) -0.9 (97) 31. Houston (12-2) 10.9 31.5 (51) 20.0 (18) -0.6 (83) 32. Miami (7-5) 10.8 34.8 (25) 25.0 (51) 1.0 (27) 33. Fresno St. (10-3) 10.8 34.7 (27) 24.2 (50) 0.2 (59) 34. Miss. St. (7-6) 10.5 34.6 (28) 22.0 (34) -2.1 (125) 35. Purdue (9-4) 10.3 32.6 (44) 21.1 (25) -1.2 (107) 36. App. St. (10-4) 10.3 32.0 (49) 23.5 (43) 1.8 (13) 37. Nebraska (3-9) 10.3 34.1 (33) 21.3 (28) -2.5 (127) 38. Oregon (10-4) 10.2 35.0 (22) 26.0 (60) 1.1 (24) 39. Wake Forest (11-3) 10.1 38.0 (10) 29.2 (92) 1.3 (21) 40. Texas Tech (7-6) 9.8 34.6 (30) 27.1 (69) 2.3 (5) 41. UCLA (8-4) 9.4 37.7 (12) 27.8 (76) -0.5 (80) 42. Boise St. (7-5) 9.4 28.4 (69) 20.8 (23) 1.8 (14) 43. UAB (9-4) 9.1 32.1 (48) 21.7 (31) -1.2 (109) 44. SMU (8-4) 8.9 36.7 (18) 27.1 (71) -0.7 (88) 45. Oregon St. (7-6) 8.9 36.9 (16) 28.5 (87) 0.5 (49) 46. BYU (10-3) 8.9 37.2 (15) 27.9 (79) -0.4 (74) 47. Louisiana (13-1) 8.7 30.3 (54) 21.2 (26) -0.4 (76) 48. Texas (5-7) 8.5 34.6 (29) 28.4 (86) 2.3 (6) 49. Liberty (8-5) 8.4 32.1 (47) 23.1 (38) -0.6 (86) 50. San Diego St. (12-2) 8.3 23.7 (92) 17.1 (12) 1.7 (15) 51. Marshall (7-6) 8.0 32.8 (43) 23.5 (41) -1.3 (110) 52. Louisville (6-7) 7.8 34.9 (24) 26.6 (64) -0.5 (79) 53. Florida St. (5-7) 7.6 29.8 (58) 23.0 (37) 0.8 (35) 54. Air Force (10-3) 7.4 30.0 (57) 22.0 (33) -0.7 (91) 55. Virginia (6-6) 7.2 39.3 (8) 31.5 (100) -0.5 (81) 56. Toledo (7-6) 6.9 29.0 (65) 20.7 (21) -1.5 (116) 57. Wash. St. (7-6) 6.7 32.0 (50) 26.0 (61) 0.7 (43) 58. UTSA (12-2) 6.5 33.0 (42) 27.8 (77) 1.3 (19) 59. N. Carolina (6-7) 6.4 37.8 (11) 31.7 (101) 0.3 (55) 60. Maryland (7-6) 6.2 34.8 (26) 27.4 (74) -1.2 (106) 61. Tulsa (7-6) 5.8 28.7 (67) 24.0 (48) 1.0 (26) 62. UCF (9-4) 4.8 29.6 (60) 23.4 (40) -1.4 (115) 63. Army (9-4) 4.7 28.8 (66) 23.5 (42) -0.6 (87) 64. Illinois (5-7) 4.3 23.2 (98) 21.8 (32) 2.8 (1) 65. LSU (6-7) 4.1 28.0 (73) 25.6 (57) 1.7 (16) 66. S. Carolina (7-6) 3.9 26.0 (86) 24.2 (49) 2.0 (9) 67. Nevada (8-5) 3.6 30.3 (55) 26.9 (68) 0.2 (61) 68. California (5-7) 3.4 27.5 (77) 25.0 (52) 1.0 (28) 69. Missouri (6-7) 3.1 31.1 (52) 29.9 (97) 1.9 (11) 70. Va. Tech (6-7) 2.4 26.7 (85) 25.2 (55) 0.9 (31) 71. Georgia St. (8-5) 1.8 27.5 (78) 26.7 (65) 0.9 (29) 72. W. Virginia (6-7) 1.8 27.7 (75) 25.0 (53) -0.9 (100) 73. Miami-OH (7-6) 1.5 29.3 (64) 26.8 (67) -1.0 (101) 74. Memphis (6-6) 1.0 29.6 (61) 27.9 (78) -0.8 (93) 75. Boston Coll. (6-6) 0.9 27.0 (84) 26.5 (63) 0.5 (50) 76. WMU (8-5) 0.6 33.1 (40) 29.0 (91) -3.5 (130) 77. Wyoming (7-6) 0.6 26.0 (87) 23.5 (44) -1.8 (124) 78. ECU (7-5) 0.5 27.4 (79) 28.3 (83) 1.3 (18) 79. Syracuse (5-7) 0.3 27.1 (81) 25.2 (54) -1.7 (122) 80. Utah St. (11-3) 0.1 28.4 (70) 27.9 (80) -0.4 (75) 81. TCU (5-7) -0.6 33.2 (38) 33.9 (109) 0.1 (63) 82. USC (4-8) -0.6 32.3 (45) 33.4 (106) 0.4 (53) 83. Washington (4-8) -0.7 22.8 (101) 23.6 (45) 0.1 (62) 84. CMU (9-4) -1.0 28.5 (68) 29.3 (93) -0.3 (71) 85. San Jose St. (5-7) -1.9 22.6 (102) 25.2 (56) 0.7 (40) 86. Hawaii (6-7) -2.3 27.1 (82) 30.1 (98) 0.7 (42) 87. Colorado St. (3-9) -2.4 23.3 (97) 25.9 (59) 0.2 (58) 88. Rutgers (5-8) -3.0 20.8 (109) 23.7 (46) -0.1 (68) 89. Tulane (2-10) -3.9 27.9 (74) 30.4 (99) -1.5 (117) 90. MTSU (7-6) -4.0 24.0 (90) 27.1 (70) -0.9 (98) 91. UTEP (7-6) -4.2 23.9 (91) 28.3 (84) 0.3 (57) 92. FAU (5-7) -5.2 23.1 (99) 28.4 (85) 0.0 (66) 93. Kent St. (7-7) -6.4 32.3 (46) 36.9 (121) -1.7 (123) 94. N. Texas (6-7) -6.5 23.1 (100) 28.5 (88) -1.1 (103) 95. Troy (5-7) -6.5 20.1 (114) 26.7 (66) 0.1 (64) 96. Ga. Tech (3-9) -6.7 27.0 (83) 32.4 (103) -1.2 (108) 97. NIU (9-5) -7.1 29.4 (62) 36.1 (116) -0.4 (73) 98. S. Alabama (5-7) -7.2 21.4 (106) 28.0 (82) -0.6 (82) 99. ODU (6-7) -7.4 21.2 (107) 28.0 (81) -0.6 (84) 100. Indiana (2-10) -7.8 20.4 (112) 27.3 (73) -0.9 (99) 101. EMU (7-6) -7.8 27.2 (80) 37.2 (122) 2.2 (8) 102. Navy (4-8) -8.5 20.0 (115) 27.7 (75) -0.8 (94) 103. Buffalo (4-8) -9.5 24.6 (89) 33.1 (105) -1.1 (104) 104. Colorado (4-8) -10.0 18.8 (120) 29.6 (94) 0.7 (39) 105. Stanford (3-9) -10.2 22.2 (104) 33.6 (107) 1.2 (22) 106. Northwestern (3-9) -11.1 19.4 (118) 27.3 (72) -3.2 (129) 107. Ball St. (6-7) -11.2 21.6 (105) 33.7 (108) 0.9 (33) 108. La. Tech (3-9) -11.6 23.6 (93) 34.4 (112) -0.8 (92) 109. Ohio (3-9) -11.6 25.1 (88) 35.2 (114) -1.6 (120) 110. USF (2-10) -12.1 23.5 (95) 36.2 (117) 0.6 (47) 111. BGSU (4-8) -12.4 17.1 (125) 29.8 (96) 0.3 (54) 112. Arizona (1-11) -12.6 19.2 (119) 32.3 (102) 0.6 (48) 113. Duke (3-9) -13.5 23.4 (96) 36.3 (118) -0.6 (85) 114. Charlotte (5-7) -13.7 27.6 (76) 41.2 (127) 0.0 (67) 115. UNLV (2-10) -13.8 19.9 (117) 33.0 (104) -0.7 (89) 116. So. Miss (3-9) -14.2 15.0 (128) 28.6 (89) -0.7 (90) 117. Ga. Southern (3-9) -15.3 18.4 (121) 34.0 (110) 0.3 (56) 118. Texas St. (4-8) -16.0 20.7 (110) 36.9 (120) 0.2 (60) 119. Arkansas St. (2-10) -17.9 21.0 (108) 40.0 (124) 1.1 (25) 120. New Mexico (3-9) -18.6 11.6 (130) 29.8 (95) -0.4 (78) 121. Temple (3-9) -19.1 17.5 (123) 34.1 (111) -2.5 (126) 122. Vanderbilt (2-10) -19.4 17.4 (124) 35.6 (115) -1.2 (105) 123. Kansas (2-10) -19.7 22.3 (103) 40.6 (126) -1.4 (113) 124. ULM (4-8) -20.3 15.6 (127) 35.1 (113) -0.8 (96) 125. FIU (1-11) -21.6 19.9 (116) 40.2 (125) -1.3 (112) 126. Rice (4-8) -22.9 18.2 (122) 38.3 (123) -2.9 (128) 127. Akron (2-10) -23.1 20.3 (113) 41.7 (128) -1.6 (121) 128. NMSU (2-10) -24.2 20.6 (111) 43.7 (129) -1.1 (102) 129. UConn (1-11) -25.6 12.7 (129) 36.8 (119) -1.5 (119) 130. UMass (1-11) -29.3 16.1 (126) 43.9 (130) -1.5 (118)