Paul Finebaum has more confidence in Texas than Washington

ESPN’s Paul Finebaum is higher on Texas than Washington in the Sugar Bowl to advance to the College Football Playoff national championship.

The reasoning? Finebaum likes the resiliency of the Texas program under Steve Sarkisian. Facing adversity after the Oklahoma loss, Texas rallied.

Not to mention beating Alabama earlier in the year was a precursor for things to come.

“I have more confidence in Texas, and that is not a shot at Washington which really had a perfect season, even though it’s still hard to believe that they beat Oregon twice, especially that first time,” Finebaum said on SportsCenter. “Texas lost one game. It doesn’t look as great now that Oklahoma has dropped a couple but they have that impressive win, probably among the two or three most impressive wins of the year at Tuscaloosa on September 9. 

“That has carried them almost the entire way. The resurrection story of Steve Sarkisian years after being shown the door at SC for off-the-field indiscretions in terms of public embarrassment. He has had one of the great comebacks in modern college football history.”

That statement puts more faith in Sarkisian rather than Huskies’ head coach Kalen DeBoer. However, the latter won the matchup between Texas and Washington in last year’s Alamo Bowl.

“I feel good. I’ve always felt like if we can get in, we can play with anybody in the country. And part of that is, I think, the versatility of our team matters,” Sarkisian said of Texas’ chances.

He continued, highlighting Texas’ depth on the lines, bevy of playmakers on offense and defense and a sterling special teams unit.

“We’re good up front on both sides of the line of scrimmage,” Sarkisian said. “We’ve got real playmakers on the offensive side of the ball, whether it’s wideout, tight end, running backs, quarterback, we’re really starting to create the turnovers on defense, which is important. We’re defending the run really well. We’ve been an excellent special teams operation all year long. Bert Auburn’s had a great year, Ryan Sanborn, Will Stone, Keilan Robinson, Xavier Worthy, we’re blocking kicks, so I thought the versatility of our team and that we’re a complete team really stacks up with just about anybody.”

Sarkisian knows the Huskies, plus a potential national championship matchup against Michigan or Alabama (a rematch, in that case), will provide all the challenges he, his Texas staff and players can handle.

“I haven’t had a chance to really dig in to all three of these teams, outside of I know ‘Bama a little bit because of the prep, but they’re all great teams,” Sarkisian said. “They’ve all got really good coaches. They’re not in this tournament as a fluke. And so it’s going to take our best effort in preparation and then ultimately in performance to be successful.” 

Andrew Graham contributed to this report