New No. 1 in preseason FPI

10:20 AM ET

Part of the process of generating a power ranking is keeping the inputs as fresh as possible. To an average fan, it might seem as if the rankings change for no reason, but the main goal of updating rankings and projections is to increase their accuracy with the newest information.

In that vein, ESPN’s Sports Analytics Group has rerun preseason FPI to update each team’s returning starters and account for recent schedule changes.

Although there were not too many changes, there are a few (including one big one) we want to highlight.

Why we are updating?

There are four inputs into preseason FPI that hold varying weights: past efficiencies, returning starters, recruiting rankings and heading coaching tenure. A more detailed description can be found here.

FPI is utilized to generate game and season projections for each FBS team. These projections account for opponent strength (based on the above factors), game site, distance traveled and rest. Changing any of these inputs will likely affect a team’s season projections.

After spring practice, …

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