Virginia, which is still on its one-game winning streak, aided by the bye week this week, isn’t the worst program in Power 5 football, so, there’s another thing we’ve got going for us.
One of the bottom five, yes, but not the worst.
I consulted four computer rankings – the ESPN Football Power Index, Jeff Sagarin, Massey, and Congrove.
The FPI has Virginia (1-5, 0-2 ACC) at 96th among the 133 teams in FBS, with three Power 5s ranked lower – Arizona State (1-5, 0-3 Pac-12) at 97th, Vanderbilt (2-6, 0-4 SEC) at 101st, and Stanford (2-4, 1-3 Pac-12) at 103rd.
Keep in mind, Stanford just rallied from a 29-0 halftime deficit to beat Deion’s Colorado squad on Friday night.
The Cardinal were 105th before that win.
No respect there for Deion. Beating his guys moves you up two spots.
Sagarin has Virginia 98th, with two P5s ranked lower – Indiana (2-4, 0-3 Big Ten) at 102, and Vandy at 110.
Congrove has Virginia 109th, with Stanford 113th, Vandy 115th, and Arizona State 117th.
And then there’s Massey, which has Virginia at 110th, with just Arizona State below, at 113th.
It’s probably fair to say that the average of the four would put Virginia, Vandy and Arizona State as Nos. 67, 68 and 69 among the 69 in Power 5 at this stage of the 2023 season.
Which isn’t as bad as I’d expected when I thought up taking a peek at this earlier today.
I fully assumed Virginia would be the undisputed bottom-feeder.
That win over William & Mary is carrying a lot of weight, for some reason.
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Chris Graham
