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Paul Finebaum says he doesn’t think Ohio State is ‘comparable’ to Clemson
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Paul Finebaum was a big advocate for Ohio State to get into the College Football Playoff, but he doesn’t see the Buckeyes faring well against Clemson.
Speaking SportsCenter Friday morning, Finebaum knocked OSU for its shortened season and seemed to imply they weren’t anywhere close to Clemson in terms of readiness for this game.
“Clemson has such a more extensive and expansive body of work,” Finebaum said, via 247Sports. “Ohio State has played such a very short season. We know that has been a topic of great controversy, especially with Dabo Swinney. It’s very difficult to look at this Buckeye team with a feeling that they’re comparable.
“They haven’t played against a team ranked as high as Notre Dame. Even North Carolina would be pretty comparable to most of the Buckeyes’ opponents, Indiana has been their best game. I like what Ryan Day has done. I think he’s been phenomenal over two years. But I think the body of work is incomplete.”
Ohio State’s strength of schedule was significantly hampered by COVID-19 and the struggles of other teams in the Big Ten East. While Indiana emerged as contenders, Penn State, Michigan State and Michigan all had down years.
The Buckeyes didn’t get to play the Wolverines due to COVID-19, but even if they had, they wouldn’t have received much credit nationally for beating a 2-4 Michigan team.
Ohio State did wrap up its season with a 22-10 victory over a ranked Northwestern team in the Big Ten Championship. However, OSU struggled throughout much of that game and needed a record-breaking performance from Trey Sermon to pull away in the second half.
It’s not just Finebaum who feels this way. As of Thursday, more than 80 percent of bettors were putting their money on the Tigers.
Kick off is at 8 p.m. ET on ESPN.
Spenser is the news manager at Saturday Road and covers college football across all Saturday Football brands.