Ohio State Buckeyes Top Team in ESPN FPI Rankings; National Title Favorites?

Returning stars like Marvin Harrison Jr. and Cade Stover are part of the reason the Buckeyes have a 37% shot at winning the 2023 College Football Playoff.

The Ohio State Buckeyes currently sit as the team with the best odds to hoist the 2023 National Championship trophy, according to ESPN.

The Buckeyes also sit atop the Football Power Index (FPI), ESPN’s rating system that takes into account a team’s strength of schedule, returning players and recruiting class, just to name a few.

Ohio State has a 31.5 FPI rating, which puts them slightly ahead of Alabama (28.2), Georgia (27.4) and LSU (22.1), who are the next three teams.

Along with the FPI, ESPN has the Buckeyes with a 34.3 percent chance to finish 2023 undefeated, a 71.2 percent likelihood to win the Big Ten Conference championship and an 82.2 percent probability to make the College Football Playoff (CFP).

Additionally, Ohio State is the favorite to win the 2023 National Championship with a 36.7 percent chance. The Buckeyes are well ahead of second-place Alabama, as the Crimson Tide sit almost 16% behind at only 20.4%.

Part of the reason for the Buckeyes’ high rating is the amount of talent they have returning from last season.

Wide receivers Marvin Harrison Jr. and Emeka Egbuka join tight end Cade Stover as three players who are coming off fantastic performances during the 2022-23 campaign but are poised for a better coming year.

Even with quarterback C.J. Stroud departing for the National Football League (NFL) Draft later this month, Ohio State seems to have recouped their loss. Both Devin Brown and Kyle McCord (the two top candidates for the starting position) have looked solid through spring practice, and are in a prime spot to excel come opening weekend.

Projections are one thing, and performing is an entirely different mountain to climb. Scarlet and Gray fans will begin to see how realistic these predictions are in September.

---

Be sure to stay locked into BuckeyesNow all the time!

Join the BuckeyesNow community!

Subscribe to the BuckeyesNow YouTube channel

You can follow Caleb Spinner on Twitter: @CalebSpinner

Follow BuckeyesNow on Twitter: @BuckeyesNow_FN

Follow BuckeyesNow on Instagram: @BuckeyesNow_FN

Like and follow BuckeyesNow on Facebook!