ESPN released its initial Football Power Index numbers for the 2020 season over the weekend, and the FPI is giving Notre Dame little chance in their three most significant games of the year – Wisconsin, Clemson, and USC. Perhaps that’s not too surprising to some, but not only is ESPN’s model favoring those three right now, its barely giving Notre Dame a chance.
For those unfamiliar with the ESPN Football Power Index, it’s an algorithm that predicts the likelihood of a team winning a particular game from a score of 0-100%. In nine of Notre Dame’s 2020 games, ESPN’s model 65% chance of victory.