Nittany Lions Shown Some Respect in ESPN's FPI Rankings

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Penn State's complete regime change, while uncomfortable at times, wasn't enough to scare ESPN away from acknowledging that they are still going to be a force to be reckoned with next season.

ESPN released its FPI ranking last week, and Penn State landed in the bottom half of the Top-25 even after a disaster of a 2025 season. FPI, Football Power Index, takes into account many variables, making the ranking very subjective, and removes all objectivity.

It factors in Expected Points Added (EPA) for all three phases, opponent strength and the strength of schedule, roster talent and experience, quarterback value, and game location. They assign a value to all of the variables, combine them all, and get a value at the end, which is the team's FPI.

That value, in Penn State's case, is 13.7, indicating the number of points that they would win by against an "average" team on a neutral field.

For example, Michigan State has an FPI value of 0.3, which would be classified as an average team. According to FPI, Penn State would win that game by 13.4 points.

The No. 1 team in the country is the Ohio State Buckeyes, who have an FPI rating of 28.7 with a projected win total of 10.4.

For Penn State, their 13.7 ranks them as the No. 17 team in the country, one spot behind Tennessee and one spot ahead of Florida.

This is a pretty respectful rating that Penn State received after all of the turmoil they experienced in the last 365 days. All of the losses, the transfers, the new coaches, and all of the new factors that this team is going to have to deal with heading into next year are impressive.

One of the main factors in this positive rating is the fact that Penn State has a very manageable schedule next year. They received the second-easiest Big Ten opponents, and they have to make just one cross-country road trip to Washington. 

A lot of things fell the Nittany Lions' way as they are in a year of significant transition. Now, Matt Campbell and his team need to take advantage of it and to get this new era of Penn State football off to a good start.

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