One thing we know: Ohio State has earned the right to be called the best team in the country (on paper). Furthermore, Week 13 of the college football season has only blurred the picture. The No. 2 (Alabama) and No. 4 (Ole Miss) teams in last week’s SP+ rankings both lost, No. 3 Texas appeared lost offensively and No. 7 Penn State was also seriously thinking about going lose.

Ohio State extended its lead in the SP+ ratings to a comfortable level this week, but we now have a three-loss team at No. 2, and the second- and ninth-best teams are separated by just 3.5 points, barely more than typical Home advantage adjustment (2.5).

It’s getting chaotic out there! I love it! Below are this week’s SP+ rankings!

What is SP+? In a single sentence, It is a pace- and opponent-adjusted measure of college football efficiency. I developed the system at Football Outsiders in 2008, and as my experience with both college football and its statistics has grown, I’ve made some tweaks to the system.

SP+ is indeed intended to be forward-looking and future-oriented. It’s not a resume ranking that recognizes great success or particularly bold planning – it’s not a good prediction system. It is simply a measure of the most enduring and predictable aspects of football. If you’re lucky or unconvincing, your rating will likely go down. If you are strong and unlucky in a loss, it will probably go up.