ESPN released its preseason Football Power Index rankings for the 2024 college football season this week, finally calculating its expectations for the first year of the [autotag]Manny Diaz[/autotag] era.
The Blue Devils finished with an FPI rating of 2.3, projecting them as the 52nd-best team in the country and the 10th-best team in the ACC. The formula gives Duke a projected record of 6.1-6.0 (the 12.1 total likely comes down to rounding) and a 60.3% chance to go bowling.
After back-to-back seasons with at least eight wins, the projection sounds a little tepid, but with a new head coach and a transfer quarterback, it makes sense that FPI is hesitant on such unknowns.
However, the rankings seem low on the ACC as a whole. No teams in the conference finished in the top 10, including defending champion Florida State after an undefeated regular season in 2023.
Check out Duke Wire’s early ACC power rankings for the 2024 college football season here.
By little surprise, the Georgia Bulldogs took the top spot after winning two of the last three national championships. Oregon, Texas, Ohio State, and Alabama rounded out the rest of the top five.