UPDATE: Michigan football climbs to No. 1 in new SP+ poll

Yesterday, Michigan football laid down a 24-point beating in their Big Ten Conference opener against Rutgers; now, the Wolverines sit at No. 2 in the nation (AP) with a 4-0 record (1-0 Big Ten) heading into a Week 5 road game at Nebraska. Today, the ESPN SP+ rankings were updated, with the Maize and Blue not sitting pretty as the No. 1 team in the nation.

Michigan football the No. 1 team in the nation in updated SP+ rankings

What is ESPN SP+?

The ESPN SP+ model is not your usual AP top-25; rather, it is a forward-facing predictive model, similar to what ESPN does with its Football Power Index Rankings. Here is how Bill Connoley, the poll’s creator, explains it:

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.

Michigan football jumps to No. 1 nationally following win over Rutgers

With that out of the way, it’s quite important to note that the SP+ rankings currently have Michigan football pinned as the best team in the nation following yesterday’s win over Rutgers. This week’s SP+ top 10 includes three Big Ten teams — Michigan (1), Ohio State (3), and Penn State (10) — as well as a number of usual suspects, such as the Georgia Bulldogs (2) and more.

Right now, Michigan football sits 0.5 points ahead of Georgia in the new SP+ rankings with an overall grade of 26.7. The Wolverines’ offense has a rating of 36.8 (13th), and the defense sits at 10.4 (1st), which bodes well for the Maize and Blue as they look to bully their way through the final eight games of conference play.

It is also worth noting that, while Washington (4) and USC (5) are not in the Big Ten just yet, both of these future conference games for Michigan football are ranked top-5.

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