Colorado football plummets in ESPN FPI after blowout Week 3 loss

The Colorado Buffaloes fell to 2-1 after an embarrassing Week 3 blowout loss to Northwestern, and the analytics community hit them hard. ESPN's Football Power Index crushed Colorado, dropping them 20 spots to No. 70 nationally. CU is now the lowest-ranked team in the Big 12. Clearly, FPI viewed the

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What is the story about?

The Colorado Buffaloes fell to 2-1 after an embarrassing Week 3 blowout loss to Northwestern, and the analytics community hit them hard.

ESPN's Football Power Index crushed Colorado, dropping them 20 spots to No. 70 nationally. CU is now the lowest-ranked team in the Big 12. Clearly, FPI viewed the Buffs' matchup against Northwestern as critical to their rest-of-season success, as Colorado now has only a 23% chance to win six games, down from 67% two weeks ago.

Colorado's record projection also fell dramatically, with FPI predicting the Buffaloes to finish 4.4-7.6. If we round it, CU would finish 4-8, a major disappointment even with a one-win improvement over last year's team.

Colorado has a difficult stretch coming up. Big 12 play begins with

a road game against Baylor, followed by a marquee home matchup against a likely top-10 Texas Tech squad. FPI views Texas Tech as the second-best team in the conference (No. 17 overall) and Baylor as the sixth-best team (No. 38 overall).

A win against a solid Baylor in Week 4 should shoot Colorado back up the FPI rankings.