Michigan State debuts at No. 56 in ESPN’s 2021 Football Power Index

The computers at ESPN believe Michigan State will finish the 2021 in the bottom third of the Big Ten but potentially end up bowling.

[mm-video type=video id=01f2pav0x1m3h4yep3a7 playlist_id=01eqbz825g32p3akwt player_id=none image=https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/video/thumbnail/mmplus/01f2pav0x1m3h4yep3a7/01f2pav0x1m3h4yep3a7-220dbd1cb0cca8f7968f4c0f736468bc.jpg]

The computers at ESPN believe Michigan State will finish the 2021 in the bottom third of the Big Ten but potentially end up bowling.

ESPN released their initial Football Power Index (FPI) rankings for the upcoming 2021 season, and the Spartans are ranked as the No. 56 team in the country and 12th in the Big Ten. Despite being ranked near the bottom of the Big Ten, FPI projects the Spartans to finish with 5.6 wins and 6.4 losses, which would technically round up to 6-6. Additionally, FPI gives the Spartans a 51.3 percent chance to win six games and become bowl eligible.

ESPN’s FPI is a “measure of team strength that is meant to be the best predictor of a team’s performance going forward for the rest of the season.”

Here is where each of the Big Ten teams rank:

  • No. 5 – Ohio State
  • No. 10 – Penn State
  • No. 15 – Wisconsin
  • No. 23 – Iowa
  • No. 25 – Indiana
  • No. 30 – Northwestern
  • No. 40 – Michigan
  • No. 46 – Nebraska
  • No. 49 – Minnesota
  • No. 50 – Purdue
  • No. 55 – Maryland
  • No. 56 – Michigan State
  • No. 79 – Rutgers
  • No. 87 – Illinois

To no surprise, Ohio State is the heavy favorites by ESPN’s FPI to not only win the Big Ten East Division but the conference as a whole. The Spartans are currently given a 0.8 percent chance at winning the Big Ten East Division and 0.3 percent chance to win the league.

[listicle id=37261]

[lawrence-auto-related count=3 category=1362]