Pitt Rises in ESPN Rankings

PITTSBURGH — The Pitt Panthers are ranked No. 39 on ESPN's SP+ rankings, up 11 spots from last week. The rise comes after the Panthers impressed in a 61-9 win over Duquesne in Week 1.

The ESPN SP+ is a predictive metric that measures a team's efficiency by adjusting for tempo and the quality of its opponents, created by Bill Connelly in 2008. It isn't a typical ranking based on a team's record.

Pitt received an overall rating of 8.4. For reference, Georgia was ranked No. 1 with a rating of 25.5, and UMass was No. 136 at -27.9.

Pitt's offense rating was 34th at 32.3, the defense rating was 48th at 24.1 and the special teams rating was 16th at 0.2. For reference, the top offense, Miami, received a rating of 42.5 and the top defense, Ohio State, received a rating of 11.3. The worst offense, Kennesaw State, received a grade of 12.0 and the worst defense, Missouri State, received a grade of 47.0.

The top special teams unit was Georgia, with a 0.6 rating, and the worst special teams unit was Arizona State, with a -0.6 rating.

The Panthers had 460 yards of offense, 158 yards rushing and 302 yards passing, and scored two rushing touchdowns and five passing touchdowns. On defense, Pitt held the Dukes to 208 yards on offense, 37 yards rushing and 171 yards passing.

Special teams also had one touchdown, 143 punt return yards, 78 kickoff return yards and went 7-for-8 on PATs and 2-for-2 on field goal attempts.

Because it is so early in the season, the ratings are based primarily on preseason projections and will be "very slowly" phased out week to week.