Updated SP+ Rankings: BYU in Top 25

BYU quickly turned a primetime game into a lopsided affair on Labor Day. The Cougars dominated the trenches on both sides of the ball. At the end of the first half, BYU had 17 first downs to Navy's 2 first downs. The Cougars had 304 yards on offense, the Midshipmen only had 48. BYU was preparing to take on Army next week until a "a small number of positive COVID-19 test results" postponed the highly-anticipated matchup.

Without a game on the near horizon, we'll be tracking the national polls and ranking systems to see where BYU lands. First, let's look at ESPN's SP+ rankings. What is SP+? "In a single sentence, it's a tempo- and opponent-adjusted measure of college football efficiency." I've included more information about SP+ below. Without further ado, here is the S&P+ top 25:

Alabama
Clemson
Georgia
Oklahoma
Florida
Texas
Auburn
Texas A&M
LSU
Notre Dame
North Carolina
Miami
Tennessee
UCF
Pittsburgh
Kentucky
Oklahoma State
Louisville
Baylor
Memphis
BYU
Cincinnati
Virginia Tech
South Carolina
Ole Miss

BYU is one of seven teams to move up 10 spots or more this season - BYU was ranked 33rd in the original SP+ rankings.

For further details on the SP+ rankings, here's an explanation from Bill Connelly:

"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. SP+ is intended to be predictive and forward-facing. That is important to remember. 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."

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