ESPN’s FPI projects Arizona Wildcats will win eight games in 2015
Jul 14, 2015, 2:30 PM | Updated: 2:34 pm
Football is, by many accounts, a numbers game.
Hence, many try to use those numbers to project ahead and see what could happen in the future.
The ESPN released its computer projections for the 2015 season through its Football Power Index, projecting that the Arizona Wildcats would win eight games.
Through the FPI, Arizona is expected to win their games against Texas-San Antonio, Nevada, NAU, Oregon State, Colorado, Washington State, Washington and Utah.
The FPI “measures the team’s true strength on net points scale; expected point margin vs. average opponent on neutral field.”
The Wildcats’ highest percentage odds of victory come against NAU (99.4 percent), while also exceeding 90 percent odds of a win against Texas-San Antonio (96.5).
The projected schedule would result in a 5-4 mark against Pac-12 opponents. Arizona went 7-2 against the Pac-12 last season, clinching the school’s first Pac-12 South title.
Arizona is given 0.0 percent odds at going undefeated, with 2.4 percent odds of winning the Pac-12.
The Wildcats’odds on keeping the Territorial Cup are low, as they are given 34.8 percent odds to win for the second straight season.
Arizona’s strength of schedule is ranked 41st, according to the FPI, with key road games against Stanford and USC. The Wildcats are given 29.3 percent odds to beat the Cardinal and 23.9 percent odds to beat the Trojans.
