This Week's Vegas Oddsmakers' Top 25/30
As always, featuring 30 teams and the not-to-be-contested wisdom of Las Vegas Sports Consultants, which tells you which college teams are the best, scoreboard and polls be damned.
And I'll save you all some work by whining about the following things: Why is West Virginia ranked ahead of South Florida wah wah wah? Why is Oregon ranked ahead of Cal wah wah wah? Why is LSU ranked ahead of Kentucky wah wah wah? Why is Penn State ranked and Illinois not ranked wah wah wah? Why is Georgia Tech ranked and Maryland not ranked wah wah wah. Well I'll tell you why: college football results are imperfect. But in a perfect world, LSU remains significantly better than Kentucky. If weak-willed Harris voters want to ignore that, fine.
Biggest frauds, according to Vegas: South Florida and Kentucky continue to be massively overrated by the AP, nine spots this week. Hawaii is ranked eight spots too high. Boston College and South Carolina are ranked six spots too high.
Biggest sleepers, according to Vegas: BYU is ridiculously underrated by the AP, 16 spots this week. Southern Cal is ranked nine spots too low. Florida, Penn State and Michigan are ranked eight spots too low. Florida State is ranked seven spots too low. Oklahoma State and Georgia Tech aren't getting enough respect. Also, LSU should still be No. 1.
Vegas looked smart when: Vegas said Michigan should handle overrated Purdue; the Wolverines won by 27. That's why we love Vegas. Vegas said Penn State should handle overrated Wisconsin; the Nittany Lions won by 31. That's why we love Vegas. Vegas said Arkansas would hang with Auburn despite getting exactly zero votes in the AP poll; the Razorbacks lost by two. That, friends, is why we love Vegas. Also, Vegas faves BYU and Texas won, both by double digits, while teams Vegas was skeptical of (Illinois and Cincinnati) lost. Great week for Vegas.
Vegas looked dumb when: Well, Vegas loved LSU and was down on Kentucky. But still. Also, weekly Vegas fave Florida State lost at Wake Forest, and weekly Vegas fave Southern Cal barely beat Arizona.
Games to watch: Majorly underrated Florida plays at majorly overrated Kentucky. Expect a Florida win. Slightly overrated Kansas State plays at underrated Oklahoma State. Way underrated Michigan plays at overrated Illinois.
Numbers after the jump. AP rankings in parentheses.
1. LSU (5)
2. Oklahoma (4)
3. Ohio State (1)
4. Southern Cal (13)
5. West Virginia (9)
6. Florida (14)
7. Oregon (7)
8. California (10)
9. Boston College (3)
10. Arizona State (12)
11. South Florida (2)
12. South Carolina (6)
13. Missouri (15t)
14. Texas (19)
15. Virginia Tech (11)
16. Michigan (24)
17. Kentucky (8)
18. Penn State (26)
19. Auburn (18)
20. Kansas (15t)
21. Texas Tech (22)
22. Tennessee (20)
23. Brigham Young (39)
24. Georgia (21)
25. Hawaii (17)
26. Oklahoma State (No votes)
27. Kansas State (25)
28. Georgia Tech (No votes)
29. Florida State (36t)
30. Boise State (29)
Not ranked by Vegas: Cincinnati (22nd in the AP).
By Dan Steinberg |
October 17, 2007; 11:14 AM ET
| Category:
College Football
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Posted by: sitruc | October 17, 2007 12:29 PM
As a Buckeye fan I don't like the Vegas poll. As one who grew up here in Las Vegas, and has bet on college football a the sportsbooks for twenty-four years I know they are going to be right over the long run. You can beat them from time to time, but you can't win.
Posted by: jrg | October 17, 2007 08:48 PM
It's about time a poll gives BYU some credit. They are a two loss team that played a tough non-conference schedule. Plus, they are undefeated in the mountain west conference which is an underrated conference. The MWC played some tough games with BCS conference schools this year and held their own.
Posted by: Kyle | October 23, 2007 10:40 AM
Where can you find the oddsmakers poll on a weekly basis?
Posted by: jeb | October 23, 2007 11:25 AM
The comments to this entry are closed.
Normally I come in here to say that Vegas sucks at college football rankings, but all of the polls suck this week so they may have one of the better polls....