In one set of rankings, Penn State has ended the regular season near the top 15.
With a 40-36 win over Rutgers in Saturday’s regular-season finale, Penn State moved to No. 17 in the ESPN FPI ranking.
To be clear, this is not a traditional ranking.
In the AP Poll, Coaches Poll and College Football Playoff rankings, Penn State is nowhere near the top 25. Penn State started the season ranked No. 2 in the AP Poll, but a six game losing streak had Penn State in the brink of a losing season and missing out on a bowl game. But Penn State reeled off three straight wins to end the regular season, and now, is going bowling.
So how did it end up No. 17 in one set of rankings?
HOW FPI WORKS
Here is how ESPN’s FPI ratings work.
Add Nittany Sports Now as a preferred source in Google! Click here to add us.By definition, FPI is a “predictive rating 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.”
After losing to Indiana to drop to 3-6, Penn State still was No. 21 in the FPI rankings.
“They’re in the top 25 in the ESPN [College] Football Power Index,” Indiana coach Curt Cignetti said at his weekly press conference before the Penn State game. “Still the same guys they started the year with for the most part that was ranked No. 1 to No. 3 in the country. So a lot of good football players at all positions, playing really hard.”
WHERE WILL PENN STATE END UP?
So where will Penn State end up in the FPI? That will depend on what happens between now and the national championship game. Penn State’s bowl game will likely be played in late December, and how well Penn State plays in that game will depend on which players end up playing and which opt out, either to focus on the NFL draft or to focus on entering the transfer portal.
It’s been a wild year, but Penn State will end up in the top 25 in at least one ranking.
