Comparing 2016's Final FPI Rankings To 2017's Preseason FPI Rankings

Let’s compare the final ESPN FPI rankings for 2016 with the preseason ESPN FPI rankings for 2017.

It’s the college football offseason, but thankfully, ESPN has already released its 2017 preseason FPI rankings – naming Ohio State the top team heading into next season. The Buckeyes, who lost in the College Football Playoff to Clemson last year, finished at No. 4 in ESPN’s final 2016 FPI rankings.

We thought it’d be interesting to take a look at where each team finished last season and where they’re projected to finish next season. Oregon and South Carolina, which both had disappointing campaigns in 2016, are expected to improve the most next year.

Here’s a chart of all 128 teams that played last year and will play this year. The chart doesn’t compute the FPI difference – it computes the FPI rank difference.

Team	2016 Final Rank	2017 Preseason Rank	Difference
Oregon	61	21	40
South Carolina	72	32	40
Syracuse	81	46	35
Arizona State	70	40	30
Georgia	41	13	28
Kentucky	62	34	28
Marshall	115	87	28
Rutgers	113	88	25
Arizona	79	55	24
Missouri	64	41	23
UCLA	43	23	20
Texas	44	24	20
Duke	65	45	20
Oregon State	71	52	19
Miss St	51	33	18
FAU	119	101	18
Tulane	95	78	17
Notre Dame	32	17	15
TCU	34	19	15
NC State	37	22	15
Arkansas	50	36	14
Northwestern	42	29	13
SMU	92	79	13
Miami (OH)	97	85	12
Fresno State	120	108	12
Baylor	39	28	11
UVA	84	73	11
Illinois	94	83	11
Colorado State	74	64	10
Georgia Tech	46	37	9
Memphis	52	43	9
Wake Forest	63	54	9
Maryland	78	69	9
UL Monroe	126	117	9
Vanderbilt	55	47	8
Stanford	18	11	7
Florida	22	15	7
Indiana	67	60	7
UCF	73	66	7
Auburn	11	5	6
UTSA	101	95	6
Penn State	13	8	5
Texas Tech	53	48	5
Bowling Green	116	111	5
Buffalo	127	122	5
Oklahoma	7	3	4
Florida State	8	4	4
UNLV	107	103	4
Akron	108	104	4
Hawai’i	111	107	4
Ohio State	4	1	3
Boston College	75	72	3
UMass	118	115	3
Rice	121	118	3
Wisconsin	12	10	2
Michigan State	60	58	2
Army	77	75	2
Cent Michigan	91	89	2
Kansas	104	102	2
ECU	98	97	1
Purdue	99	98	1
LSU	6	6	0
Mid Tennessee	86	86	0
Cincinnati	90	90	0
Alabama	1	2	-1
FIU	122	123	-1
USC	10	12	-2
Miami (FL)	14	16	-2
Iowa State	66	68	-2
Ball State	103	105	-2
Texas State	128	130	-2
Tennessee	17	20	-3
Kansas State	27	30	-3
UL Lafayette	106	109	-3
New Mexico St	123	126	-3
Washington	5	9	-4
Cal	58	62	-4
Wyoming	76	80	-4
Arkansas State	80	84	-4
Ohio	87	91	-4
UTEP	124	128	-4
Charlotte	125	129	-4
Clemson	2	7	-5
Louisville	9	14	-5
Washington St	20	25	-5
Nevada	100	106	-6
Troy	69	76	-7
E Michigan	105	112	-7
Kent State	109	116	-7
South Alabama	114	121	-7
VT	23	31	-8
Old Dominion	85	93	-8
San Jose State	102	110	-8
UConn	112	120	-8
North Texas	117	125	-8
Ole Miss	29	38	-9
Iowa	30	39	-9
Nebraska	48	57	-9
Toledo	56	65	-9
Oklahoma State	15	26	-11
Texas A&M	16	27	-11
Utah State	88	99	-11
Southern Miss	89	100	-11
N Illinois	82	94	-12
New Mexico	83	96	-13
UNC	21	35	-14
Minnesota	47	61	-14
Navy	57	71	-14
Georgia State	110	124	-14
Michigan	3	18	-15
USF	36	51	-15
Utah	33	50	-17
BYU	31	49	-18
San Diego State	45	63	-18
Tulsa	49	67	-18
Pitt	25	44	-19
Appalachian St	54	74	-20
Boise State	35	56	-21
Houston	38	59	-21
Ga Southern	93	114	-21
LA Tech	59	81	-22
Colorado	19	42	-23
Idaho	96	119	-23
Air Force	68	92	-24
West Virginia	24	53	-29
Temple	40	82	-42
W Michigan	26	70	-44
W Kentucky	28	77	-49

Four of the 10 teams expected to improve the most call the SEC home.

The ‘Power 5’ team expected to fall off the most in 2017? As you can see, ESPN does not think West Virginia will have nearly as good a 2017 campaign as it did in 2017.