Michigan Holds Steady in New S&P+ Rankings

Earlier this afternoon, the Associated Press released its Week 3 poll, in which the Wolverines rose one spot to #4 after their 51-14 blowout win over UCF on Saturday.

The computers agree with the media’s assessment of Michigan.

SB Nation’s Bill Connelly revealed the updated S&P+ rankings on Sunday afternoon, and Michigan remains at #4. The S&P+ is a college football ratings system that is derived from play-by-play data, adjusts for opponents, and eliminates garbage-time drives. It attempts to rank teams based on the quality of their play rather than just their record.

Michigan is the highest-ranked Big Ten team. The other Big Ten teams in the S&P+ Top 25 are Ohio State at #7 and Michigan State at #25. The only three teams ahead of the Wolverines are Alabama at #1, LSU at #2, and Clemson at #3. You may be inclined not to find the S&P+ credible given that LSU is at #2 and Wisconsin is not even in the top 25. It must be noted that, this early in the season, the S&P+ still is heavily influenced by its preseason projections. Each week until Week 7, the influence of preseason projections slowly will fade until there is enough data from this year not to need them.

The S&P+ also ranks Michigan’s offense at #31 and its defense at #3.

What do you think? Too high or too low for Michigan? Share in the comments below!