What Does ESPN's FPI say about Virginia's chances against NC State in CFB Week 2

While NC State is favored by the oddsmakers in this game on Saturday, the Cavaliers are being projected to win by ESPN's FPI (football power index). FPI is giving the Hoos' a 51.4% chance to win this game and while those are not overwhelming odds, it is interesting to see an advanced analytical system favor the Cavaliers. UVA crushed Coastal Carolina last week, while NC State had to have a fourth down stop in the final minutes to take down East Carolina.

Make no mistake though, Raleigh is a tough place to play and Wolfpack head coach Dave Doeren is going to have his team ready to play on Saturday night.

ESPN uses its FPI (Football Power Index) as an advanced analytical model to help look at matchups and predict outcomes. 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."

NC State will be a tough test

NC State is a tough opponent to play, especially in Raleigh, and Virginia head coach Tony Elliott has a lot of respect for Dave Doeren's team:

"Right, the takeaways were discipline. You got to stay disciplined. You're playing against a very good opponent, especially at the end of the game. You got to finish it the right way. And very similar, they're a physical football team, want to run the football. They got an even more dynamic quarterback.

Now they're very similar to what they've always been in the trenches. They're big up front athletic linebackers can run and then they got athletes in the secondary. So it's a typical NC State team. It fits coach (Dave) Doeren's identity and how they approach it. He's a defensive guy and he wants to wants to win up front with the defensive line be physical and then offensively, you know, he wants a he wants an offense that can that can line up put their hand in the dirt and come after you. So that's what you see out of them.

Some really, really good skill guys, too, that can make you, that force you to defend the field vertically and horizontally."

Virginia's defense is going to need to be ready for the Wolfpack offense. NC State has a talented quarterback in CJ Bailey and a talented group of pass catchers. Slowing them down might be the key to the game on Saturday.

Virginia has a chance to start the season 2-0 if it can beat the Wolfpack (12:00 p.m. ET, ESPN2).