Paul Finebaum Names College Football Powerhouse That Got ‘Robbed’ in CFP Rankings

The ESPN analyst says the selection committee punished a two-loss contender for a Week 2 road trip and wants every panel member to resign.

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Paul Finebaum believes the College Football Playoff selection committee punished Ohio State for scheduling aggressively, and the ESPN analyst wants every committee member to resign after the Buckeyes opened at No. 12 in the first rankings Tuesday night.

Finebaum told ESPN’s Mike Greenberg on Wednesday that the two-loss Buckeyes got “completely robbed” when the committee slotted them eight spots behind No. 4 Indiana, a team Ohio State beat 19-15 in Bloomington on Oct. 17.

Paul Finebaum rips CFP committee

Greenberg opened by asking whether Ohio State got “the short end of the stick” from the committee, and Finebaum didn’t hesitate.

“Yes, they did. They went to Texas, Greeny, in the second week of the season. That’s what you’re supposed to do in college football. Indiana doesn’t do that. Most schools don’t. But they did, and they got completely robbed as a result,” Finebaum said. “I mean, Greeny, this committee is a disgrace. Every one of these committee members should resign, and you and I should go into your favorite bar on the South Side of Chicago and pick 13 people. They would do a better job.”

That Week 2 trip to Austin produced the Buckeyes’ first loss. Ohio State led 23-3 after three quarters, but No. 4 Texas rallied behind Arch Manning and won 24-23 on Hollywood Smothers’ 1-yard touchdown run with 25 seconds left. Indiana opened its national title defense with home games against North Texas, Howard and Western Kentucky.

ESPN analyst Greg McElroy, who had projected Ohio State at No. 5 ahead of Indiana, made a similar argument after the reveal. “You have a fourth-ranked team right now that hasn’t played anyone in the non-conference in multiple years, eight spots ahead of the team that beat them on the field,” McElroy said.

Why is Ohio State ranked No. 12?

Arkansas Razorbacks vice chancellor and director of athletics Hunter Yurachek | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Committee chair Hunter Yurachek, the athletic director at Arkansas, said the panel never put the two Big Ten teams side by side. “We never got to a point where we were comparing Indiana and Ohio State in their head-to-head,” Yurachek said.

The selection protocol lists head-to-head results among the criteria used when teams have comparable résumés, so the Buckeyes’ win in Bloomington never entered the debate.

Instead, the committee leaned on Ohio State’s 30-18 loss at USC on Oct. 31. True freshman Luke Fahey made his first career start in place of Julian Sayin, who hurt his throwing arm late in the Indiana win, and coach Ryan Day said the program is planning to be without Sayin through the postseason.

“They didn’t look like the same Ohio State team this past weekend against Southern Cal,” Yurachek said.

Ohio State’s playoff path after first CFP rankings

Ohio State Buckeyes head coach Ryan Day motions during the NCAA football game against the USC Trojans | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

Ohio State sits as the first team out because No. 25 Boise State holds the projected automatic bid for the top Group of Six champion. Still, the Buckeyes rank No. 2 in both SP+ and ESPN’s Football Power Index.

Finebaum warned before the reveal that the Buckeyes have no “room for error now,” and the remaining schedule backs that up with Oregon, Northwestern, a trip to Nebraska and Michigan.

Day placed the USC result on the entire roster. “It’s extremely frustrating coming to a game like this with a young quarterback and not play cleaner than we did,” Day said after the loss that dropped Ohio State to No. 4 in the latest Big Ten power rankings.

The Buckeyes host No. 23 Oregon at Ohio Stadium on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. ET on CBS.