Notre Dame Football Has The Second Best Chance To Go Undefeated In 2018

According to ESPN’s Football Power Index, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish have the 2nd best chance in the country to undefeated during the 2018 college football season.

ESPN

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 10,000 simulations of the rest of the season using FPI, results to date, and the remaining schedule. Ratings and projections update daily.

It’s not the greatest chance in the world however. The Index gives Notre Dame (22.3 FPI) a 10% chance to win every game this season. It’s a distant second to the Clemson Tigers who have a 19.4% chance, and just ranked above the Alabama Crimson Tide and Georgia Bulldogs.

Here is a list of all the Notre Dame opponents ranked by their FPI and their chance of winning out:

• Michigan Wolverines 18.8 (.3%)
• Stanford Cardinal 16.3 (.3%)
• USC Trojans 15.1 (.3%)
• Florida State Seminoles 13.1 (0%)
• Virginia Tech Hokies 11.6 (.1%)
• Northwestern Wildcats 8.5 (0%)
• Wake Forest Demon Deacons 6.5 (0%)
• Pittsburgh Panthers 2.1 (0%)
• Syracuse Orange 1.9 (0%)
• Vanderbilt Commodores -4.2 (0%)
• Navy Midshipmen -4.4 (0%)
• Ball State Cardinals -18.5 (0%)

Of course, just as any other preseason prediction or projection — this could all just be a pile of nonsense. Nevertheless, it is encouraging to see that if the Irish play well this season, there is that chance of playing for something great.