ESPN's Football Power Index (FPI) ranking of Alabama football as one of the top college football teams is not new. The Crimson Tide was ranked No. 3 before the Georgia game. Saturday night's win was not enough to bump Alabama up over undefeated Oregon and Ohio State. An additional reason for no ranking uptick was FSU's road loss to Virginia.
In the FPI's ranking of all FBS teams, the SEC has 10 teams in the top 19 teams. The Texas Longhorns are close behind Alabama at No. 4. Georgia moved down three spots to No. 7. The Ole Miss Rebels are at No. 6. Tennessee slid four spots after needing overtime to beat Mississippi State. The Vols are ranked No. 13. Vanderbilt, at 5-0, is ranked No. 14. Oklahoma, Texas A&M, and Missouri are ranked No. 15, No. 16, and No. 17, respectively. The LSU Bengal Tigers are at No. 19.
Based on the updated FPI, Alabama has seven more regular-season games against teams ranked in the top 27 teams. Along with Vandy, Missouri, Tennessee, LSU, and Oklahoma, Auburn is No.23 and South Carolina is No. 27.
Among SEC teams, the FPI ranks Alabama as having the SEC's No. 2 Strength of Schedule (SOS) played, and No. 4 in the FBS. The Crimson Tide's remaining SOS is No. 13, among all FBS teams. Nine SEC football teams have more difficult remaining schedules than does the Crimson Tide. In descending order, among SEC Playoff contenders, Texas, Texas A&M, Tennessee, Georgia, and Ole Miss have easier paths to Playoff berths than the Alabama Crimson Tide.
Alabama Football and CFB Playoff Chances
Alabama's win over Georgia stunned many across the college football world. It also catapulted the Crimson Tide to the SEC's highest probability to make the CFB Playoff field. The FPI now gives Alabama a 69.2% probability. Ole Miss, with an easier schedule, is next at 68.3%. Three more SEC teams have higher than 50% probabilities. Georgia is at 57%, Texas A&M is at 56.3%, and Texas is at 50.3%. Vanderbilt at 43.2% has a higher Playoff probability than Missouri (34%), Tennessee (30.3%), and LSU (23.3%).
ESPN Analytics now has Alabama's away game at Missouri as the Crimson Tide's lowest win probability in the regular season, at 61.9%.