Football

ESPN’s Football Power Index Projects Oklahoma State’s Win Total in 2018

How ESPN’s predictions differ from preseason voting.

Published

6 years ago

August 27, 2018

The (self-proclaimed) best predictor of a team’s performance for the season, the ESPN Football Power Index (FPI), is high on Oklahoma State in 2018.

Despite being picked to finish fifth in the preseason media poll, the FPI projects OSU to have the third most successful season among Big 12 teams. Only Oklahoma and Texas are predicted to win more games this season, according to the FPI.

Breaking news: Kansas is projected to finish last, and has a 0.0% chance of winning the league, according to the index.

TEAM	Projected W/L	Conf. Win %
OU	10.5-2.3	54.9
Texas	8.7-3.8	20.5
OSU	8.5-3.8	13
TCU	6.8-5.4	4.1
Iowa State	6.4-5.7	1.9
Texas Tech	6.4-5.7	1.8
Baylor	6.6-5.5	1.6
WVU	6.1-5.9	1.5
Kansas State	5.8-6.3	0.7
Kansas	3.3-8.7	0

Most of this is none too surprising, but West Virginia, which has a 1.5% of winning the conference according to FPI, is a bit startling to see so low. WVU was picked to finish second in the preseason media poll, just behind leading vote-getter OU and ahead of TCU, Texas, and OSU.

Other odds and ends in the FPI to note …