ESPN's FPI is not high on Stanford in 2022

The Cardinal come in at No. 61 in ESPN's FPI ranking

Stan Szeto-USA TODAY Sports

This is certainly something that Stanford fans do not want to see, but have grown to know the melancholy associated with watching their beloved Cardinal football team all too well.

After one of the most successful decades in all of college football, Stanford is in the midst of a three potentially four year stretch from hell that hasn't featured a winning season since 2018. According to ESPN's Football Power Index (FPI), Stanford is the No. 61 ranked team. How is this number calculated you might ask, well here is ESPN's means of determining these rankings:

"FPI is a predictive rating system designed to measure team strength and project performance going forward. The ultimate goal of FPI is not to rank teams 1 through 128; rather, it is to correctly predict games and season outcomes."

The FPI projects that the Cardinal will win about five games, and only gives them a  34% chance at exceeding six wins in 2022. It also gives Stanford a slim chance at winning the conference at just 0.9%. 

Stanford will hope to prove these rankings to be a farce, but their schedule does them no favors as they have to take on five top 40 teams in USC (37), Oregon (23), Notre Dame (5), UCLA (34), and Utah 15. 

Not to mention they also have a meeting with what could be a very good BYU team at the end of the season.

The Cardinal will need major improvements on both sides of the ball, health, and a whole lotta luck to have a bounce back season in 2022.