Paul Finebaum believes expanded playoff makes SEC's path to national championship 'more complicated'

ESPN’s Paul Finebaum said the expanded College Football Playoff could certainly complicate the SEC’s chances to win national titles.

The original top four in the CFP rankings this year were Oregon, Georgia, Texas and Penn State. Two Big Ten teams, two SEC teams. Seems simple right?

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If if were under the old format, Finebaum would be talking about Georgia or Texas in the finals which, under that scenario, would’ve guaranteed the SEC to be on the grand stage again.

Not necessarily the case with the 12-team playoff.

“You think about Georgia, (they) would have been in the four-team playoff this year. Ohio State probably wouldn’t have,” Finebaum said on The Matt Barrie Show. “So it does make it more complicated. I mean, there’s a couple SEC teams in the past that probably wouldn’t have gotten through a gauntlet like this, but I think in many ways, we almost end the season with where we began it with Ohio State. I mean, they’re still the most talented team, and that I was vacillating and I was always on Ohio State. 

“But as I walked out of the stadium a couple of hours ago, I kept thinking more about what Texas let go. If you were ever going to be in Ohio State Friday night, was it. And they couldn’t do it.”

Finebaum even seemed somber, devastated, whatever word you want to say, when the SEC didn’t make the CFP final for the second straight year.

“I managed to hear that this morning on a plane from Dallas, sitting with 225 of my closest friends and Ohio State fans,” Finebaum said sarcastically, regarding the SEC not making it to the CFP National Championship Game. “That is significant. Everyone always thinks that those of us that live in SEC country try to hide things like that. Even today, we’re still arguing for Alabama to get it. But that’s a dramatic moment. It’s a seminal moment in time that I didn’t expect, especially with a 12-team Playoff.

“It’s really amazing when you think about [it]. [The last time the SEC didn’t make the national title game] was before [Nick] Saban. Urban Meyer had just arrived at Florida. Les Miles was about to start roaming the sidelines. To think that we’re in that moment is cause for a lot of concern, at least in the southern part of the world.”