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May 24—The Big Ten has the reigning college football national champion but not the projected No. 1 team in the country.
The latter is according to SP+, an advanced metric that ranks college football teams by how efficient and explosive they are on the field while also taking into account roster composition and recent history in preseason projections.
Here are seven takeaways relevant to Ohio State, the Big Ten and beyond:
1. Ohio State is No. 2 overall behind a more balanced Georgia.
The Buckeyes have the No. 1 defense but come in just 20th on offense.
Meanwhile, the Bulldogs are the only team with both units in the top five as their offense is second and defense fifth.
Two other teams have both units in the top 10: Alabama is seventh in offense and eighth in defense while Notre Dame is 10th and ninth, respectively.
2. Michigan is No. 6.
The Wolverines and Bulldogs had nearly identical SP+ figures to end of last season, but Michigan took home the hardware by beating Alabama and Washington in the College Football Playoff while Georgia was left at home because of a loss to the Crimson Tide in the SEC Championship game.
Heavy losses in the coaching staff and on offense haven’t hurt Michigan’s SP+ standing much, though. The Wolverines are projected 32nd on offense and third on defense, where they return some key faces but lost standout safety Rod Moore of Northmont High School to a spring knee injury.
3. The Big Ten has four teams in the top 10.
Ohio State is one, and the Buckeyes play the other three. They are set to go to No. 3 Oregon on Oct. 12 and play at No. 7 Penn State three weeks later before finishing the regular season with a visit from Michigan.
4. The Big Ten has 11 teams in the top 50.
Ohio State misses most of them, though, at least in the regular season.
The Buckeyes host No. 22 Iowa, but the next-highest-ranked…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/college-football-7-big-ten-141200043.html
Author : Dayton Daily News, Ohio
Publish date : 2024-05-24 14:12:00
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