Saturday saw five key games between top 25 college football teams, with Alabama making a statement against SEC West challenger LSU in a high-scoring affair, Georgia holding off East Division challenger Missouri to remain undefeated, and Washington going off on USC’s defense in a key Pac-12 victory.

The FPI college football rankings and computer prediction model are a measure of team strength that predicts a team’s future performance.
Rankings and predictions are based on 20,000 simulations of a team’s season, which use a combination of analytics such as score to date, opponent quality, and a team’s schedule.
Teams are ranked not in order of talent, but rather by a projected point margin against a neutral team.

ESPN’s college football top 25 rankings
Ohio State University
Michigan
Oregon
Penn State University
Alabama
Georgia
Florida State University
Texas
Oklahoma
LSU
Kansas State University
Ole Miss Tennessee Notre Dame
Washington
USC Texas A&M
Louisville
Oregon State University
Clemson
Utah SMU
The state of North Carolina
Missouri
Miami

The FPI is in agreement with the committee. Ohio State is ranked first in the ESPN rankings because it is projected to be 27.3 points better than an average opponent on a neutral field, the highest margin in college football.

Favorite for the title. Coming into Week 11, Ohio State has a 25.6 percent chance of winning the national championship. Michigan comes in second with 13.6 percent, and Florida State comes in third with 13.1 percent.

Which team has the best chance of winning? This distinction goes to Florida State, which the index predicts will win 12.4 games this season.

Despite the loss to Washington, Oregon has the highest ranking of any West Coast team, as the FPI projects the Ducks to be 25.3 points better than an average opponent, moving them up one spot in the Week 11 rankings. Oregon has a 58% chance of winning the Pac-12, while Washington has a 31.2% chance.

Alabama ahead of Georgia. The Bulldogs’ closer margins of victory this season mean they rank behind the Crimson Tide, which is 1.6 points better on the index than the defending national champions.

SEC favorite? That projection implies that Alabama will lift the crown in Atlanta, with the 54.4 percent chance to win the conference championship, ahead of Georgia at 42.7 percent.

Playoff prediction? The index ranks the top four with two Big Ten teams, one from the ACC, and another from the SEC, but not the team you would think…

1. Ohio State
2. Florida State
3. Michigan
4. Alabama

In this scenario, Ohio State is the projected Big Ten champion and would play presumptive SEC champ Alabama. Florida State, the favorite to win the ACC, would face off against Big Ten runner-up Michigan