ESPN releases FPI College Football Top 25 for 2022

Alex Weberby:Alex Weber•06/20/22

The almighty ESPN Football Power Index has released its rankings ahead of the 2022 College Football season. Rather than bore you with all 100+ division one teams, we’ve got the top 25. Although I will note that New Mexico State is projected to be the worst team in the country with an FPI of -21.2.

Anyways, here are the top 25 per the FPI, including the metric’s projected record for each team.

FPI Top 25

*Team (FPI) | Projected Record

  1. Alabama (28.9) | 11.3 – 1.5
  2. Ohio State (28.3) | 11.8 – 1.0
  3. Georgia (27.4) | 11.6 – 1.3
  4. Clemson (23.2) | 11.1 – 1.6
  5. Notre Dame (17.5) | 9.1 – 2.9
  6. Texas (17.4) | 9.4 – 3.2
  7. Michigan (16.5) | 9.5 – 2.6
  8. Oklahoma (15.6) | 9.1 – 3.4
  9. Pittsburgh (14.6) | 9.6 – 2.8
  10. Auburn (13.9) | 7.4 – 4.6
  11. LSU (13.9) | 7.7 – 4.4
  12. Penn State (13.6) | 8.3 – 3.8
  13. Oklahoma State (13.0) | 8.5 – 3.8
  14. Texas A&M (12.8) | 7.5 – 4.6
  15. Utah (12.7) | 9.3 – 3.2
  16. Michigan State (12.4) | 8.0 – 4.1
  17. Ole Miss (12.3) | 7.7 – 4.3
  18. Miami (12.3) | 8.5 – 3.8
  19. Baylor (12.0) | 7.9 – 4.3
  20. Kentucky (11.2) | 8.0 – 4.0
  21. Wisconsin (11.0) | 8.2 – 4.1
  22. North Carolina (10.9) | 8.1 – 4.1
  23. Oregon (10.2) | 8.6 – 4.1
  24. Mississippi State (9.9) | 6.4 – 5.6
  25. Florida (9.9) | 7.1 – 5.0

Takeaways

The usual suspects are up top. Alabama and Ohio State come in one and two, with both teams doubling the FPI of 10th place Auburn. So yes, looks like a lopsided Iron Bowl is quite likely. The SEC as a whole leads the way, to no surprise, putting nine of its 14 total teams in the top 25 (11 of the top 30 as well). Geez. Which includes six of the seven SEC West schools — with Arkansas, who ranks 29th, as the lone exclusion.

Some other interesting notes:

  • ZERO non-Power 5 programs made the cut. Though, usually, several mid-major teams populate the Top 25 throughout the season.
  • Texas is the sixth ranked team overall and projected to win 9.4 games. Those projections do not include bowl games, just regular season and potential conference championship games. So 9.4 games is not a number of wins the Longhorns have reached in the last 12 seasons. Plus, they failed to achieve a .500 record during Steve Sarkisian’s first year last fall, going just 5-7. A lot of faith in very little proof for Texas.
  • The SEC has nine teams in the top 25 as I mentioned. The other power conferences went as follows: Big Ten (5), ACC (4), Big 12 (4), Pac-12 (2) and Notre Dame as the independent. The future SEC, with Oklahoma and Texas, has 11 of the top 25 and 13 of the top 30. They may become a College Football Playoff Monopoly in a few years.