ESPN has recently published it’s latest 2016 Football Power Index (FPI) rankings for the upcoming season. Colorado State appears as the 97th team in their predictive simulator, as only the 8th-best team in the Mountain West Conference.
The system by which the FPI rankings are calculated are explained as follows on 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.