Clemson doesn’t belong in the top four? ESPN’s Paul Finebaum reacts to College Football Playoff rankings
The College Football Playoff rankings came out on Tuesday night and Paul Finebaum has opinions. Boy, does Finebaum have opinions.
The ESPN and SEC Network analyst is fired up about the CFP rankings, a relatively meaningless exercise at this point in the season but entertaining nonetheless. Finebaum is on-board with Tennessee checking in at No. 1 in the first CFP rankings, but he seriously questions much of the rest of the field.
The ACC doesn’t deserve a spot so high (Clemson is in at fourth in the rankings) and the SEC, well, Finebaum says that unequivocally it is the best conference in college football this season.
The fired-up Finebaum made his comments on Wednesday while making an appearance on ESPN’s First Take.
Here are the top 10 teams in the College Football Playoff rankings released on Tuesday night:
No. 1 Tennessee
No. 2 Ohio State
No. 3 Georgia
No. 4 Clemson
No. 5 Michigan
No. 6 Alabama
No. 7 TCU
No. 8 Oregon
No. 9 Southern California
No. 10 LSU
Scroll down to check out what Paul Finebaum had to say about top-ranked Tennessee, where things stand with Ohio State, his thoughts on Clemson and the status of the SEC in the CFP. Finebaum didn’t hold back on Wednesday morning!
Paul Finebaum on Michigan football not cracking the College Football Playoff's top four teams
“Michigan has not played a great non-conference schedule but they’ve been very dominating and they’ve also beaten some good teams – not great teams in Penn State – but good teams. They beat Michigan State the other night – not a great team but still a conference foe and a rival,
“Michigan is in big trouble if they lose to Ohio State because of their non-conference schedule. I completely agree, they should be a four.”
Paul Finebaum on Clemson making the College Football Playoffs top-four
“I’m not impressed with Clemson, I’m not impressed at all with the ACC. We made a big deal a couple of weeks ago when Clemson wins at Wake Forest and then Wake Forest (had a) letdown a couple of days ago. The only thing about Clemson- they have a chance to redeem themselves or be eliminated Saturday night at Notre Dame. That’s a fascinating game. Clemson very likely could lose because they have not been very good this year.”
Paul Finebaum on what happens with the SEC and the College Football Playoff
“I know nobody wants to hear what I’m about to say but you could very well argue that Georgia, Tennessee and Alabama would all deserve to be in. I’m sure the haters out there are going to go ‘That’s just SEC bias.’ It’s not SEC bias. The SEC is by far the best conference, it has five of the top 11 schools right now but this committee…this isn’t a beauty contest. These people, supposedly, spend days upon hours every day coming up with this conversation.
“So, that speaks for itself and only Ohio State I think right now really could compete at the highest level of the SEC. Michigan to a lesser degree. But not nobody else can.”
Paul Finebaum on Oregon being in the College Football Playoff mix
“Oregon very well may win the Pac-12 – they lost to Georgia by 46 points. I mean is that even possible to have that conversation that schools like that deserve to be in that conversation? Georgia went out and got a top-10. Everybody laughed at it at the time. Playing the hottest team in the country so you’re right Tennessee can afford to lose if it’s a very, very close game.”
Paul Finebaum on if Tennessee deserves to be No. 1
“They do, they have an incredible win…against Alabama…They have been dominating, they have been the most explosive team in the country. They have been absolutely fabulous.
“Their non-conference game isn’t that great against Pittsburgh. They just simply have gone crazy; and one other thing, they beat LSU. They beat them badly in Baton Rogue and suddenly LSU shows up as the No. 10 team. So they have two top-10 wins which matters to this crazy methodology we use to pick the College Football Playoff.”
