Virginia Tech Football: Hokies Continue To Move Up In SP+ Rankings After Another Win
In the latest iteration of ESPN’s SP+ ranking system by Bill Connelly, the Hokies remained in the top 25 for the second week this season.
After the Hokies dominated Boston College, Virginia Tech jumped up to the 25th ranked team in the country according to SP+. Now, the Hokies are even higher, being ranked as the 24th best team in the country according to SP+’s metrics.
Virginia Tech just trails some other ACC schools. Pitt is 23rd, Louisville is 22nd, SMU is 17th, Clemson is 14th, and Miami cracked the top ten at 9th.
The Hokies are rated as the 34th best offensive team and the 29th best defensive team by SP+ with a net rating of 12.5.
What exactly is SP+? Here is how Connelly himself describes it:
"As always, these are based on three primary factors: returning production (final rankings for which you can find at the bottom of this piece), recent recruiting and recent history. How good have you been recently? Whom do you have coming back? How good are the players replacing those you don't have coming back? That's loosely what we ask when we're setting expectations for a team; it's also what these projections attempt to do objectively.
As always: SP+ is a tempo- and opponent-adjusted measure of college football efficiency. It is a predictive measure of the most sustainable and predictable aspects of football, not a résumé ranking, and, along those same lines, these projections aren't intended to be a guess at what the AP Top 25 will look like at the end of the year. These are simply early offseason power rankings based on the information we have been able to gather to date."
Additional Links:
Virginia Tech Football: 5 Big Takeaways From Virginia Tech's Win vs Georgia Tech
Virginia Tech Football: Three Keys To Victory For The Hokies Against Georgia Tech
Virginia Tech Football: Hokies Reveal Uniform Combination For Matchup With Georgia Tech
RJ Schafer joined the On SI team in 2024, contributing to the coverage of Major League Baseball, Collegiate Basketball, and Collegiate Football at https://www.si.com/college/virginiatech/. Prior to this, RJ built a strong portfolio covering Georgia Tech and the Tigers for the Bleav Network. With a solid background in sports journalism, RJ has conducted interviews with both collegiate and professional athletes, enhancing the depth and authenticity of his reporting. RJ's extensive experience in the sports industry has equipped him with a keen understanding of the dynamics and intricacies of both collegiate and professional sports. His work is focused on providing insightful analysis and comprehensive coverage, making him a trusted voice in the sports community.