Vegas Rankings: Michigan ahead of Georgia entering Week 12
By Andrew Olson
Published:
College football fans and media members are debating “resume” and “the eye test” as the regular season enters its final 2 games. While the College Football Playoff selection committee has its criteria, out in Las Vegas they only care about which teams are the most likely to win the next game. The Las Vegas Strip wasn’t built on the house losing bets.
Phil Steele, widely recognized as a college football guru, has connections to the smartest folks in the desert. Steele has published weekly in-season Vegas Power Ratings since his time at ESPN. He’s now independent but continues to publish the Vegas numbers in weekly updates on his website during the season. The difference in 2 teams’ Vegas Ratings gives an idea of the betting line if they met on a neutral field.
Per Steele, Vegas has a different No. 1 team than the CFP selection committee. Michigan tops the Vegas Power Rankings entering Week 12. While Georgia is the consensus top team in the 3 major polls – CFP, AP, and Coaches – Vegas currently has the Bulldogs at No. 2.
If Vegas set the field of 4, Ohio State and Oregon would be the final 2 teams. Nick Saban will appreciate that Vegas currently has Alabama above Texas despite the head-to-head result:
“Alabama is a much better team now than they were at the beginning of the year,” Steele writes. “If Alabama played Texas on a neutral field today Alabama would be a 4-point favorite despite the fact Texas beat them soundly at home at the start of the year.”
Here are the latest top teams in Steele’s Vegas Rankings:
- No. 1 Michigan (135.56 Vegas Rating)
- No. 2 Georgia (134.44)
- No. 3 Ohio State (133.58)
- No. 4 Oregon (132.65)
- No. 5 Alabama (130.72)
- No. 6 Florida State (129.40)
- No. 7 Notre Dame (127.46)
- No. 8 Penn State (127.06)
- No. 9 Texas (126.61)
- No. 10 Washington (126.25)
Vegas Power Rankings could be considered the ultimate eye test, and team resumes will continue to be considered by the selection committee. We’ll see how things play out over the next few weeks with the final 4 set early next month.
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.
