Baylor makes big jump in new SP+ rankings

The Baylor Bears scratched and clawed their way to a 48-45 overtime victory over the then-17th-ranked SMU Mustangs on Saturday morning. They were down 14 points with under 10 minutes to go, but rallied and scored on their final four possessions to end the game. It was a miraculous comeback for the Bears, who now sit at 1-1.

After the weekend was over, ESPN updated its SP+ rankings, which it uses to rank every college football team in the country. But what is SP+?

In ESPN's words, SP+ is it's a tempo- and opponent-adjusted measure of college football efficiency. It is not a résumé ranking, so it does not automatically give credit for big wins or particularly brave scheduling.

Coming into their matchup against the Mustangs, the Bears were ranked 57th in the country in the SP+ rankings. They lost their opener to Auburn and their defense looked horrible, which tanked their ranking. This week, the defense didn't look much better, but their offense looked so good that they jumped 10 spots to 47th.

Baylor's offense is ranked the 14th-best in the country by the SP+ system. Sawyer Robertson has been arguably the best quarterback in the country, having thrown for over 850 yards and seven touchdowns in the first two weeks of the season. They have a plethora of weapons on the outside as well with guys like Josh Cameron, Ashtyn Hawkins, Kobe Prentice and Kole Wilson all producing early. The only thing holding this offense back is their run game, which has averaged just 3.3 yards per carry through the first two weeks.

Defensively, the Bears rank 88th in the country according to SP+, which is probably a bit generous. They've been awful thus far, allowing 41.5 points per game (119th) and 436.5 yards per game (104th). They have played two good offenses in Auburn and SMU, but their defense has still been abysmal.

The Bears play Samford this week, which should give them an opportunity to jump up the SP+ rankings even further. Their defense should perform well and get a boost, and their offense should dominate pretty easily. We'll see where things stand after week three, but the Bears should keep on climbing.

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