Where every SEC team ranks in Phil Steele’s Vegas Power Ratings entering Week 5
By Andrew Olson
Published:
Phil Steele has the reputation as a”college football guru” for being one of the sport’s leading analysts. Steele is best known for his annual preview magazine, but his coverage continues into the season. On his website, Steele shares his weekly “Vegas Power Ratings.”
Steele, who has contacts at Las Vegas sportsbooks, compiles ratings which he says, “closely resemble Vegas’s numbers.” Steele explains that the Vegas ratings differ from traditional polls like the Associated Press Top 25:
This is not the AP poll but gives you an idea of how much teams would be favored over another team if they met on a neutral field. I use these to get an idea of lines on upcoming games and it is very accurate in that respect.
This week, Steele shared his Vegas ratings for all 130 FBS teams after Week 4. Here’s where the 14 SEC teams rank going into Saturday’s Week 5 slate:
- Alabama – 137.32 (No. 1)
- Georgia – 136.14 (No. 2)
- Ole Miss – 125.95 (No. 5)
- Florida – 124.53 (No. 6)
- Texas A&M – 122.32 (No. 12)
- Arkansas – 120.75 (No. 17)
- LSU – 119.68 (No. 19)
- Auburn – 119.02 (No. 21)
- Kentucky – 115.93 (No. 26)
- Mississippi State – 113.65 (No. 45)
- Missouri – 110.52 (No. 59)
- Tennessee – 106.86 (No. 74)
- South Carolina – 104.90 (No. 83)
- Vanderbilt – 92.49 (No. 113)
Arkansas fans won’t appreciate being ranked below Texas A&M after the Razorbacks defeated the Aggies in this year’s Southwest Classic. Steele did not address Texas A&M-Arkansas, but here’s what he said about similar situations:
You will notice this week that Ohio State is rated #4 and Oregon is #10. You will say, but Oregon beat Ohio State on the road by a TD so how can Ohio State be rated higher? This is not an AP ranking but if Ohio State played Oregon again this week at a neutral site the Buckeyes who were favored by 15 at home would be favored by 5 at a neutral site this week. Northern Illinois was +19 but beat Georgia Tech on the road. If those teams met at a neutral site this week Georgia Tech would be favored by 14 points. Bowling Green just beat Minnesota on the road but if they played this week at a neutral site Minnesota would be favored by 27. This is not who has played the toughest schedule, who passes the eye test or who deserves to be rated higher than another team based on play on the field.
Steele’s Vegas ratings for all 130 FBS teams can be viewed here.
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.
