Paul Finebaum on if Clemson or Ohio State should be more concerned

Ohio State was upset on Saturday against Oregon. That, paired with last week’s Clemson loss against Georgia, makes the path to the College Football Playoff tricky for the Buckeyes and Tigers. ESPN’s Paul Finebaum thinks that Ohio State will he hurt more by their loss due to Clemson losing at a neutral sight and playing a stout defensive game.

Ohio State’s loss complicates their path to the Playoff

Oregon was missing two key defensive contributors in Kayvon Thibodeaux and Justin Flowe, but the Ducks still came away with a 35-28 victory over Ohio State. Ohio State quarterback CJ Stroud threw for 484 yards and three touchdowns, but the Buckeyes’ defense struggled to contain Oregon’s offense. Oregon quarterback Anthony Brown threw for 236 yards and two touchdowns. Running back CJ Verdell had 161 yards and two touchdowns on 20 carries. Verdell also caught three passes for 34 yards and a touchdown.

In a battle between two AP top 12 teams, it was No. 12 Oregon that took care of business on the road against No. 3 Ohio State.

“It’s Ryan Day’s program,” Finebaum said on ESPN SportsCenter on Sunday morning. “It’s hard to explain what happened yesterday at the Horseshoe. Especially when you consider that Oregon coming into the game without its two best players, maybe the best player in college football, and they just did everything right. Mario Cristobal is an ascending coach. People are really looking at him for big time things.

“The key to the game is really Joe Moorhead, his offensive coordinator who was at Mississippi State a couple years ago, but Ohio State’s defense couldn’t stop anything. Their offense couldn’t get anything going. And in the end, their path to the playoff is very complicated because of that.”

Clemson bounced back with a commanding victory to improve to 1-1

Clemson suffered a tough 10-3 loss last week against Georgia despite not allowing an offensive touchdown. The Tigers took on South Carolina State on Saturday and left with a 49-3 victory. Quarterback DJ Uiagalelei threw for 171 yards, one touchdown, one interception, and rushed for two scores. Clemson averaged 6.7 yards per carry with 242 yards and five touchdowns on 36 attempts.

Following last week’s loss to Georgia, Finebaum was concerned about Clemson’s path to the College Football Playoff due to the brutal opening weekend for the ACC. While both Clemson and Ohio State have now lost to highly ranked teams, Finebaum is feeling better about Clemson’s chances for the Playoff in comparison to Ohio State. Ohio State’s loss came at home, and that could hurt them even more in the end.

“That’s a home loss, where Clemson was a neutral site game and only really gave up three points,” Finebaum said. “Because you know, one of the scores was on a pick-six.”