College football rankings: ESPN updates top 25 poll for Week 9

The updated college football rankings, according to the ESPN top 25 index

College football rankings: ESPN updates top 25 poll for Week 9

ESPN Football Power Index (FPI) college football rankings and computer prediction model are a measure of team strength that predicts a team’s future performance.

Rankings and scores predictions are based on 20,000 simulations of a team’s season, using a combination of analytics, including scores to date, quality of opponents, and a team’s schedule.

This isn't a conventional "power ranking" of the best teams, but a projection of how every team would finish against an average opponent on a neutral field, ranked by expected point margin per game.

The updated ESPN college football rankings

25. Maryland (Down 5). Now 6-2 on the year after a win over Northwestern, just 9 combined points keep the Terps from an undefeated record, but the schedule is about to get tougher and there are questions about Taulia Tagovailoa's health.

24. Wisconsin (Up 8). Jim Leonhard continues to put together a resume for the head coaching gig after an impressive win over Purdue. Off this coming week, the Badgers could conceivably win out the rest of the season and finish 8-4.

23. Kansas State (No change). The Wildcats dropped their second game of the year in a tough loss at TCU after losing Adrian Martinez to injury.

22. Minnesota (Down 5). Once upon a time, this was the favorite in the Big Ten West. Not anymore after an ugly loss at Penn State, a third straight loss after starting 4-0.

21. Notre Dame (No change). A big enough win over UNLV to calm things down in South Bend, but this is still a 4-3 team that doesn't really have an identity right now.

20. Florida State (Up 5). Off this week, the Seminoles still have one of college football's better rushing attacks and a schedule with one out of four opponents expected to be in the top 25 rankings.

19. Wake Forest (Up 10). Sam Hartman accounted for 6 TDs in a big win over Boston College, but three of Wake's final five games are on the road.

18. Syracuse (Up 6). Respect from the ESPN rankings despite losing at Clemson, a game the Orange had in hand most of the way if not for a lack of consistent rushing threat and one bad missed penalty.

17. Baylor (Up 1). Those hopes to repeat as Big 12 champs are up in smoke after falling to 4-3 and with no real quality wins to date.

16. Mississippi State (Down 1). Make it 15 straight losses to Alabama, this time after not putting up a point until there were zeroes on the clock. That's two straight losses and games against Georgia and Ole Miss still to come.

15. TCU (Down 2). ESPN knocked the Frogs down despite beating K-State owing to a drop in its projected per-game scoring margin, but this is still an undefeated team in charge of the Big 12 right now.

14. Oklahoma State (Up 2). A statement win over Texas at home keeps the Cowboys in the Big 12 title race thanks to a dominant defense that's getting to the quarterback.

13. Oregon (Down 1). Since the Georgia opener, the Ducks have won 6 straight games and scored at least 41 points each time out, most recently downing then-perfect UCLA and now 1st in the Pac-12.

12. Ole Miss (Down 4). For a while there, it looked like the Rebels would stay perfect, but LSU outscored them 42-3 starting in the second quarter, and now the schedule gets much harder.

11. Penn State (Up 3). The Lions recovered from last week's ugly loss at Michigan by pounding Minnesota at home behind a 28-7 scoring blitz.

10. USC (No change). Idle on Saturday, the Trojans are coming off their first loss, at Utah, with questions on the defensive side of things, but this team can still move the ball almost at will.

9. LSU (Up 2). Jayden Daniels passed for two touchdowns and ran for three more as the Tigers took another big step in Brian Kelly's maiden season, moving to 4-1 in SEC games and 3-0 in West Division matchups, a nice little foundation to build on.

8. Utah (Up 1). Despite its two losses on the year, Utah is still right in the thick of the Pac-12 race thanks to some important offensive improvements, namely college football's 16th best scoring offense at 40.7 points per game.

7. Clemson (No change). A statement win over ranked Syracuse at home keeps the Tigers perfect in the ACC title chase and in College Football Playoff contention.

6. Texas (Down 1). Frankly, another absurd ranking by the index, which insists on keeping the Longhorns this high owing to a projected 19.2 point per game scoring margin, itself a questionable estimate given the rest of this schedule. Texas lost on the road to Oklahoma State as Quinn Ewers went 19 of 49 passing. 

5. Tennessee (Up 1). As expected, the Vols pounded UT Martin a week after knocking off Alabama, dropping a school record 52 first half points, but now come games against Kentucky and Georgia.

4. Michigan (No change). One of college football's best rushing offenses took last week off, but remains perfect on the season with games against Illinois and Ohio State upcoming.

3. Georgia (No change). Also idle in Week 8, the Bulldogs are coming off impressive wins over Auburn and Vanderbilt, with a brutal four weeks to come, with matchups against Tennessee and Kentucky.

2. Alabama (No change). The Tide spanked Mississippi State at home, but you got the feeling they left some points on the field. At one loss after Tennessee, there's no margin for error as far as the College Football Playoff picture goes.

1. Ohio State (No change). A slow start against Iowa's gifted defense, but CJ Stroud and company recovered, scoring 38 unanswered points and forcing 6 turnovers.

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