Paul Finebaum predicts defending champion Ohio State will struggle, fail to make CFP in 2025

After dropping its regular season finale to Michigan last season, Ohio State won four consecutive games in the College Football Playoff to take home its first National Championship since 2014.

Despite the national title win, the Michigan series continues to loom in the back of Buckeyes fans’ minds. Since 2021, the Wolverines have won every game in the series by an average margin of 11.5 points per game. Ohio State star wide receiver Jeremiah Smith made headlines earlier this week with a quote from an interview with The Athletic.

“I’m not a sore loser, but I hate losing, and losing to that team up north was pretty crazy,” Smith said. “In the end, I think it really helped us play the way we did in the playoffs. But I didn’t want to go to Ohio State and lose to that team up north. I just hate them. Just something about them. For the next two years, I promise you, I will not lose to them. I can’t lose to them in the next two years.”

ESPN college football analyst Paul Finebaum applauded Smith for his quote, but continued to doubt Ryan Day and his program despite its recent national title on Friday morning’s “Get Up.”

“I’m glad to see someone on the Ohio State lineup maybe do something more than just mouthing words, because Jeremiah sounds serious,” Finebaum said. “Ryan Day has promised that for every loss to not lose again and he continues to lose again. But they are the defending National Champions, so even clowns like me on the fourth of July are not going to call for a firing of a coach because he loses one game. However, that is a game he has to deal with at some point. But that National Championship game will pay a lot of bills and probably, yes, another loss to Michigan.”

Along with predicting another Michigan win over the Buckeyes, Finebaum revealed that he isn’t even confident that Ohio State will make the 12-team College Football Playoff.

“I don’t like Ohio State,” Finebaum continued. “I think Ohio State is going to lose in the opener against Texas and they are going to struggle to make the Playoffs, let alone win it all.”

The Buckeyes return Smith, but did lose a plethora of production including starting quarterback Will Howard, running backs Quinshon Judkins and TreVeyon Henderson, star wide receiver Emeka Egbuka and defensive machines JT Tuimoloau and Jack Sawyer.

Ohio State opens the season at home against Texas on August 30.