Where Nebraska Ranks in National College Football Polls

Each Wednesday, we’ll take a look at where Nebraska ranks in seven national college football polls and rankings. After Week Two, the Huskers ranked 29.4 in an average of the seven.

The Huskers’ best ranking is 12th in the ESPN Football Power Index.

Despite their 2-0 record — including a 68-0 victory over Akron — the Huskers have not cracked the Associated Press Top 25, the gold standard of college football polls.

Since the AP poll began on Oct. 19, 1936, Nebraska has been ranked in 58 percent of 1,253 AP polls.

The polls and rankings we will monitor are:

* Associated Press
*The Athletic
* CBS Sports
* US LBM Coaches Poll
* ESPN’s Football Power Index
* ESPN’s SP+ rankings
* Massey Ratings

Associated Press

Nebraska was in the “others receiving votes” group after Week Two, finishing 35th with 10 points. The Huskers have been “others receiving votes” all season.

Last week, the Huskers also were 35th, but with 13 points. Maybe those 68-0 victories don’t carry the weight they once did.

In AP’s preseason poll, Nebraska ranked 33rd, with 23 points.

The Athletic

The Huskers dropped to 40th this week from 37th last week. Florida replaced Nebraska at 37th, the Gators free-falling from 18th after a shocking, 18-16 home loss to South Florida.

In The Athletic’s preseason rankings, the Huskers were 39th.

Nebraska wide receiver Dane Key has nine catches for 86 yards and two touchdowns in the Huskers' first two games. | Kenny Larabee, KLIN

CBS Sports

Nebraska moved up two spots, from 34th to 32nd.

US LBM Coaches Poll

The Huskers are 35th with 19 points. Last week, Nebraska was 37th with 13 points.

In the preseason poll, Nebraska was 39th with 19 points. Slowly, the Huskers are moving up in the eyes of the coaches who vote.

ESPN’s Football Power Index (FPI)

The Huskers are ranked 12th. FPI odds say Nebraska is likely to finish with 9.2 wins and 2.9 losses.

Nebraska has a 99.8 percent chance of winning six games, which is bowl eligibility. The Huskers have a 3.5 percent chance of winning the Big Ten, a 27.7 percent chance of making the College Football Playoff, a 3.2 chance of making the championship game, and a 1.1 percent chance of winning the national championship.

After Week One, the Huskers were ranked 28th. In the preseason, Nebraska was ranked 47th.

ESPN’s SP+ rankings

ESPN’s Bill Connelly describes his rankings this way: “What is SP+? In a single sentence, it’s a tempo- and opponent-adjusted measure of college football efficiency that I originally created at Football Outsiders in 2008.

“SP+ is intended to be predictive and forward-facing. It is not a résumé ranking (hence the lack of unbeatens near the top), so it does not automatically give credit for big wins or particularly brave scheduling — no good predictive system does.”

Nebraska is 28th in Connelly’s latest rankings, a gain of 19 places from the previous week.

Massey Ratings

Massey Ratings are a compilation of 40 different college football rankings. In the consensus of the 40 rankings — which we’re using for our average of the seven polls — the Huskers jumped nine spots to 27th.

With an FCS opponent, Houston Christian, on Nebraska’s schedule Saturday, don’t expect a large jump in the Huskers’ rankings next week. It all gets real — on the field and in the rankings — when Michigan comes to Lincoln on Sept. 20.

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