Chop Chat
Fansided

Opinion: How much of a joke is the ESPN Football Power Index?

By Kelvin Hunt

MIAMI GARDENS, FL - DECEMBER 30: Head coach Jimbo Fisher of the Florida State Seminoles celebrates their 33 to 32 win over the Michigan Wolverines during the Capitol One Orange Bowl at Sun Life Stadium on December 30, 2016 in Miami Gardens, Florida. (Photo by Chris Trotman/Getty Images)
MIAMI GARDENS, FL - DECEMBER 30: Head coach Jimbo Fisher of the Florida State Seminoles celebrates their 33 to 32 win over the Michigan Wolverines during the Capitol One Orange Bowl at Sun Life Stadium on December 30, 2016 in Miami Gardens, Florida. (Photo by Chris Trotman/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit

ESPN loves to try to be the leader in worldwide sports but is often severely biased.

ESPN is losing viewership, letting employees go and continuing to display bias at every opportunity it seems.

If all of those things seem related, it’s because they are frankly. They have an agenda to push and they push it, making no bones about it which brings us to their recently updated Football Power Index.

Remember how hard their analysts were pushing the Big 10 last year?

I have a question. How can a team that’s 1-1 and struggled in both the games they played be the No. 1 team listed in a Football Power Index?

Make no sense right? Ohio State was losing to Indiana at halftime of their first game of the season. Now, credit to them, they eventually took over the game and won comfortably.

However, they got demolished at home against Oklahoma and somehow they are still ranked ahead of Oklahoma?

Not to mention being ranked above Alabama and Clemson. If memory serves correctly, Clemson destroyed Ohio State 31-0 in the college football playoff last season.

I understand these are different teams now, but come on. Here’s ESPN’s top 10 Football Power Index:

  1. Ohio State
  2. Oklahoma
  3. Alabama
  4. Clemson
  5. Penn State
  6. Florida State
  7. Washington
  8. Auburn
  9. Stanford
  10. LSU

ESPN’s FPI Definition

"The Football Power Index (FPI) is a measure of team strength that is meant to be the best predictor of a team’s performance going forward for the rest of the season. FPI represents how many points above or below average a team is. Projected results are based on 10,000 simulations of the rest of the season using FPI."

Thoughts

According to the FPI, Ohio State as the weakest remaining schedule of all the teams in the top 10. The closest team is 10 spots away and guess what, it’s another Big 10 school in Penn State.

So basically ESPN’s FPI rewards a team for playing in an overrated conference and projecting them to win that conference?

Next: Chop Chat's ACC Power Rankings After Week 2

Either ESPN needs to get a new formula or they need to rename these rankings something else. They have no business being listed ahead of Alabama or Oklahoma.

Home/Florida State Seminoles news