The Georgia Bulldogs sit atop the first edition of the 2017 college football playoff rankings but in the eyes of Las Vegas oddsmakers they would be an 11.5-point underdog against the Alabama Crimson Tide on a neutral field tomorrow.
“Georgia has an offense that tries to rush the ball 40 to 50 times a game while huddling,” Ed Salmon, oddsmaker at the Westgate SuperBook in Las Vegas, told Covers. “No team has ever rushed the ball against Alabama without playing no-huddle or hurry-up [offense].”
The college football playoff committee rankings are based what has already happened in the season through the first nine weeks. Oddsmakers, however, also take into account what will most likely happen the rest of the season, not just what we’ve seen since the last weekend in August.
That’s why the Westgate SuperBook in Las Vegas and online sportsbooks both list Alabama as their odds on favorite to win the national championship and not Georgia, the team at the top of the college football playoff rankings.
“What gave Georgia a very slight edge over Alabama this week in the eyes of the selection committee were really the two top-25 wins that Georgia has, over Mississippi State but specifically over No. 3 Notre Dame,” Kirby Hocutt, the committee chairman, told reporters on Tuesday.
Alabama and Georgia will likely play each other in the SEC Championship game assuming things don’t go too out of whack over the next few Saturdays. Salmon points out that both teams will play Auburn before the SEC championship game and how the final score lines in those games would likely impact a potential spread between ‘Bama and Georgia.
The debate over Alabama and Georgia isn’t the only difference of opinions between the college football playoff committee and sportsbooks. Here’s how the two sides stack up their top 10 – the committee with their rankings and oddsmakers listing the top 10 favorites to win the national title.
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