Penn State football’s dominant win over Kent State Saturday was enough to move it up in the ESPN Football Power Index but not enough to jump it ahead of Ohio State.
Penn State has moved up in ESPN’s Football Power Index, now one spot ahead of Notre Dame.
Tennessee moved down after a double-digit win over a ranked opponent on the road because… sure, why not? pic.twitter.com/0XXvrzxDLE
— Joe Smeltzer (@joesmeltzer775) September 22, 2024
PSU moved from No. 9 to No. 8 in the FPI, which is five spots lower than Ohio State and three lower than where Penn State was after its Week 1 win at West Virginia.
Ahead of Penn State are Texas, Alabama, Ohio State, Georgia, Tennessee, Ole Miss and Miami.
Penn State is now ahead of Notre Dame, who moved down two spots after its bye week.
Notre Dame is still ranked No. 9 in the index despite an embarrassing loss at home to Northern Illinois Sept. 7.
Elsewhere in the Big Ten, Oregon moved up one spot to No. 11 after its bye week. Despite losing at Michigan, USC stayed put at No. 12 and Indiana moved up four spots to No. 15 following a lopsided win over Charlotte. Michigan only moved up one spot to No. 20 after beating USC and Iowa has made it to the top 25, moving up eight spots after a 31-14 win at Minnesota.
Penn State has a showdown with Ohio State scheduled for Nov. 2 at Beaver Stadium.
Before that, it takes on USC at the Coliseum Oct. 12. It doesn’t play Oregon, Indiana, Michigan or Iowa.
By definition, FPI is a “predictiverating system developed by ESPN that measures team strength and uses it to forecast game and season results in American football. Each team’s FPI rating is composed of predictive offensive, defensive, and special teams value, as measured by a function of expected points added (EPA). That rating is the basis for FPI’s game-level and season-level projections.”
