ESPN Football Power Index – Page 2

A look at how the Oklahoma Sooners stack up in the ESPN Football Power Index after Week 6

According to the ESPN Football Power Index, the Oklahoma Sooners are one of the best teams in the nation.

Though a football program never wants to get too ahead of itself, the Oklahoma Sooners’ win against Texas opens a world of possibilities in 2023.

Coming into the season, many expected the Sooners to be a Big 12 title contender, but most preseason predictions pegged them with at least two losses. Having overcome the Texas Longhorns in the Cotton Bowl, the Sooners have a chance to do something special this season.

This was a signature win for Brent Venables and the Oklahoma Sooners. While they have much higher expectations than simply winning the Red River Rivalry, this was an important monkey to get off the program’s back after what happened a year ago.

We’ve been saying all season that this team looked different. On Saturday in Dallas, the Sooners proved that to be the case. Brent Venables has the Sooners on a strong trajectory, and they’re just getting started.

With the win, let’s see how the Oklahoma Sooners stack up nationally in the ESPN Football Power Index.

ESPN’s FPI now shows Oklahoma as the favorite over Texas in Week 6

ESPN’s FPI now shows Oklahoma with a 54.6% chance of winning.

One of the best rivalries in college football takes place this weekend. Continue reading “ESPN’s FPI now shows Oklahoma as the favorite over Texas in Week 6”

ESPN FPI Update: Ducks have 4th-best chance to win national championship in 2023

In the eyes of ESPN’s Football Power Index, Oregon is a CFP team.

A week ago, we noted the ESPN Football Power Index was starting to really like the Oregon Ducks and be impressed by what they’d been able to do to that point.

A week later, it appears the FPI is really buying into what Dan Lanning has cooking in Eugene.

After an impressive 42-6 win over the Stanford Cardinal in which the Ducks dominated the final three quarters, the Ducks have jumped again in the Football Power Index. The Ducks are distinct favorites to win each remaining game on their schedule, while also holding the best chances to win the Pac-12 Conference.

On top of that, ESPN gives Oregon the fourth-best odds in the nation to make it to the College Football Playoff, make it to the national championship game and win the national championship.

Take a look at the latest FPI predictions following Week 4:

ESPN FPI Update: Ducks now have best odds to win Pac-12 Championship

For the first time all season, the Ducks are now favored to win every game remaining on their schedule, per ESPN FPI.

We learned a lot about the Pac-12 Conference in the first weekend of inter-league play. While the Oregon Ducks took care of business and handled the Colorado Buffaloes at home, it was also the Washington Huskies who impressed with a blowout win over the California Golden Bears.

Meanwhile, the USC Trojans — everyone’s pick to win the conference and make the College Football Playoff — showed that they still have some major issues with their defense. Though they got a win over the Arizona State Sun Devils, it was anything but convincing and left a lot of doubt going forward.

What’s been the most interesting to see is how the national outlook for the conference has shifted following this week. According to the ESPN Football Power Index, it is now the Ducks who are ranked highest in the Pac-12, and they are now favored to win the conference title at the end of the year with one of the best probabilities of making the CFP in the nation.

Take a look at the latest FPI predictions following Week 4:

Updated ESPN Football Power Index loves the Oklahoma Sooners after win over Tulsa

After their win over Tulsa, the Oklahoma Sooners got a big bump in the ESPN Football Power Index.

There’s a long way to go yet in the 2023 season, but it couldn’t have started any better for the Oklahoma Sooners in nonconference play. They’ve outscored their opponents 118 to 25 through three games and are one of the best teams in the nation on both sides of the football.

That’s why they keep moving up in the polls, and the computers are looking at the Sooners favorably. It’s just about who they’ve beaten but how they’ve done it.

Here’s a look at how ESPN’s Football Power Index ranks the Big 12 and their odds to win the conference and contend for the College Football Playoff.

ESPN ranks Oregon among most likely teams to make College Football Playoff in 2023

The Oregon Ducks have been able to take care of business throughout their non-conference schedule thus far in 2023. Of course, the level of competition has not been elite — Texas Tech will likely be viewed as a solid win at the end of the year, but neither Hawaii nor Portland State will be seen as great victories. Regardless of who they’ve played, it’s been clear that the Ducks are starting to garner some respect nationally with the commencement of the Pac-12 conference schedule beginning this week.

With that conference play getting underway, we wanted to take a second and look at things from a national point of view. While we often focus on the Pac-12 and judge things based on rankings out west, today we want to look at some national rankings, particularly where the top teams stand in terms of the likelihood that they get into the College Football Playoff at the end of the year.

Using ESPN’s Football Power Index, something that we do each week of the season, we can see which schools in the nation are garnering the most respect right now when it comes to season-long outlooks.

While you might expect these odds to directly reflect the top 25 rankings, it actually looks quite a bit different. ESPN takes into account the path to the conference title games, and the likelihood that a team can be one of the top four at the end of the year, rather than just giving the best teams the best odds.

Here’s where the Ducks rank among the top teams in the nation when it comes to CFP probability.

ESPN FPI: Ducks now favored to beat USC and Utah; win probability drops vs. Washington

A lot of movement in ESPN’s FPI this week. Oregon now favored over USC, and hold 8th best chances to make the College Football Playoff.

The national view of the Oregon Ducks is starting to rise.

While their win over the Texas Tech Red Raiders in Week 2 may not have been as impressive as it could have been, I think most common fans respect the ability to go into a hostile environment and come back to beat a decent squad. The win over Hawaii will not get you many brownie points in general, but it’s the way they won — dominating all three facets of the game — that was the most impressive.

Now, as we enter conference play, the Ducks are in a pretty good spot, finally cracking the top 10 in the Associated Press rankings and rolling with quite a bit of momentum.

After each week of the season, we look at the ESPN FPI and see how the projections change based on the previous result. For the Ducks, projections are currently pretty high. The probability that they win the Pac-12, make it to the College Football Playoff and ultimately play for a national championship game rose over the weekend.

Take a look at the latest FPI predictions following Week 3:

ESPN’s FPI has Texas with second-best odds of reaching College Football Playoff

ESPN’s FPI also lists Texas with the second-best chance of winning it all.

The hype is real surrounding Texas football after Steve Sarkisian’s squad marched into Tuscaloosa and defeated then-No. 3 Alabama, 34-24, in Week 2. Continue reading “ESPN’s FPI has Texas with second-best odds of reaching College Football Playoff”

ESPN FPI: Ducks’ championship odds see a bump; Oregon favored to win all but one game

According to ESPN FPI, the Ducks’ championship odds went up after a Week 1 win vs. Portland State.

The Oregon Ducks beat up on an FCS school in the first week of the 2023 season, beating the Portland State Vikings 81-7.

A lot of Oregon fans and college football fans, in general, are looking past the result as much more than a beatdown on a tilted field. However, the stat tabulators that work for the ESPN Football Power Index seem incredibly impressed by the Ducks’ performance.

After each week of the season, we like to look back at the ESPN FPI and see how the projections change based on the previous result. For the Ducks — who were favored to win all but two games coming into the season — the expectations have gone up. Oregon is now favored to win all but one game in the season, and in that single game, the percent chance at a victory went up.

On top of that, the Ducks saw their odds to win the Pac-12, make it to the College Football Playoff, and win the national championship all rise as well.

Take a look at the latest FPI predictions following Week 1:

ESPN FPI: Michigan State football game-by-game predictions for 2023 season

Will Michigan State get back to a bowl game in 2023 despite a brutally tough schedule? ESPN’s Football Power Index rating system believes so

Will Michigan State get back to a bowl game in 2023 despite a brutally tough schedule? ESPN’s Football Power Index rating system believes so.

An updated version of ESPN’s FPI was released earlier in August, and the computer rating system was rather high on the Spartans. Michigan State came in as the fifth-highest-rated team in the Big Ten and listed at No. 31 nationally. That’s not too bad after a disappointing season in 2022.

So how many games does the ESPN FPI rating project the Spartans to win next year? Check out game-by-game predictions from ESPN’s FPI for each of Michigan State’s matchups in 2023: