The College Football Playoff is set and the 12 teams are looking to win the national championship. ESPN's football power index evaluated the results of every college football game and "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 has Indiana and Ohio State as the two teams with the best chance to make and win the national championship game. Below Indiana and Ohio State are the Georgia Bulldogs , who are the No. 3 seed in the playoff. Georgia (11.6%) has a substantially smaller chance to win a national title than either Indiana (26.0%) or Ohio State (25.9%). Georgia looked extremely impressive in the SEC championship against Alabama, but that was not enough to be one of FPI's two favorites.
In fact, FPI puts Georgia in the same category of national championship contender as Texas Tech (11.0%) and Oregon (10.3%). In terms of tiers, FPI has Indiana and Ohio State as the national championship favorites with both teams winning it all more than a quarter of the time. Georgia, Texas Tech and Oregon all have over 10% chances to win a national title, but no team has better than a 12% chance, so those three schools make up the second tier.
In the third tier, Ole Miss , Miami, Texas A&M, Alabama and Oklahoma all have a 1-5% of winning the championship. These five teams all have the talent to win it all, but face a more difficult path and have to play in a first-round game.
Finally, in the fourth tier are national championship pretenders James Madison and Tulane. FPI gives both teams a 0.1% of having a Cinderella national championship run.
Indiana Hoosiers (26.0%)
Ohio State Buckeyes (25.9%)
Georgia Bulldogs (11.6%)
Texas Tech Red Raiders (11.0%)
Oregon Ducks (10.3%)
Ole Miss Rebels (4.8%)
Miami Hurricanes (3.2%)
Texas A&M Aggies (3.1%)
Alabama Crimson Tide (2.7%)
Oklahoma Sooners (1.4%)
James Madison Dukes (0.1%)
Tulane Green Wave (0.1%)
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This article originally appeared on UGA Wire: Where ESPN puts Georgia, other national championship contenders
