The highly anticipated 2025 season is quickly drawing closer and closer for the Penn State Nittany Lions. With week zero of the college football season just under 80 days away, ESPN recently released their most recent update to their Football Power Index.
After finishing last year within the top-10 at No. 6 in the final FPI rankings for the 2024 season, the Nittany Lions have moved up slightly in the most recent update.
As of Tuesday, the Nittany Lions are ranked as the No. 5 team in the ESPN FPI, only behind Ohio State in the Big Ten. The SEC trio of Texas, Georgia, and Alabama are all ranked ahead of both the Buckeyes and Nittany Lions. Oregon rounds out the Big Ten's representation within the top-10, just behind the Nittany Lions at No.6.
The Big Ten's fourth ranked team is the Michigan Wolverines at No. 17 while USC and Nebraska are the final two Big Ten programs ranked within the top-25 at No. 19 and No. 25.
Washington (No. 27), Indiana (No. 31), Wisconsin (No. 38), and Iowa (No. 39) round out the top-10 teams in the conference. While Minnseota at No. 43, Illinois at No. 44, and UCLA at No. 47 are the final two teams ranked within the top-50.
The bottom tier of the Big Ten spans from No. 55 to No. 92 in the rankings. Rutgers leads the group at No. 55, followed by Michigan State at No. 59 and Maryland at No. 61. Northwestern checks in at No. 74, while Purdue sits far behind the rest, ranked last at No. 92.
The 2025 season will be the 12th season at Penn State for head coach James Franklin. In his first 11 years with the program, Franklin has totaled a 101-42 record which includes a 65-34 record in conference play. The program has won one Big Ten Championship under Franklin while also tallying six, 10+ win seasons including in each of the last three seasons.
The Nittany Lions in 2025 will enter the season as one of the favorites to potentially win the national championship after a 13-3 record in 2024 which saw the Nittany Lions make it to the College Football Playoff semifinals, falling to the Notre Dame Fighting Irish in the Orange Bowl 27-24.
WHAT IS THE FOOTBALL POWER INDEX?
From ESPN's An inside look at College FPI
"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. If Vegas ever published the power rankings it uses to set its lines, they would likely look quite a lot like FPI.
Correctly predicting game outcomes can’t be done by evaluating teams’ records because some teams are stronger than their records indicate (lots of close losses), and others have favorable schedules. Both of these situations are reflected in the game- and season-level projections.
It is important to note what FPI is not -- FPI is not a playoff predictor, and it is not designed to identify the four teams most deserving of making the College Football Playoff. ESPN has other metrics, including Strength of Record, that can be used to identify the most deserving teams."
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