Oddsmaker’s Take: How Las Vegas top 25 rankings compare to the pundits & pollsters

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Las Vegas bookmakers generally have much different opinions than pollsters and pundits, and that became evident today when Caesars Palace’s Todd Fuhrman published his top 25 college football rankings.

Caesars was the first Las Vegas sportsbook to release 2013 BCS national championship futures back in January, but after an interesting offseason that included NCAA sanctions, bowl bans, transfers, suspensions and injuries, things have changed considerably since then.

We’ve provided a table below comparing Fuhrman’s rankings to the USA Today top 25 coaches poll, in addition to ESPN.com and magazine consensus ratings.

Among the most interesting differences:

• Fuhrman lists Michigan as the 15th best team, while USA Today, ESPN and the magazines all have the Wolverines ranked 8th overall. The Wolverines went 11-2 last year and are projected favorites in nine of 12 games in 2012.
• Florida is ranked 17th, 23rd and 23rd by the pollsters and pundits. Fuhrman ranks them eighth. “I know people will take umbrage with a few teams that I’ve ranked abnormally,” Fuhrman wrote on his blog. “…However, that’s the nature of the exercise.”
• The magazines and polls rank Kansas State anywhere between 20th and 25th, while Fuhrman doesn’t even have the Cats ranked. (Hey, you know what they say: Vegas isn’t always right.)

Note: You can visit Fuhrman’s blog, Todd’s Take, by clicking here. 

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• College Football Top 25 for 2013: A very early look at next year’s contenders based on BCS futures odds

Tags:   college football top 25 rankings   |   Las Vegas college football poll   |   Todd Fuhrman rankings   |   Vegas rankings college football