Penn State is a top 15 team in the rankings.
Well, not those rankings.
The latest AP and Coaches Polls haven’t come out yet and won’t until Tuesday.
But for now, Penn State stands at No. 14 in ESPN’s Football Power Index.
PSU moved up three spots following a dominant 45-0 win over Marshall to open the Matt Campbell era in grand fashion Saturday in Happy Valley. Michigan also opened its season with a win that many feel it didn’t deserve. A one-point win over Western Michigan is a good way for a power program to go down in the rankings, and that’s what happened with the Maize and Blue, which dropped five spots.
WHAT IS FPI?
So, what is FPI?
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.”
Add Nittany Sports Now as a preferred source in Google! Click here to add us.A great example of FPI being weird took place last season.
After losing to Indiana to drop to 3-6, Penn State still was No. 21 in the FPI rankings, and it was relevant enough for IU coach Curt Cignetti to cite when talking about PSU.
“They’re in the top 25 in the ESPN [College] Football Power Index,” 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.”
THE ‘REAL’ RANKINGS
With all due respect to ESPN FPI, most consider the “real” rankings to be the AP, coaches and, later in the season, College Football Playoff polls.
Penn State is currently No. 18 in the AP Poll and No. 17 in the coaches.
PSU takes on Temple Saturday in Philadelphia. Kickoff is scheduled for noon on ESPN2.
