College football rankings: Where every SEC team ranks in the Vegas Power Ratings entering Week 8

Tennessee’s thrilling win over Alabama shook up many college football polls. In the AP Top 25, for instance, the Vols took the No. 3 ranking while the Crimson Tide dropped to No. 6. The latest Vegas Rankings, however, still have Alabama as the higher team.

College football guru Phil Steele has published weekly in-season Vegas Power Ratings since his days at ESPN. Now independent, Steele maintains his sportsbook contacts at multiple Las Vegas casinos.

Steele’s Vegas Rankings are based on how teams are viewed by the smartest folks in the desert. The difference between 2 teams’ Vegas Ratings offers an idea of the betting line for a hypothetical neutral-field meeting.

Steele points out that prior results on the field, such as Tennessee over Alabama, are not always reflected by the Vegas Ratings:

Alabama barely got past Texas by 1 and was basically outplayed in the game. If the two met again on a neutral field, Bama would be a 11-point favorite. Georgia Tech just won at Pitt 3 weeks ago but if the two met this week at a neutral field Pitt would be -15. If Bama played Tennessee on a neutral field this week the time would be -7’.

Here’s the Vegas Ranking for every SEC team entering Week 8:

• No. 2 Alabama (135.72 Vegas Rating)
• No. 3 Georgia (134.96)
• No. 4 Tennessee (128.25)
• No. 10 Mississippi State (121.19)
• No. 11 Ole Miss (120.74)
• No. 18 Texas A&M (118.12)
• No. 20 Arkansas (117.89)
• No. 21 LSU (117.88)
• No. 23 Kentucky (117.71)
• No. 31 Florida (114.90)
• No. 46 South Carolina (112.10)
• No. 55 Missouri (109.06)
• No. 59 Auburn (108.34)
• No. 107 Vanderbilt (96.89)

The Vegas Rankings for all 131 FBS teams, starting with No. 1 Ohio State (138.65), can be found here.

Andrew Olson

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.