College Football Fans React To ESPN’s Preseason FPI Rankings

College Football Fans React To ESPN's Preseason FPI Rankings

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  • ESPN has released its preseason FPI rankings for the upcoming college football season.
  • As you would expect, college football fans had quite the reaction to the rankings.
  • Be sure to check out more sports stories at BroBible here.

ESPN released its preseason FPI rankings for the 2022 college football season. As expected, college football fans shared their reactions to the rankings that ultimately mean absolutely nothing.

The usual suspects of Alabama, Ohio State, Georgia, and Clemson round out the top four. From fourth to 25th, however, there are quite a few surprises that have some fans scratching their head.

ESPN Preseason FPI Rankings For 2022

  1. Alabama
  2. Ohio State
  3. Georgia
  4. Clemson
  5. Notre Dame
  6. Texas
  7. Michigan
  8. Oklahoma
  9. Pittsburgh
  10. Auburn
  11. LSU
  12. Penn State
  13. Oklahoma State
  14. Texas A&M
  15. Utah
  16. Michigan State
  17. Ole Miss
  18. Miami (FL)
  19. Baylor
  20. Kentucky
  21. Wisconsin
  22. North Carolina
  23. Oregon
  24. Mississippi State
  25. Florida

The Football Power Index (FPI) “measures team’s true strength on net points scale; expected point margin vs average opponent on neutral field.”

There is no debate that Texas sitting at No. 6 and Auburn taking the No. 10 spot are the two biggest surprises among the Top 25 here.

The Longhorns should be better this season, but that’s not saying all that much given their 5-7 record a season ago en route to a 7th place finish in the Big 12.

Auburn went 6-6 in the regular season last year and has already had an offseason full of drama involving head coach Bryan Harsin. The dust has settled a bit on that front, but it’ll be stirred up in a hurry if the Tigers get off to a slow start.

There is an interesting trend among certain teams’ FPI rankings. Many teams have nearly identical FPI rankings as they do strength of schedule rankings.

Ole Miss is ranked 17th in the FPI and has the 17th toughest schedule in 2022. Wisconsin is ranked 21st with the 20th toughest schedule. LSU sits 11th in FPI with the No. 9 ranked strength of schedule.

Auburn, 10th in the FPI, takes the crown for the toughest schedule in 2022.

Looking back at last year’s preseason FPI rankings, ESPN had the top four as Alabama, Oklahoma, Clemson and Iowa State. Georgia, last year’s national champions, held the No. 7 spot before the season kicked off.

College Football Fans React To Preseason FPI Rankings