The money boys put it out there after last week’s slate:
Rank Team Rating Previous Notes 1 Southern Cal 113.8 1 Schedule sets up nicely. 2 Texas 112.2 2 Made major statement — again 3 Oklahoma 111.4 4 Sooners take care of business against KU. 4 Florida 111.1 3 Host Kentucky off the bye. 5 Penn State 110.1 5 Big Ten Title on the line in Columbus. 6 Georgia 107.8 7 Bulldogs post solid win over Vandy. 7 Alabama 107.5 8 Survive and advance over Mississippi. 8 Texas Tech 106.6 9 Put rally cap on at Texas A&M. 9 Ohio State 106.5 10 Staring to come together. 10 Missouri 106.4 6 Reeling from back to back beatings. 11 Oklahoma State 105.5 13 No letdown off huge win. 12 LSU 105.3 12 Battle past Spurrier’s boys. 13 Kansas 103.5 15 Hung tough for a while at Norman. 13 Texas Christian 103.5 16 College football’s Rodney Dangerfield. 15 Brigham Young 103.4 11 Horned Frogs spoil BYU’s BCS. 16 California 102.5 13 Struggled to keep pace with ‘Cats. 17 Utah 102.3 17 Ram tough versus CSU. 18 Arizona 101.9 26 Offense came to play against Cal. 19 West Virginia 101.7 19 Host Auburn Thursday night. 20 Oregon 101.5 21 A date with the Sun Devils on deck. 20 Boston College 101.5 25 Eagles get big win over Holies. 22 Boise State 101.4 20 Another solid effort at home. 23 South Florida 101.2 23 Too much talent for Syracuse. 23 Tulsa 101.2 27 Put up 77 on UTEP. 25 South Carolina 101.0 18 Tigers a little too much to handle. 26 Oregon State 100.9 28 Beavers big over Washington. 27 Florida State 100.2 NR Post win over NC State. 28 Georgia Tech 100.1 NR Big win at Clemson. 29 Cincinnati 100.0 30 Visit UConn this week. 29 Pittsburgh 100.0 NR Panthers blast Midshipmen.
Man, these guys like USC, don’t they? I’m not sure if Texas went out and beat an NFL team whether that would get it in the top slot. And before you accuse me of gross exaggeration, take a look at where they’ve got Oklahoma and Missouri ranked.
The three loss teams at 25 and 26 seem like a bit of a stretch, too.
Get The Picture 
And somehow Georgia is above Alabama….
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That was the case in their previous top 30, too.
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I still don’t have a clear idea where this ranking comes from or why we should give it credence. Is it something where professional bookmakers vote for a Top 30 and their votes are tallied up as in an ordinary poll? Or is it a rating produced by some computer algorithm?
And does the fact that, say, Southern Cal’s rating is 113.8 and Georgia’s is 107.8 imply that SC would be a 6-point favorite over Georgia on a neutral field? If these ratings are simply a means for devising a point spread, then this would seem to be a reflection of the betting public’s beliefs about the quality of the teams rather than their true levels of accomplishment.
DH
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David – I picked up on this poll based on a post I read over at Dan Steinberg’s blog at the Washington Post.
The link is here. I think it will address all of your questions.
I obviously don’t agree with all of their rankings, but theirs is an interesting perspective IMO.
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Senator,
Thanks for the link. So it’s a poll of bookmakers, with the bookies’ votes based on their perceptions of the power of the teams (which may not be the same as the accomplishments of the teams to date).
It’s interesting, but the poll I typically find to be the most reasonable on the whole, in combining information about teams’ records, schedule strength, “hot-streak” factors, and strength of victory, is the good old AP poll. Maybe I’m just an old fogey, but that’s the one I trust.
DH
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This is not a poll. The numbers are the power ratings used to determine the opening betting line for college football games. LVSC is the primary oddsmaker for the sports betting industry.
As a general rule the USC/Georgia example cited above is correct. USC would be a 6 point favorite on a neutral site. Other factors will influence the opening line such as home field advantage, injuries, how the specific teams match-up, the opinions of the individual bookmakers, etc.
We might not agree with their numbers, but the great thing about them is we can back-up our opinions with money every week.
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