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Suprise! Suprise! The University of Alabama Crimson Tide are currently projected as the #2 team in College Football for 2017. It seems like every year ESPN picks ‘Bama to win the National Championship, but this year they’ve slotted the Ohio State Buckeyes in the #1 spot of their first FPI (Football Power Index) projections for the 2017-2018 season.
This is actually a pretty interesting turn of events. The ESPN FPI does not necessarily reflect the AP/Coaches Poll rankings, but it’s typically not far off when the season starts. The biggest Week 1 college football game of next season is FSU vs. Alabama on a neutral field in Atlanta. Many college football fans have speculated that Alabama could kick off the season ranked #1 and FSU #2, marking the first time in history that the #1 and #2 ranked teams began the season by playing each other. As of now, that matchup looks like it’ll be #2 vs. #4, but there is plenty of time for these rankings to change:
Here’s what the top 40 in ESPN’s first FPI projections for 2017 looks like, with 3 of the top 10 teams coming from the B1G:
ESPN
ESPN
Is this Penn State’s year? They could certainly make the playoff even with 1 loss after starting in the #8 position, assuming teams falter ahead of them.
And I get the respect for Clemson, but after losing Deshaun I can’t see them finishing the season in the top 10 next year…Thoughts?
You can see ESPN’s first FPI projections for teams 1 through 130 by CLICKING HERE.