college football:

Forget Florida: Sports book supplier says USC is No. 1

Monday, Jan. 12, 2009 | 11:53 a.m.

In Kenny White’s estimation, Southern California went into the bowl season as the top team in college football and ended it as national champion.

The chief operating officer of Las Vegas Sports Consultants, which supplies the betting lines to most of Nevada’s sports books, had the Trojans atop his list of power ratings all season.

“They were No. 1 all year long, and there’s no reason to make any adjustments,” White said Monday morning. “There’s no adjustment I could make to push them to No. 2. I think they’re that good.”

Until there is a playoff system to determine the de facto national champion, who better to determine the top team than the group that’s responsible for setting the official point spreads?

The LVSC is impartial and unbiased, and the accuracy of its figures determines whether the casinos win or lose tens of millions of dollars every weekend.

White and his group can’t afford to be wrong, that’s why his and its numbers, player rankings and team ratings, must be on the money.

White had USC rated 2 1/2 points better than Florida going into the bowl games.

“And Southern California did nothing to disappoint,” he said. “Florida did well, too.”

USC (12-1) beat Penn State, 38-24, in the Rose Bowl. Florida (13-1) defeated Oklahoma (12-2), 24-14, in the BCS title game. White said USC should have played the Gators for the crown.

Texas (12-1) flattened Ohio State, 24-21, in the Fiesta Bowl to finish fourth in the final Associated Press poll. Florida, Utah and USC finished in the first three slots of that poll.

White said the 13-0 Utes — who beat Alabama, 31-17, in the Sugar Bowl — would have been fortunate to finish among his final top 20.

“Personally, I had them 19th going into the bowl season,” he said. “I’m not going to change. TCU is better than Utah. I don’t care that Utah went 13-0.

“The Utes could lose their next five games if they played five solid teams. TCU outplayed them the day they played in Utah. The Horned Frogs’ field-goal kicker let them down.”

White and his three colleagues who set the college football spreads are finalizing their figures today and releasing the LVSC’s overall final poll tonight.

He said he believes Florida will finish atop that poll.

“It’s probably going to be Florida one and SC two,” White said. “We just grabbed all of our stats and are putting it all together. Each one does his a little differently. Each guy has a set of power ratings, which are the primary source for the strength of each team.”

White talked about an e-mail he received last week to illustrate the weakness of the AP poll.

“Kudos on your top 30,” the man wrote. “Where you had a team ranked higher than the AP, those teams went 12-6, straight up, in the bowls. Where the AP had a team rated higher, they went 4-10.

“You guys definitely destroyed the AP in accuracy in selecting the strength of teams.”

Discussion: 9 comments so far…

By Davolas

1/12/09 at 2:26 p.m.

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Wow, remind me to never bet on what this guy writes. Top 20 for Utah huh? Last time I checked a field goal kicker is part of the team and most need a decent one to win games. Does this guy even have a clue? Last time I checked Oregon State beat USC and Utah beat Oregon State. Oh, but the team is better right? That's sure not what the score said which is the only thing that matters.
By yankeesfan2615

1/12/09 at 6:03 p.m.

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I have a lot of respect for Mr. White's opinion (he took the time out to speak to us Gaming Majors over at UNLV this semester). But Kenny you are way off on the Utes, they were sick this year!
By Rob Miech (Staff)

1/12/09 at 6:18 p.m.

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Hey, until there's a playoff system, it's all hyperbole. But he and his organization can't afford to be wrong, so ... he knows A LOT about what he talks about. Opinions are opinions -- everyone has one -- til they actually play that thing off. Thx
By yankeesfan2615

1/12/09 at 6:42 p.m.

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I agree LVSC is the best at what they do, I'd love to intern for them, however I just can't see what more the Utes could have done besides blow everyone out. To Kenny's credit I don't think he ever had Bama near the top spot, but Bama backers surely had their wallets lightened after that Salt Lake smackdown.
By Rob Miech (Staff)

1/12/09 at 11:01 p.m.

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No doubt yankee. Utes cost some Bama loyalists a few greenbacks. That win at Ann Arbor told plenty of people what was coming. The Utes couldn't have figured that the Wolverines would be so down this season when they scheduled 'em. Hey, until there's a playoff ...
By JahReb

1/13/09 at 6:36 a.m.

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Davolas, I love listening to SEC logic...it's fascinating.

Utah beat OSU who beat USC, so that means Utah is better than USC?

In that case let's go with UNLV beat UNM who beat Arizona...so UNLV should be LV Bowl Champs!

I bet the books are happy to see you walking up to the window.
By homer

1/13/09 at 12:19 p.m.

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White is an idiot like his perdecessor Roxie.I have taken classes from Sonny Reisner and Roxie, so what. Most of these idiots who play with other peoples money are phonies. If White had to book his own action and pay out his own loses he would be selling used cars next week.
The problem is casino coe's write the expenses off for Whites comany and have somone to hide behind when they get their brains kicked in by the public. There are not anymore in house bookmakers and that is why big money is not wagered on sports in Vegas anymore. Betters used to come with duffle bags of money to bet in Vegas they now come with the grocery money, they can not get it down here anymore and Mr.White is a phoney.
By Rob Miech (Staff)

1/13/09 at 1:45 p.m.

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Uh, homer, the sports books hardly regularly get "their brains kicked in" by the public. Just the opposite. And name-calling is pretty juvenile, don't you think? Totally uncalled for and wrong.
By unclebear

1/13/09 at 5:25 p.m.

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KW has always been a class act! I think his record speaks for itself, he's been in this business for close to 30 years and has done very well for himself. I think anybody that knows Ken would say the same thing.