ESPN's Computer's 10 National Title Favorites After Week 0
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The first weekend of the 2026 college football regular season is in the books.
Week 0 of the 2026 college football regular season took place on Saturday. North Carolina got a big win over TCU, USC looked great in a blowout victory and Florida State had an up-and-down performance en route to a win.
ESPN’s Football Power Index, a projection-based model that updates daily, has updated following the Week 0 games. The Football Power Index has updated its frontrunners for the College Football Playoff national championship.
Who are the frontrunners to win it all?
ESPN’s computer model’s 10 favorites
- Ohio State
- Texas
- Notre Dame
- Georgia
- Oregon
- Indiana
- Miami
- Texas Tech
- LSU
- Alabama
How does ESPN’s Football Power Index work?
ESPN’s computer model, the Football Power Index, is a projection-based system. It updates daily and is meant to be an indicator of how good a team will be moving forward. It’s different than Top 25 polls, which are more based on resumes and what a team has done up until this point.
“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. Ratings and projections update daily. FPI data from seasons prior to 2019 may not be complete,” the FPI writes.
This story was originally published by The Spun on Aug 30, 2026, where it first appeared in the College Football section. Add The Spun as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
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