The first set of SP+ rankings for the 2026 college football season are here. ESPN’s Bill Connelly has created an algorithm that ranks teams without putting emotion into the rankings. There are no bonus points for helmets, hedges, or past Heisman heroes in the SP+. Much like Wins Above Replacement (WAR) in baseball and Win-Shares in basketball, the SP+ attempts to measure efficiency and ability while removing garbage time from the equation.
Indiana finished the 2025 season no.1 in SP+ while finishing
ranked 2nd in FBS on offense and defense. As Connelly said:
“As a reminder, 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.”
Connelly bases the SP+ on four factors: 1- returning production, 2- recent history, 3- recent recruiting (including transfers of course), and 4- coaching change effects (Eric Morris leaving North Texas should see them drop, while his arrival atOklahoma State should see the Cowboys improve). The transfer portal has swung a few of these metrics in other directions I’m assuming but these base four factors are what creates the SP+.
So where do the Miami Hurricanes and their schedule fit in the SP+ preseason mold? The Hurricanes are 8th in FBS overall, 12th on offense and 7th on defense. The ‘Canes season opener is on the road at Stanford. The Cardinal are 75th overall.
After the home opener against FAMU (FCS), Miami travels to Winston-Salem to face Wake Forest. The Demon Deacons are 58th. Miami’s first FBS home game is against the Central Michigan Chippewas. The Chips are 113th overall. Before the idle week Miami then hits the road to South Carolina to face Clemson. The Tigers are 23rd overall.
The U hosts arch-rival Florida State after the off week and the ‘Noles are 35th in SP+. Miami then hosts the no.41 Pitt Panthers before road trips to Chapel Hill to face UNC and South Bend to face Notre Dame. The Tar Heels are 54th while the Fighting Irish are 3rd overall.
Miami ends the season with three consecutive home games. The ‘Canes host 44th ranked Duke, 32nd ranked Virginia Tech and finish with 74th Boston College.
The ‘Canes play Stanford, Wake Forest and Virginia Tech in those hard-to-predict Friday night games. Miami faces FAMU on a Thursday night sandwiched between Friday night road trips to Stanford and Wake.
