The 2021 SEC football season kicked off last Saturday with a loaded Week 1 slate. In Week 2, we get a small taste of conference play.

Eli Drinkwitz’s Mizzou squad travels to Kentucky to face the fellow 1-0 Wildcats on Saturday night in Lexington, the first game of SEC conference play. The other 12 teams are playing out-of-conference opponents, including No. 15 Texas at Arkansas.

Here’s how ESPN’s Football Power Index (FPI) projects the outcome of each of the 13 Week 2 games featuring SEC teams:

  • Auburn (99.9 percent chance to win) vs. Alabama State
  • South Carolina (70.7 percent) at ECU
  • Tennessee (41.5 percent) vs. Pitt
  • Florida (95.5 percent) at USF
  • Georgia (94.3 percent) vs. UAB
  • Texas A&M (88 percent) vs. Colorado (Denver)
  • Alabama (99.9 percent) vs. Mercer
  • Arkansas (33 percent) vs. Texas
  • Mississippi State (36.7 percent) vs. NC State
  • Ole Miss (98.5 percent) vs. Austin Peay
  • Kentucky (69.1 percent) vs. Missouri
  • LSU (99.4 percent) vs. McNeese
  • Vanderbilt (24 percent) vs. Colorado State

Here’s how ESPN defines the FPI:

FPI is a predictive rating system designed to measure team strength and project performance going forward. The ultimate goal of FPI is not to rank teams 1 through 128; rather, it is to correctly predict games and season outcomes. If Vegas ever published the power rankings it uses to set its lines, they would likely look quite a lot like FPI.