Penn State has been flying up ESPN’s Football Power Index all season long, but that’s no longer the case after a brutal loss to Wisconsin. Although the Blue and White plummeted down the rankings in the US LBM Coaches Poll, they surprisingly only drop three spots on this week’s index.
They come in at No. 15, down just three spots from last week, and hold a 15.6 FPI score, which is down from 18.2 last week.
Although the Nittany Lions’ overall power score didn’t drop much, their odds to win the conference decreased significantly. The dreams of being crowned the Big Ten champions are all but over, with ESPN now giving Penn State just a 2% chance of coming out on top.
The program was flying high a few days ago, but now it needs to recalibrate its expectations
for the season. It seems like a Bowl Game is in the cards for the Nittany Lions now — unless there are a lot more devastating losses like the one vs. the Badgers — as they prepare to take on Northwestern.
The season isn’t lost just yet, but they have a lot of work to do to climb back up the index.
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This article originally appeared on Nittany Lions Wire: Where Penn State ranks on Football Power Index after first loss
