To make the College Football Playoff, you essentially need to win a beauty pageant. The prettier your resume is, the more likely you are to get in.
These days, 1 single flaw — like a road loss in Columbus, for example — won’t keep you out of the dance. But if you’re worried about appearance, there’s always a place you can go where you’ll be welcomed with open arms: Las Vegas.
Vegas doesn’t care if you only beat UTEP by 17 at home. It doesn’t care that your quarterback only completed 44% of his passes in that game. All that matters in Vegas, according to college football expert Phil Steele, is strength.
Steele has been publishing Vegas Power Rankings for years, dating back to when he worked at ESPN. What they show is who would be favored in a given matchup on a neutral field. Wins and losses cause spikes and slips in the AP poll, but they don’t necessarily have an impact in Vegas. As Steele puts it, “Vegas does not overreact.”
Entering Week 5, Vegas believes the SEC is far and away the best conference in college football. Eleven of the SEC’s 16 teams — including one that could finish with one of its worst records ever — find themselves in Vegas’ top 21. And overall, the entire conference is featured in Vegas’ top 48.
Here’s where every SEC team stands entering Week 5:
- No. 2 Georgia (118.20 Vegas Rating)
- No. 3 Alabama (117.83)
- No. 4 Texas (117.17)
- No. 9 LSU (113.52)
- No. 10 Oklahoma (112.82)
- No. 11 Tennessee (112.14)
- No. 12 Texas A&M (111.80)
- No. 14 Auburn (110.13)
- No. 16 Ole Miss (109.39)
- No. 17 Missouri (109.38)
- No. 21 Florida (108.84)
- No. 29 Arkansas (106.60)
- No. 32 Vanderbilt (105.22)
- No. 42 Kentucky (102.01)
- No. 44 Mississippi State (101.94)
- No. 48 South Carolina (100.69)
