ESPN’s FPI (Football Power Index) has been officially updated after Week 2 and Nebraska fans may not be thrilled about how it predicts the Cornhuskers’ season will play out.

Matt Rhule is attempting to revitalize the Nebraska program in just his second year. The Cornhuskers caught the eyes of national media after their dominating 28-10 victory over Colorado at home on Saturday night.

Even though they are ranked in the top 25 of the AP Poll for the first time since 2019, Rhule said his team has bigger goals for this season.

As it stands, the FPI predicts the 2024 Cornhuskers will win 7-8 games total and they have an 89.1 percent chance to win more than 6 games. But while Nebraska and true freshman QB Dylan Raiola have been impressive after two weeks, the FPI is only giving the Huskers an 11.1 percent chance of reaching the new 12-team College Football Playoff.

ESPN defines the FPI as a measure of team strength that is meant to be the best predictor of a team’s performance going forward for the rest of the season. FPI represents how many points above or below average a team is. Projected results are based on 20,000 simulations of the rest of the season using FPI, results to date, and the remaining schedule. Ratings and projections update daily. FPI data from seasons prior to 2019 may not be complete.

Based on projections for the rest of Nebraska’s games, it’s clear the ESPN FPI is predicting the Cornhuskers will likely lose to Ohio State and USC. It gives them just a 41.8% chance of beating Indiana on the road and an almost 50% chance of beating Iowa to close out the season.

The full predictions for the rest of Nebraska’s schedule are below:

  • Sept. 14 vs. Northern Iowa — 95%
  • Sept. 20 vs. Illinois — 67.3%
  • Sept. 28 at Purdue — 58.1%
  • Oct. 5 vs. Rutgers — 68.8%
  • Oct. 19 at Indiana — 41.8%
  • Oct. 26 at Ohio State — 7.8%
  • Nov. 2 vs. UCLA — 73.4%
  • Nov. 16 at USC — 21.5%
  • Nov. 23 vs. Wisconsin — 72.6%
  • Nov. 29 at Iowa — 49.8%