When I worked for ESPN full time, I put out a weekly article entitled the Vegas Power Ratings. I still have all the sources that I used to produce that article as it featured my plus/minus ratings which closely resemble Vegas’s numbers as well as three different casinos including the fine folks over at the Westgate Las Vegas Sportsbook @SuperBookSports.

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. Keep in mind just because a team beat someone last week does not mean they would be favored over them in the Vegas ratings. AP voters must vote that way, but Vegas does not. I will update these each week during the year as always.

In 2024 all the controversy is about Florida State being left out of the playoffs but if Vegas was picking the final four team’s they would have left them out as well. Florida State was #15 in the Vegas Power ratings prior to the bowl games! All season long I said Vegas does not care about record or who beat who it just establishes who it thinks is the stronger team and who would be favored against whom.

Last year Oregon and Georgia were #1 and #2 in the Playoff rankings and in the AP Poll heading into the playoffs. Vegas had Ohio State and Texas as the top two teams and Texas lost to Ohio St in the Buckeyes closest Playoff win while Oregon and Georgia both lost in their first playoff game. Yes, Vegas had Ohio State rated higher than Oregon even though the Buckeyes had lost to Oregon in the regular season and Oregon was the undefeated Big Ten champ!

There have been some upsets and ranked teams beating ranked teams. Vegas does not overreact. If you look at the rankings Alabama dropped to #19 in the AP poll but in Vegas, they were still #4! How does that look now? Notre Dame lost to Texas A&M and was 1-2 while Texas A&M was 4-0. Any AP voter HAD TO put A&M above ND but in Vegas if the two were to meet on a neutral field, ND would have been favored the next week and still today

The CFB rankings came out  four weeks ago and they had BYU at #7 and Texas Tech at #8!! The Vegas rankings had Texas Tech at #8 but BYU at #22 and as you saw Texas Tech was a 10-point favorite in their matchup so the Vegas ratings tell you who would be favored and do not have judge a team strictly by its record. Vegas has Notre Dame #3 but because they had two losses the CFB has them at #10. Virginia was #14 in the CFB and the highest rated CFB team, but they were only #30 in the Vegas Power Ratings and would be an underdog to Clemson, and Miami if they were to play them on a neutral site today. That is the way Vegas operates, and they don’t build those big casino’s because Vegas puts out poor numbers.

In the Miami – Notre Dame controversy Vegas has ND at #3 and Miami at #10 so ND would be a 4 point favorite at a neutral site.

These rankings differ from the AP but show you who would be favored in upcoming matchups.

Here is the week fifteenth edition of the 2025 Vegas Power Ratings!