Where Did Kansas Football Finish in Post-Spring SP+ Rankings?

Most outlets project the Kansas Jayhawks to finish in the middle of the pack in the Big 12 in 2025 after a disappointing season a year ago.

ESPN's Bill Connelly recently unveiled his updated post-spring SP+ rankings, a system he developed over a decade ago that measures efficiency and tempo (among other things) for college football teams.

Lance Leipold and KU landed No. 50 overall in Connelly's rankings out of 136 Division I schools.

Kansas tied with James Madison with a 3.0 SP+ ranking. Its 32.0 offense grade is good for No. 31 in the country, while the 29.0 defense rating is No. 75 nationally.

Seven schools in the conference finished above the Jayhawks — Kansas State, Arizona State, Texas Tech, BYU, TCU, Utah, Iowa State, and Baylor, respectively, all of whom ranked in the top 35.

As Connelly outlines in his explanation of SP+ rankings, this is not a personalized ranking, but rather a system to gauge what the early power rankings may look like.

He also released updated returning production figures, where Kansas did not fare as well. The program finished 64th in terms of returning production, with 62% of the offense production coming back compared to 49% of defensive production.

Kansas suffered a mass exodus of starting players to graduation, including longtime contributors like Devin Neal, Cobee Bryant, Luke Grimm, Mello Dotson, and others.

The team is relying on a bounce-back season with quarterback Jalon Daniels back under center and a handful of veteran additions in the transfer portal.

It might be an uphill battle for Leipold and Kansas football this year, but the Jayhawks' roster is talented enough to compete with the best teams in the Big 12.