Football
Errors on original FPI rankings drop MSU, Hogs up to 6 wins
ESPN has revised the Football Power Index and dropped Mississippi State while Arkansas is now projected at 6.3 wins.
When ESPN released the first preseason Football Power Index, somehow Mississippi State was listed at No. 8 and that raised a lot of eyebrows.
Yeah, it was a screwup and they finally got it fixed and released another index Thursday morning with a disclaimer at the top:
Editor’s Note: We recently discovered that our previous preseason release of the Football Power Index in April contained data and modeling errors. We have remedied the issues and are re-releasing FPI here ahead of the 2021 season. ESPN Analytics regrets the error.
Mississippi State was re-arranged at No. 24. Arkansas, meanwhile, is now No. 36 with the index projecting 6.3 wins for the 2021 season.
While all of that is at least a glimmer of hope for Razorback fans, it really didn’t make the schedule that much easier. When you take out non-conference games against Rice, Georgia Southern and Arkansas-Pine Bluff, the Hogs have eight opponents ranked in the Top 25 of the index.
The average opponent FPI of those eight opponents is 12. Alabama (1), Georgia (5), Texas A&M (7) and Texas (8) are the most highly-rated teams on the schedule.
Auburn is 15th, LSU 18th with Ole Miss No. 20 and Mississippi State 24th.
The usual teams are at the top. Behind the Crimson Tide are Clemson, Oklahoma and Ohio State.
Other teams affected by the revised index included Miami (moved up from No. 20 to No. 10), Oklahoma State (down from No. 9 to No. 19), Washington (up from No. 59 to No. 25), Utah (up from No. 57 to No. 30), UCF (up from No. 70 to No. 34), BYU (up from No. 63 to No. 38), Coastal Carolina (down from No. 35 to No. 60), Kansas State (down from No. 44 to No. 67).
| Thu, Aug 29 |  | vs UAPB (Little Rock) | W, 70-0 |
| Sat, Sep 7 |  | @ Oklahoma State | L, 31-39 2OT |
| Sat, Sep 14 |  | vs UAB | 3:15 PM |
| Sat, Sep 21 |  | @ Auburn | 2:30 or 3:15 PM TBD |
| Sat, Sep 28 |  | vs Texas A&M (Arl) | TBD |
| Sat, Oct 5 |  | vs Tennessee | TBD |
| Sat, Oct 19 |  | vs LSU | TBD |
| Sat, Oct 26 |  | @ Mississippi State | TBD |
| Sat, Nov 2 |  | vs Ole Miss | TBD |
| Sat, Nov 16 |  | vs Texas | 11:00 AM |
| Sat, Nov 23 |  | vs Louisiana Tech | TBD |
| Sat, Nov 30 |  | @ Missouri | TBD |
| Following is the Arkansas Sports Media High School Football Poll including the Overall Top 10, the top five in Classes 7A, 6A, 5A, 4A, 3A and 2A, plus the top three in the 8-man division, as voted by a panel of sports media from around the state for the week ending August 24. Ranking is given with first-place votes received, records, total points and ranking from last week's poll: | ||||
| OVERALL | Record | Pts | Prv | |
| 1. | Bryant (3) | 2-0 | 133 | 2 |
| 2. | Fayetteville (5) | 2-0 | 132 | 1 |
| 3.. | Greenwood (2) | 2-0 | 128 | 3 |
| 4. | Conway (2) | 2-0 | 120 | t4 |
| 5. | Little Rock Parkview (4) | 2-0 | 114 | t4 |
| 6. | Pulaski Academy | 2-0 | 77 | 7 |
| 7. | Shiloh Christian | 2-0 | 43 | 9 |
| 8. | Benton | 0-1 | 42 | 6 |
| 9. | Bentonville | 0-2 | 40 | 6 |
| 10. | Cabot | 1-1 | 17 | — |
| Others receiving votes: Marion 16, Springdale 6, Joe T. Robinson 5, Rogers 3, Fort Smith Southside 1, Valley View 1, Warren 1, Harding Academy 1. | ||||
| CLASS 7A | ||||
| 1. | Bryant (5) | 2-0 | 66 | 2 |
| 2. | Fayetteville (7) | 2-0 | 65 | 1 |
| 3. | Conway (4) | 2-0 | 31 | 5 |
| 4. | Pulaski Academy | 1-0 | 33 | 5 |
| 5. | Bentonville | 0-2 | 13 | 4 |
| Others receiving votes: Cabot 3, Rogers 2, Springdale 2. | ||||
| CLASS 6A | ||||
| 1. | Greenwood (16) | 2-0 | 80 | 1 |
| 2. | Benton | 0-1 | 54 | 2 |
| 3. | Shiloh Christian | 2-0 | 53 | 3 |
| 4. | Marion | 2-0 | 29 | 4 |
| 5. | Mountain Home | 2-0 | 12 | — |
| Others receiving votes: FS Southside 9, Lake Hamilton 3. | ||||
| CLASS 5A | ||||
| 1. | Little Rock Parkview (16) | 2-0 | 80 | 1 |
| 2. | Joe T Robinson | 1-1 | 52 | 3 |
| 3. | Harding Academy | 0-1 | 29 | 2 |
| 4. | Hot Springs Lakeside | 2-0 | 23 | — |
| 5. | Valley View | 2-0 | 20 | — |
| Others receiving votes: Camden Fairview 9, Pine Bluff 8, Maumelle 6, Morrilton 5, Farmington 3, Wynne 2, Greenbrier 2, Magnolia 1. | ||||
| CLASS 4A | ||||
| 1. | Warren (10) | 1-1 | 73 | 1 |
| 2. | Arkadelphia (2) | 1-1 | 54 | 2 |
| 3. | Elkins (3) | 2-0 | 40 | 3 |
| 4. | Little Rock Mills | 2-0 | 25 | t5 |
| 5. | Malvern (1) | 2-0 | 13 | — |
| Others receiving votes: DeWitt 11, Bauxite 10, Highland 4, Stuttgart 3, Ozark 1, Mena 1, Southside Batesville 1. | ||||
| CLASS 3A | ||||
| 1. | Prescott (7) | 2-0 | 69 | 2 |
| 2. | Booneville (7) | 2-0 | 67 | 1 |
| 3. | Rivercrest (2) | 1-0 | 38 | 3 |
| 4. | Newport | 2-0 | 25 | 5 |
| 5. | Walnut Ridge | 2-0 | 15 | — |
| Others receiving votes: Salem 12, Fordyce 5, Bismarck 5, Charleston 4. | ||||
| CLASS 2A | ||||
| 1. | Carlisle (6) | 2-0 | 56 | 4 |
| 2. | Conway Christian (3) | 2-0 | 46 | 5 |
| 3. | Bigelow (6) | 1-1 | 37 | 1 |
| 4. | Junction City | 0-2 | 32 | 2 |
| 5. | Mineral Springs (1) | 1-1 | 24 | 3 |
| Others receiving votes: Marked Tree 22, Des Arc 19, Hector 10, Cross County 91) 8, Mount Ida 3, East Poinsett County 1, Mountainburg 1. | ||||
| 8-MAN SANCTIONED | ||||
| 1. | Rector (11) | 1-0 | 39 | 1 |
| 2. | Strong (5) | 1-0 | 36 | 2 |
| 3. | Woodlawn | 1-0 | 11 | — |
| Others receiving votes: Woodlawn 5, Cedar Ridge 4, Augusta 2. | ||||