CFB Todd Fuhrman's Top 25

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.

* * *
RANK Todd Fuhrman USA Today Magazines ESPN.com
1 Alabama LSU LSU USC
2 USC Alabama USC LSU
3 LSU USC Alabama Alabama
4 Oregon Oklahoma Oklahoma Oklahoma
5 Florida State Oregon Oregon Oregon
6 Georgia Georgia Florida State Georgia
7 Oklahoma Florida State Georgia Florida State
8 Florida Michigan Michigan Michigan
9 Wisconsin South Carolina Ohio State West Virginia
10 Ohio State Arkansas Arkansas South Carolina
11 Arkansas West Virginia South Carolina Arkansas
12 Texas Wisconsin Texas Michigan State
13 South Carolina Michigan State West Virginia Stanford
14 Nebraska Clemson Wisconsin Ohio State
15 Michigan Texas Oklahoma State Wisconsin
16 West Virginia Nebraska Michigan State Clemson
17 Oklahoma State TCU Florida Texas
18 Michigan State Stanford Clemson TCU
19 Notre Dame Oklahoma State Nebraska Virginia Tech
20 Virginia Tech Virginia Tech TCU Kansas State
21 TCU Kansas State Louisville Nebraska
22 Stanford Boise State Boise State Oklahoma State
23 Clemson Florida Notre Dame Florida
24 Auburn Notre Dame Auburn Boise State
25 Tennessee Auburn Kansas State Notre Dame