By Jim Johnson
SouthernPigskin.com

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SP Editor Jim Johnson’s OAYP advanced metric ranks every team in the league, the top five players at each position, and gives its team of the week.

As simultaneously hard to believe as it is sad, we’re now halfway through the 2019 regular season.

Now that we’re working on a decent sample size, most of the individual players’ OAYP scores are comprised solely of 2019 data, and the remaining few that aren’t will be soon. As for the team component, everyone still has a little 2018 in their score, but after this weekend, those will be all 2019.

These weekly conference roundups detail the most highly rated players in the league, the top performers of that week, and the ever-changing overall team strength, offensive, and defensive rankings.

TEAM RANKINGS

– Each team’s national ranking for the respective categories is in parentheses, preceded by their conference ranking.

– You can click here for the full 130 FBS team rankings.

– I’ll also include OAYP’s prediction for each team’s next opponent, which is currently hitting 64% against the spread this season.

1. Alabama 4.43 (2)

Offensive Ranking: 1 (2)
Defensive Ranking: 3 (13)

Week 8 Vegas Line: Tennessee at Alabama (-34.5)
OAYP Prediction: Alabama by 40.5

2. Georgia 3.19 (6)

Offensive Ranking: 3 (8)
Defensive Ranking: 1 (6)

Week 8 Vegas Line: Kentucky at Georgia (-25)
OAYP Prediction: Georgia by 26.5

3. LSU 2.80 (8)

Offensive Ranking: 2 (4)
Defensive Ranking: 7 (32)

Week 8 Vegas Line: LSU (-19.5) at Mississippi State
OAYP Prediction: LSU by 20.5

4. Auburn 2.36 (11)

Offensive Ranking: 5 (31)
Defensive Ranking: 2 (9)

Week 8 Vegas Line: Auburn (-19.5) at Arkansas
OAYP Prediction: Auburn by 23.5

5. Missouri 1.86 (15)

Offensive Ranking: 4 (26)
Defensive Ranking: 4 (14)

Week 8 Vegas Line: Missouri (-21) at Vanderbilt
OAYP Prediction: Missouri by 25.5

6. Florida 1.46 (21)

Offensive Ranking: 6 (43)
Defensive Ranking: 5 (27)

Week 8 Vegas Line: Florida (-6) at South Carolina
OAYP Prediction: Florida by 3

7. Texas A&M 1.40 (22)

Offensive Ranking: 7 (50)
Defensive Ranking: 8 (42)

Week 8 Vegas Line: Texas A&M (-6.5) at Ole Miss
OAYP Prediction: Texas A&M by 4

8. South Carolina 0.86 (35)

Offensive Ranking: 12 (99)
Defensive Ranking: 6 (31)

Week 8 Vegas Line: Florida at South Carolina (+6)
OAYP Prediction: Florida by 3

9. Ole Miss 0.58 (41)

Offensive Ranking: 10 (62)
Defensive Ranking: 9 (58)

Week 8 Vegas Line: Texas A&M at Ole Miss (+6.5)
OAYP Prediction: Texas A&M by 4

10. Mississippi State 0.50 (44)

Offensive Ranking: 8 (56)
Defensive Ranking: 11 (71)

Week 8 Vegas Line: LSU at Mississippi State (+19.5)
OAYP Prediction: LSU by 20.5

11. Kentucky -0.19 (68)

Offensive Ranking: 11 (82)
Defensive Ranking: 10 (63)

Week 8 Vegas Line: Kentucky (+25) at Georgia
OAYP Prediction: Georgia by 26.5

12. Tennessee -0.72 (87)

Offensive Ranking: 13 (107)
Defensive Ranking: 12 (77)

Week 8 Vegas Line: Tennessee (+34.5) at Alabama
OAYP Prediction: Alabama by 40.5

13. Arkansas -0.82 (93)

Offensive Ranking: 9 (57)
Defensive Ranking: 13 (86)

Week 8 Vegas Line: Auburn at Arkansas (+19.5)
OAYP Prediction: Auburn by 23.5

14. Vanderbilt -1.59 (108)

Offensive Ranking: 14 (112)
Defensive Ranking: 14 (120)

Week 8 Vegas Line: Missouri at Vanderbilt (+21)
OAYP Prediction: Missouri by 25.5

POSITION RANKINGS

– Now that I’m normalizing the player scores, which removes any inequitability in scoring from one position group to the next, my rough tiers have changed correspondingly:

• Zero is still the mean
• Less than zero is, obviously, below average, but I don’t think any real red flags go up until <-2.0
• 0.0-0.99 is above average, 1.0-1.99 is good, 2.0-2.99 would typically be about an all-conference caliber player in the average league, 3.0-3.99 should a first team all-conference lock (depending on the year, even an All-American or national award finalist), and >4.0 should be an All-American

QB

1. Joe Burrow, LSU 4.41
2. Tua Tagovailoa, Alabama 4.35
3. Jake Fromm, Georgia 1.41
4. Kelly Bryant, Mizzou 0.72
5. Bo Nix, Auburn 0.13

RB

1. D’Andre Swift, Georgia 2.08
2. Clyde Edwards-Helaire, LSU 1.52
3. Ke’Shawn Vaughn, Vanderbilt 1.46
4. Najee Harris, Alabama 0.99
5. Rakeem Boyd, Arkansas 0.92

WR

1. Ja’Marr Chase, LSU 4.04
2. Henry Ruggs, Alabama 3.26
3. Justin Jefferson, LSU 3.23
4. Seth Williams, Auburn 3.13
5. Freddie Swain, Florida 3.09

TE

1. Albert Okwuegbunam, Mizzou 3.83
2. Kyle Pitts, Florida 3.18
3. Cheyenne O’Grady, Arkansas 2.68
4. Thaddeus Moss, LSU 0.89
5. Kyle Markway, South Carolina 0.26

OT

1. Andrew Thomas, Georgia 5.76
2. Jedrick Wills, Alabama 3.52
3. Alex Leatherwood, Alabama 2.99
4. Austin Deculus, LSU 1.86
5. Prince Tega-Wanogho, Auburn 1.44

OG

1. Adrian Magee, LSU 3.08
2. Cade Mays, Georgia 2.63
3. Ben Cleveland, Georgia 2.49
4. Evan Neal, Alabama 2.25
5. Ben Brown, Ole Miss 1.54

C

1. Lloyd Cushenberry, LSU 2.87
2. Trey Hill, Georgia 2.0
3. Landon Dickerson, Alabama 1.87
4. Eli Johnson, Ole Miss 0.64
5. Kaleb Kim, Auburn 0.58

EDGE

1. Jon Greenard, Florida 5.11
2. DJ Wonnum, South Carolina 3.1
3. Anfernee Jennings, Alabama 2.29
4. Darrell Taylor, Tennessee 1.4
5. Aaron Sterling, South Carolina 1.3

DL

1. Derrick Brown, Auburn 4.03
2. Justin Madubuike, Texas A&M 3.73
3. Jordan Elliott, Mizzou 2.4
4. Javon Kinlaw, South Carolina 2.25
5. Neil Farrell, LSU 1.86

LB

1. Buddy Johnson, Texas A&M 1.55
2. KJ Britt, Auburn 1.51
3. Ernest Jones, South Carolina 1.42
4. Nick Bolton, Mizzou 1.31
5. TJ Brunson, South Carolina 1.05

CB

1. Derek Stingley, LSU 4.78
2. Eric Stokes, Georgia 4.3
3. Israel Mukuamu, South Carolina 3.23
4. Kristian Fulton, LSU 1.75
5. Trevon Diggs, Alabama 1.58

S

1. Grant Delpit, LSU 3.6
2. JaCoby Stevens, LSU 3.16
3. JR Reed, Georgia 2.72
4. Xavier McKinney, Alabama 2.71
5. Joshuah Bledsoe, Mizzou 2.06

TEAM OF THE WEEK

QB — Joe Burrow, LSU
RB — Clyde Edwards-Helaire, LSU
RB — Ke’Shawn Vaughn, Vanderbilt
WR — Ja’Marr Chase, LSU
WR — Justin Jefferson, LSU
WR — Elijah Moore, Ole Miss
TE — Kyle Pitts, Florida
OT — Saahdiq Charles, LSU
OT — Devin Cochran, Vanderbilt
OG — Adrian Magee, LSU
OG — Trey Smith, Tennessee
C — Lloyd Cushenberry, LSU

EDGE — Terrell Lewis, Alabama
EDGE — Darrell Taylor, Tennessee
DL — Jordan Elliott, Mizzou
DL — Javon Kinlaw, South Carolina
LB — Jamar Watson, Kentucky
LB — Ernest Jones, South Carolina
LB — Monty Rice, Georgia
CB — Israel Mukuamu, South Carolina
CB — Derek Stingley, LSU
S — Nigel Warrior, Tennessee
S — Joshuah Bledsoe, Mizzou
DB — Shyheim Carter, Alabama