The New Prestige Pecking Order

Ever hear the phrase : "They're laying 3 more points due to the name on the front of their jersey? " That is the key to "public perception" and one of the important keys in how the linesmakers have to draw a line to produce a 50/50 split on bets each way. College football is a heralded tradition, with deep rooted standards that are only rivaled by major league baseball for unmetamorphic longevity. Yes, things do change in time from campus to campus, conference to conference, and college sports governing powers. But it is a marination of time in college gridiron: if modern times' trends can force the issue even on sentiments such as baseball, it cannot crack college sports' fraternal symbol; otherwise Notre Dame's Domers would already have a domed football stadium and a space needle would've relieved Altgeld Hall at Champagne's fabled but humbled skyline. With so much tradition and sacred stubbornness in place at America's universities, the same penchant remains true with the 2 other components in the game of gridiron gambling; the bookie and the betting public. A few years back, I devised The Prestige Pecking Order to show a balanced blend of how the bookmakers AND the general betting public perceive the teams as being either a perennial winning powerhouse, all the way down to the unknown/directional non-traditional obscurity of the Sunbelts, MACs, and new independents. But instead of concentrating on the "also ran" circuit , the gray area of real meaningful "means", i 've recently reduced the importance to that of the top 30 "traditionals" as to how the linesmen are gonna counteract,or act with the "public perception." There is significance of how Notre Dame matches up to Navy, as their long straight up winning streak over the Middies is legendary (and 2007 ultimately the swan song as legends do die). But with the perennial line seeming to gain starch year after year as the Domers seemingly get fat on the poor, it certainly makes sense to "peck back" at the profitable hunk of cheese. Here is this preseason's Top 30 Pecking Order to "peck back" at. With just concentrating on the main 30, no need to worry if Hawaii is overvalued over Idaho because they are higher on the "120k teampecking order". ^ indicates a program who has jumped ranking spots since '09 (followed by their last season rank), v = a drop from a previous higher position in '08.