Boston College Ranks 53rd in Bill Connolly's Returning Production Rankings For 2020
ESPN's Bill Connolly is a statistical guru when it comes to college football and his SP+ has become one of the gold standards. When putting together his SP+ he factors in returning production on both offense and defense. For Connolly's system he dives even deeper by weighing certain positions, which I'm not going to get into here (but if that interests you please read up on it).
According to his system, the Eagles rank 53rd in the country returning 67% of their production. On offense the number dips significantly with 54% returning (87th in the country), while on defense 81% (16th in the country). Looking at those statistics, you can infer that the Eagles will improve on defense.
Obviously adding in a new coach and system can drastically change how these numbers will actually translate to play out on the field.
It's interesting to use these numbers to see how BC's opponents rank and compare with the Eagles. BC certainly has some teams on their schedule that have an impressive number of returning production like Virginia Tech, Florida State and Louisville. On the other hand Syracuse, Wake Forest and Kansas look like they could all take a step back this season.
Then there is Clemson, who's rank in this system is pretty much meaningless (95th). When you are returning Travis Etienne, Trevor Lawrence and multiple Top 5 recruiting classes you can absorb losing lots of production.
Check out BC's schedule below:
Team | Offense | Defense |
|---|---|---|
Syracuse (105) | 61% (76) | 42% (120) |
Ohio (68) | 51% (95) | 78% (28) |
Kansas (125) | 41% (115) | 44% (116) |
Purdue (20) | 76% (32) | 73% (40) |
Clemson (95) | 60% (79) | 51% (103) |
Louisville (13) | 79% (21) | 77% (31) |
Virginia Tech (6) | 74 (36) | 89% (5) |
NC State (23) | 81% (15) | 67% (56) |
Florida State (27) | 63% (69) | 83% (9) |
UNC (18) | 87% (9) | 64% (63) |
Wake Forest (110) | 33% (125) | 67% (53) |
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Editor and publisher of BC Bulletin. '06 graduate of Boston College, who has followed the program as long as he can remember. Has been covering the Eagles for the past nine years, giving expert analysis, recruiting news and breakdowns. Also the host of Locked on Boston College, a daily BC podcast that is part of the Locked On Podcast Network. When he is not writing or producing content on the Eagles, he can be found running, skiing, enjoying craft beers, or spending time with his family. You can follow AJ Black on Twitter @AJBlack_BC and our official site Twitter account is @BulletinBC