One of the best times of spring for a college football nerd is when ESPN releases its first Football Power Index rankings of the year.
While we’ve spent the last several months trying to handicap the upcoming season, deciding which team is better than the next, and declaring who has the best chance to make it to the conference championship games, and ultimately the College Football Playoff, the worldwide leader in sports finally joined the conversation once again.
For those unfamiliar with ESPN’s FPI, it is a ranking that “relies on past performance on offense and defense, returning and transfer production and past recruiting data for players on the roster to form a rating.” Virtually, it’s ESPN’s way of declaring the top teams in the nation, looking at their roster, their schedule, their percent chance to win each game, and where that ultimately lands them after the season comes to an end.
The first 2023 FPI was released this week, and it will be updated throughout the remainder of the season. Here’s a look at where the Oregon Ducks are ranked in the first Football Power Index of the year.