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  • Bill ConnellySep 2, 2025, 10:00 AM ET

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      Bill Connelly is a writer for ESPN. He covers college football, soccer and tennis. He has been at ESPN since 2019.

Below are the current SP+ rankings, last updated after the games of Sept. 1, 2025.

What is SP+? In a single sentence, it’s a tempo- and opponent-adjusted measure of college football efficiency that I originally created at Football Outsiders in 2008. SP+ is intended to be predictive and forward-facing. It is not a résumé ranking (hence the lack of unbeatens near the top), so it does not automatically give credit for big wins or particularly brave scheduling — no good predictive system does.

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.

Note: Early in the season, ratings are based primarily on preseason projections, including special teams ratings. Because priors remain rather predictive over the course of the season, preseason numbers are very slowly phased out from week to week.

Within this page, we will also update the SP+ strength of schedule and Résumé SP+ ratings each week. Obviously these ratings aren’t of much use early in a given season, but their relevance will increase as the race for College Football Playoff spots becomes more prevalent. Here’s how they’re defined.

SP+ strength of schedule is based on the expected win percentage an average top-five team (per SP+) would generate against each team’s schedule. An SOS rating of .850, for instance, signifies that the average top-five team would be expected to win an average of 85.0% of its games, or 10.2 projected wins over a 12-game schedule. A lower expected win percentage signifies a harder schedule, so the lowest SOS rating ranks first.

Résumé SP+ compares each team’s scoring margin (capped at 50 points for a given game) to what an average top-five team would be expected to generate against a given opponent. If a top-five opponent would be projected to win a game by 10.0 points, and a team wins by 15 instead, that’s a +5.0 rating for that game. By the end of the season, only a handful of teams will have a positive rating because clearing a top-five bar is obviously very difficult. (Note: A seven-point penalty for losses is applied to the rating as well, meaning your rating has seven points deducted for each loss.)

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Arch plays ‘his game’ as Texas rebounds with win

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September 6, 2025

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Arch plays 'his game' as Texas rebounds with win

  • Dave WilsonSep 6, 2025, 05:45 PM ET

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      Dave Wilson is a college football reporter. He previously worked at The Dallas Morning News, San Diego Union-Tribune and Las Vegas Sun.

AUSTIN, Texas — A week after Arch Manning struggled in a loss at Ohio State, Texas coach Steve Sarkisian saw his quarterback bounce back in a 38-7 win over San Jose State and said this game showcased more of Manning’s style.

Manning matched a career high with four touchdown passes, going 19-of-30 for 295 yards, and added a 20-yard touchdown scramble, tiptoeing down the left sideline at the end of the third quarter.

“I thought today was a by-product of the week of work. He played aggressive throughout the week. He studied the game plan. He knew exactly what we were trying to do, and I thought today he played more of his style,” Sarkisian said. “He extended plays, used his legs, scrambles for a touchdown. That’s the style of player that he is.”

On several plays, Manning rolled out and found receivers. A few of his passes were dropped, with Sarkisian saying Texas “didn’t catch the ball great for him.” But Sarkisian was pleased that Manning made plays when things broke down.

“Him playing his game and not trying to play at somebody else’s style of game, I think it is important for him,” Sarkisian said.

Manning also threw a bad interception while under pressure, heaving the ball into double coverage from the Spartans’ 14-yard line. San Jose State defenders had a shot at picking off a couple of his other throws but failed to haul them in.

“A lot to work on,” Manning said. “I thought it was sloppy for my part. Can’t turn the ball over in the red area. I’ve got to play better. I think all around, it was a little sloppy.”

Manning started slowly, going 3-of-6 for 11 yards on his first two drives. But then, on a third-and-3 with 2:52 left in the first quarter, Manning found Parker Livingstone along the left sideline, and he turned it upfield for an 83-yard touchdown.

The touchdown throw was part of a stretch where Manning went 5-for-5 for 142 yards and four touchdowns, including TDs on three consecutive passing attempts — a 3-yarder to Livingstone, then 36- and 16-yarders to tight end Jack Endries.

“Anytime you can get points on the board after a slow start, it feels good,” Manning said. “Then, [we] finally got some rhythm. Defense started stepping up, too, so we’ve just got to start quicker next week.”

The Longhorns, who committed 12 penalties for 115 yards, have four new offensive line starters, and many new players at wide receiver and tight end. And even Texas stars such as edge rusher Colin Simmons (two penalties for offsides, one for roughing the passer) didn’t perform their best.

“I think as our team in general goes, this is not the best version of Texas football this season that we’re going to see,” Sarkisian said. “My foot’s got to get in their butt here on Monday morning. That’s unacceptable. And there’s a standard in which we want to play the game, and 12 penalties does not meet that standard.”

Manning said all week that he had to play better for Texas to win. He was encouraged by his performance Saturday, finding a way to make plays, but doesn’t believe he’s at his best.

Sarkisian said Manning is gifted with his dual-threat abilities, but his team is learning on the fly how to block for him while he’s scrambling or that he could throw while on the move.

“There’s things that we’re learning as we go as a team, but those are some of the growing pains that we have to work through,” Sarkisian said.

Those growing pains still resulted in an easy win at home Saturday. For Sarkisian, he said he can see the trust growing among his players, including Manning.

“The guys rally around him, you can feel it today on the sidelines,” Sarkisian said. “They really like playing with Arch, and that’s important.”

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A&M’s Howell sacks Utah St. QB 3 times in a row

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September 6, 2025

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A&M's Howell sacks Utah St. QB 3 times in a row

  • Associated Press

Sep 6, 2025, 02:48 PM ET

COLLEGE STATION, Texas — Texas A&M‘s Cashius Howell sacked Utah State quarterback Bryson Barnes on three consecutive plays in the second quarter Saturday.

Utah State had the ball on its 25 early in the second quarter when the defensive end muscled past left tackle Jake Eichorn and dropped Barnes for a loss of 6 yards for 19th-ranked Texas A&M. On the next play, Howell got past Eichorn again to take Barnes down for a loss of 7 yards.

Bullying past Eichorn one more time, Howell sacked Barnes for a loss of 8 yards to bring up fourth-and-31 and single-handedly force a punt.

Howell, a fifth-year senior, entered the game with 15½ career sacks and had just four last season. His career best came in 2023 when he had 9½ for Bowling Green.

It’s the first time a player has had sacks on three straight plays since Jack Cichy did it for Wisconsin against USC in the 2015 Holiday Bowl, according to research by the Texas A&M communications staff.

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FSU players honor Pritchard with dad on hand

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September 6, 2025

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FSU players honor Pritchard with dad on hand

  • Andrea AdelsonSep 6, 2025, 01:51 PM ET

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    • ACC reporter.
    • Joined ESPN.com in 2010.
    • Graduate of the University of Florida.

The father of Florida State linebacker Ethan Pritchard was on the sideline Saturday for the Seminoles’ game against East Texas A&M.

Earl Pritchard and another family member were on the sideline wearing his son’s No. 35 jersey. Ethan Pritchard remains hospitalized in Tallahassee after surviving a gunshot wound to the head last weekend.

Florida State safety Earl Little Jr. brought out a No. 35 jersey to midfield for the coin toss, and Florida State players wore No. 35 wristbands to honor their teammate.

Defensive tackle Darrell Jackson Jr. wore a T-shirt with Pritchard’s face on it during pregame warmups.

According to Earl Pritchard, Ethan Pritchard was driving his aunt home when he was shot in the back of the head in Havana, Florida, 16 miles from Tallahassee, on Sunday night.

The Seminoles routed East Texas A&M 77-3 on Saturday, after which coach Mike Norvell presented Earl Pritchard with the game ball, and asked him to break the rock – a tradition generally given to the player of the game after each Seminoles victory.

Norvell grew emotional as he discussed Pritchard during his postgame media availability.

“The way that he plays the game … he loves it, he absolutely loves it. To know that right now that’s taken away from him in a senseless act, you don’t always know why you have to go through things in life but I do believe God has his hand over Ethan and this football team,” Norvell said.

“To have Earl here today – He’s a wonderful man, and being with him I know it’s so very hard. I know it’s hard for anybody to have to go through, but he told me early in this week, ‘I know where my boy wants to be so I’m going to go stand in his place for him.'”

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