ESPN’s FPI outlook for each BYU game this season
Lost in the last few days of conference realignment chaos is the fact that the 2021 college football season is drawing closer every day. In fact, BYU’s training camp will open up in less than two weeks and the Cougars will officially begin their quest to prove that they are a team capable of reloading and not relegated to rebuilding after a breakout 2020 season. BYU finished ranked #11 in the country last year, finishing the season with an 11-1 record. BYU followed up their strong season on the field with a strong performance off the field in the NFL Draft. BYU saw five of their players drafted into the NFL – including Zach Wilson who went #2 overall to the New York Jets.
But that is all history now. BYU is trudging forward to a new era of Cougar football. The coaching staff has yet to name a starting quarterback and there are still several positions with question marks heading into the season, but that hasn’t stopped people from being optimistic about the Cougars going into 2021.
As a matter of fact, the latest round of ESPN’s FPI projections give BYU a 50% or better chance to win in 10 of their 12 games this season. In a year where BYU still doesn’t know who the quarterback will be and a year that they will face seven P5 teams, a 10-2 projection is quite the sign of respect for Kalani Sitake’s program. The Cougars lose more production and experience this year than just about every other school in the country, BYU ESPN’s models are still really, really high on what the team will do.
When it comes to predictions, ESPN’s FPI was one of the most accurate a year ago. FPI’s 73% accuracy rate was third best out of more than 40 outlets tracked by the ThePredictionTracker. This begs the question – are ESPN’s FPI projections worth buying or should you be selling the preseason hype?
