College football rankings give us lots to talk about between Saturdays. On Sundays, we get the Coaches Poll and the AP Poll, ranking the top 25 teams in the country. (Soon, on Tuesdays, we’ll be getting a weekly top 25 from the College Football Playoff selection committee.)
Out in Las Vegas, they rank all the teams. While coaches and media voters weigh head-to-head and overall resumes, the smartest folks in the desert are only concerned with which teams would be most likely to win on a neutral field, and set opening lines based on those rankings. The casinos on The Strip weren’t built on the house losing money.
Phil Steele, widely recognized as one of college football’s leading experts, has connections to oddsmakers at the Las Vegas SuperBook and other casinos. Steele has published in-season Vegas Power Ratings since his time at ESPN. He is independent these days but continues to publish the Vegas numbers in weekly updates on his website during the season.
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The difference between 2 teams’ Vegas Ratings offers insight into what the betting line would be if they met on a neutral field today. Steele reminds his readers that, unlike other polls, Vegas Rankings don’t always reflect prior outcomes on the field. There are notable examples in the SEC and around college football in Week 8.
Oregon’s win over Ohio State was the main event of a wild Week 7 in college football. Vegas, however, still has the Buckeyes over Ducks. In fact, Ohio State is tied with Texas for No. 1 overall in the Vegas Power Rankings. LSU, coming off a thrilling win over Ole Miss, finds itself a few spots below the Rebels.
Here’s where all 16 SEC teams stand entering Week 8:
- No. 1 Texas (134.18 Vegas Rating – tied with Ohio State)
- No. 3 Georgia (131.76)
- No. 5 Alabama (130.02)
- No. 6 Ole Miss (128.39)
- No. 7 Tennessee (127.16)
- No. 12 LSU (121.71)
- No. 13 Texas A&M (121.53)
- No. 16 Mizzou (119.02)
- No. 21 Arkansas (117.52)
- No. 23 Kentucky (117.41)
- No. 26 Florida (116.28)
- No. 28 South Carolina (115.86)
- No. 29 Oklahoma (115.85)
- No. 34 Auburn (114.33)
- No. 56 Vanderbilt (110.96)
- No. 78 Mississippi State (102.79)
Andrew writes about sports to fund his love of live music and collection of concert posters. He strongly endorses the Hall of Fame campaigns of Fred Taylor and Andruw Jones.
