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Paul Finebaum reveals his top 4 ahead of Tuesday’s College Football Playoff rankings
By Keith Farner
Published:
Paul Finebaum is out with his top 4 after Week 9 in college football.
During his regular Sunday morning appearance on ESPN’s “SportsCenter,” Finebaum ranked his top 4 teams, and one to file, and explained why. The official rankings will be released on Tuesday.
Finebaum’s 4 went like this:
- Georgia
- Michigan
- Ohio State
- Florida State
Finebaum said Florida State was “very, very impressive” on Saturday and continue to be led by Jordan Travis.
“They’ve got some big games ahead, but right now I think they’re sitting pretty, they just have to win,” Finebaum said. “Their problem’s going to be at the back end. Should they lose, they’ll have no chance because the ACC (Championship) matchup is not going to be very inviting.”
At No. 3, Finebaum said “you could just mix it up from here” as he admitted that some people have Ohio State at No. 3.
“They struggled, but they’re on the road,” he said. “They looked good. They’ve still got Michigan down the road, that’s the game that’s going to determine everything.”
Then Finebaum touched on the NCAA investigation at Michigan even though the Wolverines were on a bye week last week, the alleged sign-stealing scheme drew plenty of attention.
“Michigan was the talk of college football last week, and they didn’t even play,” he said. “That’s how controversial this Jim Harbaugh scandal has become.”
At No. 1. Finebaum said, “The Dawgs were fantastic yesterday. We obsessed over Brock Bowers not being in the game. I didn’t really see much of a dropoff, but the Bulldogs were playing Florida. Will get much tougher for them.”
His “rank and file” team is Oregon.
“We left them for dead about 3 weeks ago with that loss to Washington, they were unreal yesterday at Utah,” he said. “Bo Nix putting himself in the Heisman race, and keep your eyes on Dan Lanning’s team out west.”
Keith Farner has written about college football for newspapers and web sites since 2005.