With Week 1 of the 2023 college football season upon us, almost every program starts with a clean slate and a chance at competing for a national championship. ESPN’s Football Power Index (FPI) ranked every FBS team based on their own algorithm to determine the strongest and weakest teams.
At the bottom of it all sits New Mexico State with an FPI rating of -17.0. Ohio State has the highest rating and is considered the strongest team, with a rating of 31.4.
These ratings and rankings don’t mirror what fans usually see on the AP Poll and the USA TODAY Coaches Poll, and it’s obvious with Georgia not being the No. 1 team.
Naturally, one would assume that means Georgia is the second-highest-rated team. Well, that would be incorrect. The Bulldogs rank third with a rating of 26.6.
The team that sits in between the Buckeyes and the Dawgs? That would be the Alabama Crimson Tide with a 28.7 rating.
At the end of the day, the only rankings that will play a role in determining which program will be crowned a national champion is the College Football Playoff rankings.
Alabama opens the season against Middle Tennessee and Georgia kicks things off against Tennessee-Martin.
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