Below are the current SP+ rankings, last updated after the games of Sept. 1, 2025.

What is SP+? In a single sentence, it’s a tempo- and opponent-adjusted measure of college football efficiency that I originally created at Football Outsiders in 2008. SP+ is intended to be predictive and forward-facing. It is not a résumé ranking (hence the lack of unbeatens near the top), so it does not automatically give credit for big wins or particularly brave scheduling — no good predictive system does.

It is simply a measure of the most sustainable and predictable aspects of football. If you’re lucky or unimpressive in a win, your rating will probably fall. If you’re strong and unlucky in a loss, it will probably rise.

Note: Early in the season, ratings are based primarily on preseason projections, including special teams ratings. Because priors remain rather predictive over the course of the season, preseason numbers are very slowly phased out from week to week.

Within this page, we will also update the SP+ strength of schedule and Résumé SP+ ratings each week. Obviously these ratings aren’t of much use early in a given season, but their relevance will increase as the race for College Football Playoff spots becomes more prevalent. Here’s how they’re defined.

SP+ strength of schedule is based on the expected win percentage an average top-five team (per SP+) would generate against each team’s schedule. An SOS rating of .850, for instance, signifies that the average top-five team would be expected to win an average of 85.0% of its games, or 10.2 projected wins over a 12-game schedule. A lower expected win percentage signifies a harder schedule, so the lowest SOS rating ranks first.

Résumé SP+ compares each team’s scoring margin (capped at 50 points for a given game) to what an average top-five team would be expected to generate against a given opponent. If a top-five opponent would be projected to win a game by 10.0 points, and a team wins by 15 instead, that’s a +5.0 rating for that game. By the end of the season, only a handful of teams will have a positive rating because clearing a top-five bar is obviously very difficult. (Note: A seven-point penalty for losses is applied to the rating as well, meaning your rating has seven points deducted for each loss.)

Venus Williams has turned back the clock in Queens, but her Cinderella run at this year’s U.S. Open has ended.

The 45-year-old partnered with Leylah Fernandez for the doubles bracket and made it all the way to the quarterfinals before the top-seeded duo of Taylor Townsend and Kateřina Siniaková took them down 6-1, 6-2.

When the match finished after 56 minutes in Louis Armstrong Stadium, Williams smiled as she walked to the net to shake hands with Siniaková, then hugged Townsend. Thousands of spectators rose to give Williams a standing ovation; Townsend and Siniaková then joined in, applauding for Williams.

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“Growing up watching Venus and [her sister] Serena, for me and my sister, it was an inspiration,” Townsend told the crowd. “It was an honor to share the court today.”

Siniaková called Williams “a legend” and said it was “a privilege” to play against her.

The 45-year-old Williams earlier exited in the first round of both singles – bowing out against Karolína Muchová in three sets – and mixed doubles. She was out of competition for 16 months until returning to play at a tournament in Washington in July. Her most recent major tournament was the 2023 US Open.

Williams and Fernandez, a 22-year-old from Canada who was the 2021 singles runner-up in New York, received a wild-card entry from the U.S. Tennis Association and had not lost a set in their first three matches of their debut as a team.

Venus Williams of the United States and Leylah Fernandez of Canada talk during their Women’s Doubles Quarterfinal match against Katerina Siniakova of Czechia and Taylor Townsend of the United States on Day Ten of the 2025 US Open. (Al Bello/Getty Images)

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Townsend, who is currently ranked No. 1 in doubles, and Siniaková are an experienced duo who won Wimbledon in 2024 and the Australian Open this year together. Siniaková has won a total of 10 Grand Slam titles in women’s doubles.

Townsend found herself in a controversy in the singles bracket when Jelena Ostapenko said she was upset Townsend didn’t apologize after being helped by a net cord during a point. She also took issue with Townsend warming up before the match at the net, instead of at the baseline. After their match, the two got into a heated discussion.

Williams, of course, is the owner of 14 Grand Slam titles in women’s doubles alongside her sister, Serena, who left the professional tour in 2022.

The older Williams sibling has also won seven major singles championships and another two in mixed doubles.

Venus Williams of the United States in a practice session during day five of the Rothesay Classic Birmingham at Edgbaston Priory Club on June 21, 2023, in Birmingham, England.  (Stephen Pond/Getty Images for LTA)

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She was the oldest player in the singles draw at the U.S. Open since 1981.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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