With Week 9 in the books, ESPN Analytics has updated its rankings models. The Football Power Index (FPI) has processed Saturday’s games and updated its top 25 teams.
ESPN Analytics defines the FPI as 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. The post-Week 9 results remind us that the FPI rankings do not directly align with a team’s record or resume.
Alabama and Georgia have been the highest SEC teams, and that remains the case entering Week 9.
UA moved up 2 spots while on a bye week. The Crimson Tide are now the FPI’s No. 3 team, behind only Ohio State and Michigan.
Two-time defending national champion Georgia has been the top team ranked by humans throughout the season. The FPI, meanwhile, hasn’t been quite as high on the Bulldogs. UGA moved up 2 spots to No. 6 after the Dawgs’ dominant win over Florida in Jacksonville.
LSU dropped 1 spot to No. 10 while on a bye. Ole Miss stayed at No. 13 following the win over Vanderbilt to improve to 7-1.
Tennessee and Texas A&M switched spots at Nos. 15 and 16. Mizzou moved up 1 spot while off in Week 9.
Here’s the full top 25:
- Ohio State
- Michigan
- Alabama
- Oregon
- Penn State
- Georgia
- Florida State
- Oklahoma
- Texas
- LSU
- Notre Dame
- Kansas State
- Ole Miss
- Washington
- Tennessee
- Texas A&M
- USC
- Oregon State
- SMU
- Clemson
- Louisville
- North Carolina
- Miami
- Missouri
- UCLA
Andrew writes about sports to fund his love of live music and collection of concert posters. He strongly endorses the Hall of Fame campaigns of Fred Taylor and Andruw Jones.
