How Tennessee's ranking in ESPN's preseason 2023 FPI rankings compares to their 2022 ranking
ESPN revealed their early preseason 2023 Football Power Index rankings on Tuesday and the Tennessee Vols are ranked a bit higher than they were a year ago at this time. Note: According to ESPN, "The Football Power Index (FPI) is a measure of team strength that is meant to be the best predictor of a […]
ESPN revealed their early preseason 2023 Football Power Index rankings on Tuesday and the Tennessee Vols are ranked a bit higher than they were a year ago at this time.
Note: According to ESPN, "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."
Tennessee is ranked No. 12 in ESPN's new FPI rankings. Alabama is at No. 2, followed by Georgia at No. 3 and LSU at No. 4. The Vols are the No. 4 team in the SEC according to ESPN's FPI rankings.
The FPI also predicts that Tennessee will go 8-4 in 2023, which would be a bit of a letdown after the Vols went 11-2 last season.
Tennessee fans, however, should feel pretty good about these rankings.
That's because a year ago this week, the FPI had the Vols at No. 28. And it predicted that UT would go 7-5 in 2022.
If the FPI missed that badly in 2022, then perhaps it means Tennessee will go 12-1 or (even better) in 2023.
Obviously, these rankings will have no bearing on what actually happens in 2023. But these are the one set of rankings that don't use a human's opinion. They're supposed to be objective, though clearly still flawed. And based on what they said last season and what actually happened, I'd say this ranking is a good sign for the Vols moving forward.
