Week 1 of the college football season is officially over, meaning we’re finally able to assess teams around the country. ESPN released its initial Football Power Index before the season began last week and it had Penn State at No. 16.
Now, after a 45-0 blowout against Marshall and some uninspiring performances from teams ahead of them, the Nittany Lions are now ranked No. 14 according to the metric. Their FPI score is also sitting at 17.2, which is 3.5 points better than last week’s score of 13.7.
The most notable team that Penn State moved ahead of is Michigan, who needed last-second heroics to pull out a win against Western Michigan. Not only did that nail-biter improve the Blue and White’s FPI score — it also raised their odds to win the Big
Ten.
ESPN now gives Penn State an 8.5% chance of winning the conference, up from last week’s 4.6% odds. However, this shift may have had more to do with Oregon playing down to competition last weekend when taking on Boise State.
The Ducks, who entered the season as the No. 2 team in all of college football according to the AP Poll, didn’t get a grip on the game against the Broncos until the fourth quarter. But they still won the game, and Ohio State looked dominant in a 56-3 win over Ball State, so the Nittany Lions’ odds improved marginally here.
Still, this updated ranking by ESPN shows just how much Penn State improved it’s perception around the country this week. With games against the Temple Owls and Buffalo Bulls on the horizon, we could see Matt Campbell’s squad continue to climb while he awaits his first test in the Big Ten.
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This article originally appeared on Nittany Lions Wire: Penn State moves up in ESPN’s FPI rankings ahead of Week 2
