Mississippi State ranked No. 8 nationally in updated ESPN 2021 Football Power Index rankings

ESPN’s Football Power Index is betting big on Mike Leach’s Mississippi State program.

If you are unfamiliar with this relatively new metric from ESPN, here is how the network explains the Football Power Index formula:

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.

They plug in the data and the formula spits out the results without any preconceived bias.

As games are played come the fall, providing more data for ESPN to input into the system, the Football Power Index rankings will likely change dramatically throughout but it’s pretty incredible to see Mississippi State ranked No. 8 nationally in the updated rankings.

According to ESPN’s current Football Power Index rankings, eight SEC teams are ranked in the top 25.

Here is the top 10 in the updated Football Power Index rankings:

#1 Alabama

#2 Oklahoma

#3 Clemson

#4 Iowa State

#5 Ohio State

#6 Texas A&M

#7 Georgia

#8 Mississippi State

#9 Oklahoma State

#10 Penn State

Here are the national rankings for the rest of the SEC teams:

#14 Florida

#16 Auburn

#18 LSU

#22 Ole Miss

#29 Arkansas

#34 Missouri

#39 Kentucky

#48 Tennessee

#68 South Carolina

#93 Vanderbilt

Michael Wayne Bratton

A graduate of the University of Tennessee, Michael Wayne Bratton oversees the news coverage for Saturday Down South. Michael previously worked for FOX Sports and NFL.com