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FSU Football: FPI rankings like Noles to win ACC, not go unbeaten

By Jason Parker

CHARLOTTE, NC - DECEMBER 06: Head coach Jimbo Fisher of the Florida State Seminoles celebrates with the trophy after defeating the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets to win the Atlantic Coast Conference championship on December 6, 2014 in Greenville, North Carolina. Florida State won 37-35. (Photo by Grant Halverson/Getty Images)
CHARLOTTE, NC - DECEMBER 06: Head coach Jimbo Fisher of the Florida State Seminoles celebrates with the trophy after defeating the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets to win the Atlantic Coast Conference championship on December 6, 2014 in Greenville, North Carolina. Florida State won 37-35. (Photo by Grant Halverson/Getty Images) /
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FSU football is getting plenty of love from ESPN, who thinks they have the best chance of winning the conference while not going unblemished along the way.

In less than two months, FSU football will finally kick off the much anticipated season with what may be the biggest opening weekend game in the history of college football. When the year is done, the Seminoles have plenty of people expecting them to end the year as one of the four teams in the College Football Playoff.

The folks over at the Worldwide Leader are one of those who have high hopes and are placing some serious pressure on the Noles.

Last week, ESPN released their latest Football Power Index standings, which ranked Florida State at third right now – setting up a rematch in the playoff with the Crimson Tide. By default, that means they have FSU football winning the ACC – with the Seminoles having the largest percentage chance of doing so by a wide margin over other conference foes

"Florida State – 42.9 percent chance of winning ACCClemson – 23.4 percentMiami – 17.3 percentLouisville – 4.5 percentN.C. State – 3.4 percentNorth Carolina – 3.1 percentVirginia Tech – 2.6 percentGeorgia Tech – 1.6 percentPittsburgh – 0.8 percentDuke – 0.2 percentSyracuse – 0.1 percent"

So, the two things ESPN would like you to believe is that the Seminoles are the clear leaders in a three horse race with the Tigers and Hurricanes for the league crown – and Boston College, Wake Forest and Virginia shouldn’t even look at maps of Charlotte. The rankings have Ohio State, Oklahoma, Alabama, FSU Football and USC as the winners of the Power Five conferences.

At the same time, the FPI doesn’t think that the Seminoles will go through the season without a loss. In fact, they have Florida State with an average of 10.9 wins and 2.4 losses when the season is all said and done – effectively going 11-2 heading into the bowl season, which was still good enough for a tie for fifth in likelihood of winning out:

"No. 1 – Ohio State (35 percent)No. 2 – Alabama (10 percent)No. 3 – Oklahoma (5.4 percent)No. 4 – Washington (5 percent)No. 5 – FLORIDA STATE and Wisconsin (4.5 percent)"

When you read between the lines, the folks over at ESPN think the Seminoles will win the 16th conference title since joining the ACC and will head back to the College Football Playoff – while likely losing to Alabama in the opener and dropping a conference game along the way.

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The FPI also has FSU football playing the 13th toughest schedule out of the 130 FBS teams entering the season – good for second in the ACC behind Georgia Tech who came in at 10th. The Seminoles and Yellow Jackets were the only schools not from the Pac-12 and SEC ranked in the top 16.

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