No Florida teams crack top 10 in ESPN’s Football Power Index

The state of Florida could be in for an unimpressive year, if you believe the early projections from one of ESPN’s advanced metrics.

ESPN’s updated Football Power Index has the state’s top team, the Gators, ranked 14th in the country. For context, the last time Florida hasn’t had a team finish in the top 13 of the final Associated Press poll was 2015.

ESPN’s numbers give the Gators a 17 percent chance of winning the division and a 3.9 percent chance of winning the SEC. East rival Georgia is seventh in FPI, and reigning national champion Alabama is first.

Florida’s second-best team, according to these numbers, is Miami at No. 20. ESPN gives the Hurricanes a 28 percent chance of winning the ACC’s Coastal Division.

Florida State is 41st nationally entering Mike Norvell’s second season. UCF is 70th, and USF is 105th (ahead of only Navy and Temple in the AAC).

Other teams of note: Jimbo Fisher’s Aggies are sixth, adding more preseason hype to Texas A&M. Former Gators coach Jim McElwain has the nation’s No. 72 team at Central Michigan.

Check out ESPN’s full FPI rankings here.

• • •

Never miss out on the latest with the Bucs, Rays, Lightning, Florida college sports and more. Follow our Tampa Bay Times sports team on Twitter and Facebook.