NC State up to 32 in SP+ ratings after Week 1

The ACC came out of Week 1 a bit worse for wear, relative to the other Power 5 leagues—last among those five in average SP+ rating, specifically. NC State was not one of the teams dragging down the conference average, and in fact the Wolfpack moved up substantially to No. 32 overall in the SP+ ratings (there’s no ‘&’ in SP+ anymore for ESPN legal reasons.)

Much clutching of line-related pearls proved unfounded in State’s case, as the Wolfpack covered the spread against East Carolina with no problem while thoroughly owning that game on a down-to-down basis.

And so at this point there are only three league teams rated higher in SP+: Clemson (of course), Miami, and Virginia. Florida State and Virginia Tech both took pretty big tumbles out of the gate.

SP+ ranks the State offense 52nd and the State defense 37th after the first week’s results. Those are good returns for the defense, and the offense should get stronger with time.

This is all very much preliminary since one week of data ain’t much of a tale, but I would just note here in passing that as things stand now, SP+ would consider the Wolfpack about a touchdown favorite (6.4 points, specifically) over West Virginia in Week 3, even accounting for home field advantage. I mean I’m not sayin’, I’m just sayin’.