As SI considers the ‘Pac-10 vs. SEC’ question, Bill Trocchi seeks some outside help in constructing his latest conference power rankings:
For this particular exercise, I forwarded Ken White, the senior oddsmaker for Las Vegas Sports Consultants, 10 hypothetical matchups. Keep in mind that White’s company sets the odds for 90 percent of the casinos in Nevada. These matchups were created by the following: The teams in the SEC and Pac-10 were ranked 1-12 and 1-10 based on SI.com’s current 119. In an effort to be as balanced as possible, the SEC’s sixth and seventh teams (Arkansas, Kentucky) were thrown out. So the top five teams in the SEC were matched up against the top five teams in the Pac-10, and the bottom five teams in the SEC were matched up against the bottom five teams in the Pac-10. Seems fair, right?
The results
- USC over LSU by 3.
- Florida over Cal by 3½.
- Oregon over Alabama by 3.
- South Carolina over Washington by 8½.
- Arizona State over Georgia by 1.
- Tennessee over Washington State by 7.
- UCLA over Vanderbilt by 7.
- Oregon State over Mississippi State by 7.
- Auburn over Arizona by 4.
- Ole Miss, Stanford is a pick-’em.
show a slight edge for the Pac-10.
So there you have it. The Pac-10 squeaks out a 5-4-1 record in these 10 matchups. Armed with this new information, and given the Pac-10′s record vs. BCS foes this year is 6-2 while the SEC’s is 4-3, and considering the Pac-10 won the only real matchup between the two conferences, the Pac-10 grabs the top slot this week.
It’s a little bit early to get too excited about these results, but we’ll take ‘em all the same.
September 24th, 2007 at 10:18 am
Get real.I guess if one lives in a fictional world odds makers predict the winners.I consider real talent and o.o.c wins and losses. On just about every real statistic (bowls played in, bowls won,ooc record,talent in NFL) the Pac -2 loses out.After USC gets through their brutal schedule who do they have to play in their conf. championship , oh. I forgot….Go ahead and win a national championship. I get to see my team play ranked teams just about every week.It must feel strange to just wonder how you stack up.
September 24th, 2007 at 3:10 pm
Rob, did you change you name to JT?
September 24th, 2007 at 10:01 pm
[...] When it comes to the Pac-10 and the SEC, the Sports Reporters apparently disagree with what the oddsmakers had to say. For example, Mitch Albom: “I can’t see anybody beating USC, based on their schedule,” Mitch Albom, a columnist for the Detroit Free Press, said Sunday on the weekly ESPN program. “I don’t see it. [...]
September 25th, 2007 at 2:10 pm
[...] We already know that USC would be a three-point favorite over LSU. Well, it turns out that we’d also be five-point favorites over Oregon, six-point favorites over Cal, and 20-point favorites over UCLA. Posted by gpen Filed in USC, Oregon, Cal, LSU, UCLA [...]
October 9th, 2007 at 12:29 pm
[...] In fact, we’ve also got the edge (4-3) if you look at the Top 15. So we might’ve lost our edge with the oddsmakers, but at least we’ve got this going for us, which is nice. Posted by gpen Filed in SEC, Pac-10, Polls [...]