Paul Finebaum reveals his final four College Football Playoff teams

The 2022 conference championships are in the books and the College Football Playoff teams will be unveiled shortly. And while there’s not a massive amount of drama, upsets of No. 3 TCU and No. 4 USC in their respective title games opened the door for plenty of debate.

Who will take the final playoff spot? TCU? One-loss Ohio State? Two-loss Alabama?

“I’m coming down like the chalk here, and it starts with Georgia at No. 1 and then it’s Michigan,” ESPN analyst Paul Finebaum said live on air on Sunday morning. “I think TCU belongs at No. 3, and I’m going with Ohio State at No. 4.”

The case for Georgia and Michigan is perfectly straightforward. Both won Power 5 conferences without losing. They’re in.

It gets a bit trickier after that.

TCU was undefeated in the Big 12 prior to a very narrow loss to Kansas State on Saturday in a thriller in the conference championship game. Ohio State’s lone loss is to an unbeaten Michigan team, albeit by 22 points at home. Alabama has two losses, though neither were by as significant a margin as the Buckeyes, with both coming on the final play against ranked LSU and Tennessee squads.

But Finebaum isn’t buying Alabama’s case for the College Football Playoff, which Nick Saban laid out on various platforms on Saturday evening.

Paul Finebaum doesn’t have Crimson Tide among College Football Playoff teams

Perhaps ESPN’s most prominent SEC personality on the air, Paul Finebaum made repeated cases against Alabama finishing as one of the four College Football Playoff teams.

Why, exactly?

“While Nick Saban has some interesting arguments, they are not winning arguments,” Finebaum said. “His arguments in his campaign is as inconsistent as his football team this year, they just don’t fly. As far as being favored in every game, that’s great.

“Nick Saban’s always favored. He’s only been the underdog I think once in his 15 years. So does that mean Nick Saban should have 15 national championships at Alabama, instead of six? That’s not how this is done and that’s why Nick Saban is going to be disappointed in a couple of hours.”

Will the College Football Playoff committee see things that way?

We’ll find out on Sunday, with the playoff and bowl picture unveiled starting at 12 p.m. ET on ESPN.