ESPN FPI: Where do the Gophers sit after their week 4 bye week?
The Minnesota Golden Gophers are fresh off their bye week. They are sitting at 2-1 on the season entering week five and will welcome the Rutgers Scarlet Knights (3-1) to Huntington Bank Stadium next Saturday afternoon.
With the dust settled from week four of the college football season, ESPN’s FPI was updated on Sunday.
For those unfamiliar with FPI, it is ESPN’s “Football Power Index”. Here’s how ESPN explains the power index.
“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 20,000 simulations of the rest of the season using FPI, results to date, and the remaining schedule.”
In this week’s rankings, the Gophers fell four spots from No. 55 to No. 59, which also ranks them 14th in the Big Ten, only ahead of Michigan State (3-1), Purdue (2-2), Northwestern (1-2), and UCLA.
The Golden Gophers are projected according to the FPI to go 5.6-6.4 this season, which would be the program’s first missed bowl game in a full season since 2017. They’re given just a 53.8% chance to win six or more games.
Here’s how the full Big Ten ranks in this week’s FPI. Each team’s national rank is in parentheses next to their name
| Rank | Team | FPI |
| 1 | Oregon (1) | 23.6 |
| 2 | Ohio State (2) | 22.4 |
| 3 | Indiana (6) | 21.4 |
| 4 | USC (7) | 20.8 |
| 5 | Penn State (10) | 18.5 |
| 6 | Michigan (12) | 18 |
| 7 | Nebraska (21) | 14 |
| 8 | Washington (24) | 13.2 |
| 9 | Iowa (31) | 8.7 |
| 10 | Illinois (37) | 7.9 |
| 11 | Maryland (48) | 5.2 |
| 12 | Rutgers (50) | 4.7 |
| 13 | Wisconsin (55) | 3.2 |
| 14 | Minnesota (59) | 2.4 |
| 15 | Michigan State (67) | 0.5 |
| 16 | Purdue (75) | -2.2 |
| 17 | Northwestern (78) | -2.9 |
| 18 | UCLA (93) | -8 |
Additionally, ESPN’s matchup predictor gives the Golden Gophers a 54.8% chance of victory this weekend at home against the Scarlet Knights. The Gophers have won six of their last seven games dating back to last season at Huntington Bank Stadium.
