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Power Ratings to Fair Value: The CFB Model Math

How the college football model turns power ratings into fair value: simulate the season, price every title path, then de-vig venue quotes into one consensus.

By Redshirt Editorial · 2026-09-20
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Key takeaways
  • The model converts power ratings into win probabilities, simulates the full schedule and playoff, then counts title outcomes to produce a fair value.
  • Texas leads the national title board at 12.9% fair value, ahead of Georgia at 12.2% and a tie between Ohio State and Notre Dame at 11.2%.
  • Venue quotes are stripped of vig and blended into a single consensus, so the fair value is not any one exchange's raw price.
  • Edge exists only where the cheapest tradable price sits below the model's fair value, as with Indiana at 7c against a 7.6% read.
  • Ole Miss shows the opposite: a 7c best price against a 4.9% fair value marks the contract as rich, not cheap.

The model turns power ratings into fair value in three steps: convert rating gaps into game-by-game win probabilities, simulate the entire season and playoff many times over, then count how often each team finishes as champion. That final share is the fair value. Texas tops the national title board at 12.9%, with Georgia at 12.2% and Ohio State and Notre Dame tied at 11.2%.

How does a power rating become a win probability?

A power rating is a single number describing team strength. The model does not trade on that number directly; it treats the gap between two ratings, adjusted for site and rest, as the input to a win-probability curve. A large edge maps toward the high end of the curve, a coin-flip gap toward 50%.

That curve is the hinge of the whole system. It never outputs certainty, because no single college football game is certain. Every matchup on a team's schedule gets its own probability, and those probabilities become the raw material for the season simulation.

From single games to a full-season simulation

One game probability says little about a title. The model chains them together by simulating the complete schedule, conference races, and playoff bracket repeatedly. In each run, favorites usually advance and underdogs sometimes spring through, exactly as the per-game odds imply.

After the full set of simulations, the model counts championships. A team that wins the title in 12.9% of runs, as Texas does, carries a 12.9% fair value. This is why the board is not simply a ranking of power ratings: schedule difficulty, conference path, and bracket variance all reshape the final number.

Where does the fair value board stand now?

The current national title board is tightly packed at the top. Texas leads at 12.9%, Georgia sits at 12.2%, and Ohio State and Notre Dame share 11.2%. Miami rounds out the double-digit tier at 10%, with Indiana the first name in single digits at 7.6%.

The chart below shows the model's fair value for the leading contenders. The compression is the story: five teams inside a 2.9-point range means small shifts in results can reorder the board quickly.

National title fair value, leading contenders
Texas12.9%
Georgia12.2%
Ohio State11.2%
Notre Dame11.2%
Miami10%
Indiana7.6%

How fair value becomes a tradable edge

Fair value is only half the equation. The model also reads live quotes across Kalshi and Polymarket, strips the vig, and blends them into one consensus so the target is not any single venue's marked-up price. Edge appears where the cheapest tradable price falls below that consensus.

Indiana is the clean example: a 7c best price on Polymarket against a 7.6% fair value means the contract is priced at or under the model's read. The mirror case is Ole Miss, whose 7c best price on Kalshi sits well above its 4.9% fair value, marking the price as rich. A low number in cents does not equal value; only its distance from fair value does.

The chart below places best price against fair value for two names, one cheap and one rich. Traders comparing venues can weigh promo terms such as Polymarket's TGSWC or Kalshi's FADE, but the model's discipline is simpler: buy only where price trails fair value, and fade where price runs ahead of it.

Best price versus fair value: cheap and rich
Indiana price7c
Indiana fair7.6c
Ole Miss price7c
Ole Miss fair4.9c

What the model does not claim

The output is a probability, not a promise. A 12.9% fair value on Texas means the model expects the title to slip away nearly seven times in eight. Ratings drift as results arrive, injuries and matchups reprice paths, and the consensus moves with them.

Prices and the model can both be wrong, and this is analysis rather than financial advice. The framework's value is consistency: the same pipeline runs on every team, so the board stays internally comparable even as individual numbers change week to week.

TeamsTexasGeorgiaOhio StNotre DameMiamiIndiana
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Frequently asked questions

How does the model turn power ratings into a title probability?

It maps each power rating gap into a single-game win probability, then simulates the full regular season and playoff thousands of times. The share of simulations a team wins the title becomes its fair value.

What is fair value in college football futures?

Fair value is the model's estimate of a team's true title probability, expressed as a percentage. Texas currently sits at 12.9%, the highest on the board.

Why does fair value differ from the price on Kalshi or Polymarket?

Exchange prices carry vig and reflect order flow, while fair value is a de-vigged consensus across venues. When a venue's price sits below fair value, the model flags potential edge.

Which team shows the clearest gap between price and fair value?

Indiana trades at a 7c best price on Polymarket against a 7.6% fair value, one of the few names priced at or under the model's read.

Does a low price always mean value?

No. Ole Miss carries a 7c best price against just 4.9% fair value, meaning the market is charging more than the model thinks the outcome is worth.

About the author
Redshirt Editorial

Redshirt Analytics editors cover college football prediction markets: how contracts price the season, where the value sits, and how the platforms compare.