MSU Slides in ESPN's FPI Rankings After Week 1

With all the games in Week 1 now concluded, MSU dropped three spots in the FPI rankings. Michigan State was ranked 60th nationally before it took on the Broncos, and the Spartans ended up sliding three spots to 63rd.

The slide comes even though MSU's official power rating stayed the same: 1.3. That represents what FPI thinks MSU's expected margin of victory against an average FBS team would be on a neutral field.

Western Michigan also dropped in FPI's rankings. The Broncos ended up dropping more slots than the Spartans, falling five spots from 113rd to 118th.

Michigan State's ranking in the Big Ten stayed the same at 15th. Only one team in the conference that's on MSU's schedule ranks lower: UCLA.

What's also notable is that 11 of the Big Ten's 18 teams dropped in the FPI rankings, so the Spartans are certainly not alone. The conference's teams that experienced bigger slides than MSU are Indiana (down 5), Michigan (down 6), Rutgers (down 7), Minnesota (down 9), Northwestern (down 10) and UCLA (down 28).

Some Marks Still Went Up

Even though the Spartans dropped in the rankings, FPI's overall projections for the team still went up a little bit.

Michigan State's expected win total improved by +0.4, from 4.8 to 5.2.

The Spartans' odds at a bowl game also went up by 8.2%. Before Week 1, FPI had the odds for MSU to reach six wins at 30.6%. Now, it stands at 38.8%.

Game-by-Game Winning Percentage, per FPI

Aug. 29 vs. Western Michigan: W, 23-6

Sept. 6 vs. Boston College: 47.5% (-6.4% from last week)

Sept. 13 vs. Youngstown State: 96.3% (+0.7% from last week)

Sept. 20 at USC: 6.3% (-4.8% from last week)

Oct. 4 at Nebraska: 23.6% (+0.9% from last week)

Oct. 11 vs UCLA: 74.3% (+19.7% from last week)

Oct. 18 at No. 23 Indiana: 23.9% (+2.8% from last week)

Oct. 25 vs No. 15 Michigan: 24.7% (+4.4% from last week)

Nov. 1 at Minnesota: 34.5% (+3.8% from last week)

Nov. 15 vs No. 2 Penn State: 13.4% (+0.7% from last week)

Nov. 22 at Iowa: 27.0% (+3.2% from last week)

Nov. 29 vs Maryland (Ford Field): 44.0% (-6.7% from last week)