{"id":755853,"date":"2026-07-11T02:40:25","date_gmt":"2026-07-11T02:40:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/755853\/"},"modified":"2026-07-11T02:40:25","modified_gmt":"2026-07-11T02:40:25","slug":"what-espns-football-power-index-predicts-for-big-12-rival-byu-and-utah-this-season-deseret-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/755853\/","title":{"rendered":"What ESPN\u2019s Football Power Index predicts for Big 12 rival BYU and Utah this season \u2013 Deseret News"},"content":{"rendered":"

ESPN released its initial Football Power Index ratings<\/a> for the 2026 college football season earlier this week, and for both Utah schools in the Big 12 \u2014 BYU and Utah \u2014 there is a positive outlook for the upcoming season.<\/p>\n

Both the Cougars and Utes are expected to contend for the Big 12 Conference crown, and that is reflected in the FPI metrics.<\/p>\n

As ESPN explains, the Football Power Index is \u201cmeasure of team strength that is meant to be the best predictor of a team\u2019s performance going forward for the rest of the season. FPI represents how many points above or below average a team is.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"BYU quarterback Bear Bachmeier (47) winds up for a pass during the Big 12 championship game against Texas Tech at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, on Saturday, Dec. 6, 2025. | Isaac Hale, Deseret News What ESPN\u2019s FPI is projecting for BYU<\/p>\n

BYU has a 13.1 score in ESPN\u2019s FPI, which ranks No. 20 nationally and second in the Big 12.<\/p>\n

Projected wins \u2014 8.7Odds of going undefeated \u2014 1.4%Odds of six wins (and bowl eligibility) \u2014 93.1%Odds of winning the Big 12 \u2014 16.5%Odds of playing in the College Football Playoff \u2014 25.7%Odds of making the national championship game \u2014 2.2%Odds of winning a national championship \u2014 0.7%<\/p>\n

Last year<\/a>, the Cougars were projected for 8.0 wins, with a 12.6% chance of making the College Football Playoff.<\/p>\n

BYU ended up going 11-1 in the regular season, losing to Texas Tech in the Big 12 championship game and ending the year with a win in the Pop-Tarts Bowl to go 12-2 and finish ranked No. 11 in the final Associated Press poll.<\/p>\n

This season, the Cougars have the Big 12\u2019s second-best odds at winning the conference, at making the CFP and at reaching the national championship, all second to defending league champ Texas Tech. <\/p>\n

The Red Raiders have better than 50% odds to make the playoff (57.9%) and an 8.5% chance of reaching the national title game.<\/p>\n

Strength of schedule \u2014 55th<\/p>\n

The Cougars\u2019 strength of schedule is ninth among Big 12 programs.<\/p>\n

By comparison, last year when BYU went 11-1 during the regular season, the Cougars were 74th in strength of schedule going into the season, with only one Big 12 team, Houston, lower.<\/p>\n

The Cougars will host Notre Dame, No. 3 in the FPI rankings, on Oct. 17 in the premier nonconference game for the Big 12 this season.<\/p>\n

As for conference games, BYU\u2019s highest-rated opponent will be Utah, who is No. 31 in the FPI rankings \u2014 the Cougars play the Utes in Salt Lake City on Nov. 7. <\/p>\n

BYU\u2019s highest-rated Big 12 home opponent is No. 34 Arizona. The Cougars host the Wildcats on Sept. 12 in the league opener for both schools.<\/p>\n

\"\"Utah Utes quarterback Devon Dampier (4) scores a touchdown during the Las Vegas Bowl against the Nebraska Cornhuskers at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas on Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2025. | Tess Crowley, Deseret News What ESPN\u2019s FPI is projecting for Utah<\/p>\n

Utah has a 8.5 score in ESPN\u2019s FPI, which ranks No. 31 nationally and third in the Big 12.<\/p>\n

Projected wins \u2014 7.7Odds of going undefeated \u2014 0.4%Odds of six wins (and bowl eligibility) \u2014 83.7%Odds of winning the Big 12 \u2014 5.9%Odds of playing in the College Football Playoff \u2014 11.1%Odds of making the national championship game \u2014 0.6%Odds of winning a national championship \u2014 0.2%<\/p>\n

Last year<\/a>, the Utes were projected for 6.4 wins, with a 67.3% chance of becoming bowl eligible in the FPI formula.<\/p>\n

Utah, which was coming off a 5-7 season, blew past those projections, ending the year with an 11-2 record and a top 15 ranking.<\/p>\n

Now, the Utes have the third-best odds in the league to win the Big 12 and are one of three conference teams with better than 10% odds to play their way into the CFP.<\/p>\n

The only two standing above them are the two teams who played in the Big 12 championship game last year, Texas Tech and BYU.<\/p>\n

Strength of schedule \u2014 63rd<\/p>\n

The Utes\u2019 strength of schedule is 13th among Big 12 programs, a favorable number for a program returning several key players on both sides of the ball.<\/p>\n

While Utah\u2019s overall strength of schedule last season wasn\u2019t much higher \u2014 the Utes were No. 58 by FPI\u2019s metrics \u2014 Utah\u2019s strength of schedule last season was sixth-highest in the Big 12, notably higher than this year.<\/p>\n

Like BYU, Utah won\u2019t face the conference\u2019s highest-ranked team, No. 10 Texas Tech. The Utes\u2019 highest-rated Big 12 opponent they\u2019ll face is the No. 20 Cougars, at home on Nov. 7.<\/p>\n

The Utes\u2019 highest-rated Big 12 road opponent is the league team fourth in the FPI rankings, No. 34 Arizona. The Wildcats host Utah on Nov. 14. <\/p>\n

In nonconference play, the toughest opponent for the Utes will be the SEC\u2019s Arkansas, which is ranked No. 47 in the FPI. Utah hosts Arkansas on Sept. 12.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ESPN released its initial Football Power Index ratings for the 2026 college football season earlier this week, and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":755854,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[67],"tags":[399,398,396,397,8793,99],"class_list":["post-755853","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ncaa-football","tag-football","tag-ncaa","tag-ncaa-football","tag-ncaafootball","tag-news-feed-national","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/755853","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=755853"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/755853\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/755854"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=755853"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=755853"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=755853"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}