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, were now halfway through the 2019 regular season.

Now that were working on a decent sample size, most of the individual players OAYP scores are comprised solely of 2019 data, and the remaining few that arent 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 teams 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.

– Ill also include OAYPs prediction for each teams next opponent, which is currently hitting 64% against the spread this season.

1. Clemson 3.24 (5)

Offensive Ranking: 2 (18)
Defensive Ranking: 1 (5)

Week 8 Vegas Line: Clemson (-24.5) at Louisville
OAYP Prediction: Clemson by 28.5

2. Miami 0.86 (34)

Offensive Ranking: 8 (70)
Defensive Ranking: 4 (37)

Week 8 Vegas Line: Georgia Tech at Miami (-18)
OAYP Prediction: Miami by 18.5

3. Pitt 0.73 (36)

Offensive Ranking: 11 (94)
Defensive Ranking: 2 (19)

Week 8 Vegas Line: Pitt (-3.5) at Syracuse
OAYP Prediction: Pitt by 11

4. Virginia 0.68 (37)

Offensive Ranking: 10 (81)
Defensive Ranking: 3 (28)

Week 8 Vegas Line: Duke at Virginia (-3.5)
OAYP Prediction: Virginia by 2

5. Duke 0.65 (39)

Offensive Ranking: 7 (65)
Defensive Ranking: 6 (60)

Week 8 Vegas Line: Duke (+3.5) at Virginia
OAYP Prediction: Virginia by 2

6. Florida State 0.35 (48)

Offensive Ranking: 4 (55)
Defensive Ranking: 8 (54)

Week 8 Vegas Line: Florida State (+2.5) at Wake Forest
OAYP Prediction: Florida State by 2

7. North Carolina 0.30 (50)

Offensive Ranking: 5 (59)
Defensive Ranking: 7 (53)

Week 8 Vegas Line: North Carolina (-3.5) at Virginia Tech
OAYP Prediction: North Carolina by 8

8. NC State -0.03 (63)

Offensive Ranking: 12 (96)
Defensive Ranking: 5 (41)

Week 8 Vegas Line: NC State (-3.5) at Boston College
OAYP Prediction: NC State by 3.5

9. Louisville -0.12 (65)

Offensive Ranking: 1 (15)
Defensive Ranking: 12 (93)

Week 8 Vegas Line: Clemson at Louisville (+24.5)
OAYP Prediction: Clemson by 28.5

10. Wake Forest -0.21 (69)

Offensive Ranking: 3 (39)
Defensive Ranking: 10 (83)

Week 8 Vegas Line: Florida State at Wake Forest (-2.5)
OAYP Prediction: Florida State by 2

11. Boston College -0.72 (88)

Offensive Ranking: 6 (64)
Defensive Ranking: 14 (97)

Week 8 Vegas Line: NC State at Boston College (+3.5)
OAYP Prediction: NC State by 3.5

12. Syracuse -0.73 (89)

Offensive Ranking: 13 (102)
Defensive Ranking: 9 (73)

Week 8 Vegas Line: Pitt at Syracuse (+3.5)
OAYP Prediction: Pitt by 11

13. Georgia Tech -0.78 (91)

Offensive Ranking: 14 (113)
Defensive Ranking: 11 (92)

Week 8 Vegas Line: Georgia Tech (+18) at Miami
OAYP Prediction: Miami by 18.5

14. Virginia Tech -0.97 (97)

Offensive Ranking: 9 (80)
Defensive Ranking: 13 (95)

Week 8 Vegas Line: North Carolina at Virginia Tech (+3.5)
OAYP Prediction: North Carolina by 8

POSITION RANKINGS

– Now that Im 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 dont 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. Jamie Newman, Wake Forest 1.04
2. Trevor Lawrence, Clemson 1.03
3. Sam Howell, North Carolina 0.32
4. Quentin Harris, Duke -0.25
5. Tommy DeVito, Syracuse -0.43

RB

1. Travis Etienne, Clemson 1.87
2. AJ Dillon, Boston College 1.85
3. Cam Akers, Florida State 1.29
4. Deejay Dallas, Miami 0.72
5. Javonte Williams, North Carolina 0.58

WR

1. Tee Higgins, Clemson 5.38
2. Tamorrion Terry, Florida State 4.47
3. Sage Surratt, Wake Forest 2.66
4. Tutu Atwell, Louisville 2.44
5. Dyami Brown, North Carolina 2.32

TE

1. Brevin Jordan, Miami 3.64
2. Hunter Long, Boston College 3.03
3. Korab Idrizi, Boston College 1.87
4. Marshon Ford, Louisville 1.61
5. Nakia Griffin-Stewart, Pitt 1.22

OT

1. Tremayne Anchrum, Clemson 3.64
2. Tyler Vrabel, Boston College 2.39
3. Justin Herron, Wake Forest 2.15
4. Jackson Carman, Clemson 1.62
5. Ben Petrula, Boston College 1.16

OG

1. John Phillips, Boston College 2.32
2. Gage Cervenka, Clemson 2.1
3. John Simpson, Clemson 1.78
4. Anthony Palazzolo, Boston College 1.02
5. Caleb Chandler, Louisville 0.99

C

1. Sean Pollard, Clemson 2.05
2. Alec Lindstrom, Boston College 1.2
3. Zach Tom, Wake Forest 0.7
4. Grant Gibson, NC State 0.54
5. Jack Wohlabaugh, Duke 0.51

EDGE

1. Victor Dimukeje, Duke 3.74
2. Patrick Jones, Pitt 3.6
3. Alton Robinson, Syracuse 3.24
4. Chris Rumph, Duke 2.98
5. Carlos Basham, Wake Forest 2.76

DL

1. Larrell Murchison, NC State 4.42
2. Marvin Wilson, Florida State 2.14
3. Trevon McSwain, Duke 1.55
4. Amonte Caban, Louisville 1.38
5. Jalen Twyman, Pitt 1.16

LB

1. Isaiah Simmons, Clemson 3.65
2. Michael Pinckney, Miami 2.44
3. Brandon Hill, Duke 1.69
4. Shaq Quarterman, Miami 1.64
5. Rayshard Ashby, Virginia Tech 1.63

CB

1. Dane Jackson, Pitt 2.83
2. Anthony Johnson, Louisville 2.65
3. Jermaine Waller, Virginia Tech 2.42
4. Chamarri Conner, Virginia Tech 2.38
5. Leonard Johnson, Duke 1.75

S

1. Paris Ford, Pitt 3.12
2. Nasir Greer, Wake Forest 3.07
3. Dylan Singleton, Duke 2.33
4. Tanner Muse, Clemson 2.11
5. Marquis Waters, Duke 2.03

TEAM OF THE WEEK

QB — Evan Conley, Louisville
RB — Travis Etienne, Clemson
RB — Christian Beal-Smith, Wake Forest
WR — Sage Surratt, Wake Forest
WR — Dez Fitzpatrick, Louisville
WR — Justyn Ross, Clemson
TE — Jack Freudenthal, Wake Forest
OT — Jordan McFadden, Clemson
OT — Jacob Monk, Duke
OG — Zach Baker, Duke
OG — John Simpson, Clemson
C — Zach Tom, Wake Forest

EDGE — Chris Rumph, Duke
EDGE — Victor Dimukeje, Duke
DL — Alim McNeill, NC State
DL — Jonathan Ford, Miami
LB — Louis Acceus, NC State
LB — Andrew Armstrong, Syracuse
LB — Isaiah Simmons, Clemson
CB — Derion Kendrick, Clemson
CB — Anthony Johnson, Louisville
S — Nasir Greer, Wake Forest
S — Hamsah Nasirildeen, Florida State
DB — Denzel Johnson, Clemson