ESPN releases preseason top 25 SP+ rankings

Now the Super Bowl has come and gone, football is in hiatus until August when college football kicks back off. Well, unless you’re going to watch the XFL or USFL that will be playing through the spring.

Speaking of college football, Bill Connelly with ESPN released their 2023 preseason college football SP+ rankings.

All 133 teams were ranked, but for this article, we will show you who cracked the top 25.

SP+ rankings are based on three main factors: returning production, recent recruiting, and recent history.

Also, Connelly put a key reminder in the article about SP+:

A reminder on SP+: It’s 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.

Here are the top 25.

25

Wisconsin Badgers

Photo: Isaiah Hole

Rating: 14.3

Offense: 30.7

Defense: 16.4

24

Kentucky Wildcats

Jordan Prather-USA TODAY Sports

Rating: 14.5

Offense: 28.5

Defense: 14.0

23

Mississippi State Bulldogs

Photo: Matt Bush-USA TODAY Sports

Rating: 14.8

Offense: 37.0

Defense: 22.3

22

Kansas State Wildcats

AP Photo/Nate Billings

Rating: 14.8

Offense: 36.1

Defense: 21.4

21

UCLA Bruins

Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports

Rating: 15.0

Offense: 40.2

Defense: 25.2

20

Florida Gators

[Doug Engle/Gainesville Sun]

Rating: 15.1

Offense: 37.3

Defense: 22.2

19

TCU Horned Frogs

Photo by: Isaiah Hole

Rating: 15.4

Offense: 36.5

Defense: 21.1

18

Ole Miss Rebels

Mandatory Credit: Gary Cosby Jr.-USA TODAY Sports

Rating: 16.7

Offense: 38.5

Defense: 21.8

17

Texas A&M Aggies

Photo: Thomas Shea-USA TODAY Sports

Rating: 16.9

Offense: 29.7

Defense: 12.8

16

Washington Huskies

(Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)

Rating: 18.7

Offense: 41.9

Defense: 23.2

15

Notre Dame Fighting Irish

Matt Cashore-USA TODAY Sports

Rating: 18.9

Offense: 36.6

Defense: 17.7

14

Oklahoma Sooners

Syndication: The Oklahoman

Rating: 18.9

Offense: 41.2

Defense: 22.3

13

Utah Utes

Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

Rating: 19.0

Offense: 39.5

Defense: 20.5

12

Clemson Tigers

Matt Cashore-USA TODAY Sports

Rating: 20.0

Offense: 36.4

Defense: 16.5

11

Florida State Seminoles

Jamie Rhodes-USA TODAY Sports

Rating: 20.9

Offense: 36.6

Defense: 15.7

10

USC Trojans

Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports

Rating: 21.3

Offense: 45.3

Defense: 24.1

9

Texas Longhorns

Scott Wachter-USA TODAY Sports

Rating: 21.4

Offense: 39.2

Defense: 17.8

8

Oregon Ducks

Photo by Dustin Bradford/Getty Images

Rating: 21.6

Offense: 44.2

Defense: 22.7

7

LSU Tigers

Syndication: The Daily Advertiser

Rating: 23.5

Offense: 41.1

Defense: 17.5

6

Tennessee Volunteers

Syndication: The Knoxville News-Sentinel

Rating: 24.1

Offense: 46.0

Defense: 21.8

5

Penn State Nittany Lions

Photo: Isaiah Hole

Rating: 24.4

Offense: 37.9

Defense: 13.5

4

Alabama Crimson Tide

Marvin Gentry-USA TODAY Sports

Rating: 275

Offense: 43.4

Defense: 15.9

3

Michigan Wolverines

Photo by: Isaiah Hole

Rating: 28.8

Offense: 41.8

Defense: 13.0

2

Ohio State Buckeyes

Photo: Isaiah Hole

Rating: 30.0

Offense: 46.3

Defense: 16.3

1

Georgia Bulldogs

Photo: Isaiah Hole

Rating: 31.7

Offense: 42.4

Defense: 10.7