Finebaum's logic picking Alabama over Clemson makes no sense |
ESPN analyst Paul Finebaum was on Tuesday's episode of 'First Take' and had some comments on whether Clemson or Alabama should be ranked No. 1 in the nation.
“On paper, Clemson has a better body of work, but I don’t think they’ve beaten a great team, and I think Alabama has done that and therefore I’d rank them No. 1,” Finebaum said. “But I don’t think there’s a lot of difference between Alabama and Clemson.” Co-host Max Kellerman told Finebaum that Clemson's victory over Louisville was a great win. “This same Louisville team lost to Kentucky last year, and they got run over by LSU, which I think has stopped playing college football,” Finebaum said. “I’m not wasting much energy on that.” Clemson is the first team in over 20 years to beat three top 15 teams in September. That's impressive stuff for the Tigers with quality road wins against Louisville and Virginia Tech while winning at home against a tough Auburn squad. On the other hand, Alabama has beaten Florida State, Fresno State, Colorado State, Vanderbilt, and Mississippi. Was Florida State a 'great team' with Deondre Francois? The answer is NOPE because that offensive line can't block at all. If you don't have a solid offensive line, you don't have a great team. Remember Wake Forest got 17 tackles for loss against the Seminoles up in Winston-Salem last week. If you took the names off the jerseys and just looked at the resumes, Clemson should get the nod with those three impressive wins and the fact that they are the defending National Champions. Clemson is slowing getting more respect in the polls as they received nine more first-place votes in the Associated Press top 25 Sunday, to total 17, trailing Alabama's 44 votes.
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