UNC football cracks Top 25 in new ESPN FPI rankings
With Spring practices wrapping up throughout college football this month, the countdown begins for the upcoming season. Practices won’t resume until August but the excitement will still be at an all-time high for a new season.
But before we get to all of that, ESPN released their first FPI (football power index) rankings for the upcoming season.
Despite being in a year where the Tar Heels won’t have Sam Howell or Jeremiah Gemmel and have question marks, ESPN still thinks pretty highly of the program. And that’s good news for the Tar Heels.
UNC checks in at No. 22 overall on the list with an FPI of 10.9 and a projected record of 8.1-4.1 on the season. That’s a bit surprising seeing that it is almost a transition year for Mack Brown and his staff.
Here’s how ESPN comes up with their FPI:
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 No. 22 ranking is the fourth-best in the Atlantic Coast Conference, trailing just Clemson (No. 4), Pittsburgh (No. 9), and Miami (No. 18).
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