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Paul Finebaum admits Ohio State is overwhelming favorite to win national championship entering semifinals
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Paul Finebaum wasn’t beating around the bush during his weekly Monday morning appearance on the McElroy & Cubelic In The Morning show.
Yes, the ESPN college football analyst said, Ohio State has the inside track on the national championship as we close in on the semifinals this Thursday and Friday. The Buckeyes have been mighty impressive so far in the Playoff, putting up 42 points against Tennessee in the first round before lighting up the scoreboard again in a 41-point outburst against top-seeded Oregon in the quarterfinals at the Rose Bowl.
Finebaum has seen what everybody else has seen so far from the Buckeyes, and he’s been very impressed.
“You have to take that approach, but you always get a little nervous jumping on these national narratives because we’re often proven wrong,” said Finebaum. “I was a little bit hesitant on Ohio State last week, based on their track record it was hard for me to believe they could be as consistent as they turned out to be.”
Ohio State has put that loss to Michigan in the regular-season finale in the rearview mirror and is just 2 wins from the ultimate prize. Standing in its way on Friday night at the Cotton Bowl is Texas.
“Yeah, right now, you’d have to be in that camp,” said Finebaum about believing Ohio State is the favorite. “It would be foolish to say ‘no, they don’t look like the better team.’ … I’m trying to come up with a team that has looked better than Ohio State (in the Playoff) in a long time. I would go back to maybe 2020, Alabama was winning games convincingly during that COVID-year run to the national championship. For 2 straight games, they’ve played about as spectacularly as you could possibly play.”
Notre Dame faces Penn State in the first Playoff semifinal on Thursday night in Miami.