Diving into the advanced stats can be a great way to get more informed about college football and spot some potential betting trends and value before they fully emerge. Better yet, it can make you feel more knowledgeable about the college football landscape as a whole. Let's jump into the sea of advanced stats and see what we can find.
Keep underestimating Florida Gators at your own peril
I'm used to getting yelled at when I release each week's SP+ rankings (hello, Clemson fans, this week's most ... vocal critics). But over the past few weeks, I kept getting reactions I found confusing: variations of "I just don't understand what SP+ sees in Florida."
To be sure, sometimes SP+ is slow to warm or cool to a certain team. That it still ranks Mississippi State 30th is a bit of a surprise to me, as is the fact that Cincinnati still is barely a top-40 team. It's not going to perfectly nail every team's status, and that's fine.
Florida, though?
The Gators were doing just fine against the spread. They came up three points short of covering against Miami, thanks primarily to bad luck with fumbles; they pushed against Kentucky in a strange, backup QB-laden game; and they covered with ease against Tennessee.