Virginia Takes Small Tumble In ESPN's FPI Rankings After Close Loss to NC State

When you lose a game, naturally you are going to drop in the rankings, whether they are actual rankings or advanced analytics. That is the case for Virginia. The Hoos' shot up in ESPN's FPI last week after their win over Coastal Carolina, but this week they dropped three spots to 53rd. NC State, Virginia Tech, Duke, Syracuse, Stanford, North Carolina, and Wake Forest were the ACC teams that were ranked lower than UVA.

Virginia is going to be heavily favored in their next two games against William & Mary and Stanford, but they then have a pair of tough tests against Florida State and Louisville. Can Virginia recover from yesterday's loss and find their way into a bowl game?

In ESPN's own words: "FPI is a predictive rating system designed to measure team strength and project performance going forward. The ultimate goal of FPI is not to rank teams 1 through 128; rather, it is to correctly predict games and season outcomes. If Vegas ever published the power rankings it uses to set its lines, they would likely look quite a lot like FPI."

UVA has a lot to play for

While the loss is certainly disappointing. Virginia head coach Tony Elliott says this team still has its goals in front of them:

"And so going back to that question that we were at a lot we convert a lot of third -longs and have no sacks All right, and the quarterback didn't get hit much, you know versus that front and so just guys executing, giving the quarterback protection in the pocket and guys being where they're supposed to be and then the quarterback being dialed in on the defensive structure to know where to go through his progression and the guys made some plays. The guys went down sliding up balls, balls up over their head, man, they made the quarterback right, and it was a beautiful thing to see, but hopefully that gives the last two games we've been, you know, over 50 % on third down, which we're going to need to be throughout better in the red zone. We've got to make those field goals in the red zone. And in Will Bettridge, he'll go to work, and he'll find a way to put it through the uprights. And we're going to continue to give him opportunities to kick. So I know there's no moral victories, but we're going to get on this bus. We're not going to have our heads down. We're going to stay encouraged. We're going to stay positive. My challenge to the team is we either get better, we get better, or we either get defined by this game, or we get developed, and I'm choosing to get better, I'm choosing to get developed, and I believe those guys are going to do the same thing."

Virginia will be back on the field this Saturday against William & Mary.