Paul Finebaum, Heather Dinich debate takeaway from LSU, USC rankings in CFP Top 25

The latest College Football Playoff rankings are out and the path to the College Football Playoff is becoming more clear. However, one place where it isn’t quite clear is between the two teams ranked fifth and sixth, LSU and USC. During an appearance on Get Up, college football analysts Paul Finebaum and Heather Dinich debated these two teams.

Previously, Heather Dinich had thought that USC beating UCLA could help them to leapfrog LSU, but that didn’t happen, ultimately. Mike Greenberg asked her what this means and what message the committee is sending.

“That if LSU runs the table and somehow beats Georgia to win the SEC, they’re gonna make history as the first two-loss team in the College Football Playoff,” Heather Dinich explained.

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“Feels like going into the rankings, some people had questions. Could they really do this? A two-loss team? Yes, absolutely. The committee chair, Boo Corrigan, spoke repeatedly about how they like LSU’s wins and that trumps what USC has done against Oregon State and UCLA.”

Paul Finebaum agreed with Dinich about this, saying “Absolutely” the Tigers are in if they win out.

“They’re sitting there at five with a victory of Georgia and they’ll be about a 15-16-point underdog in Atlanta next week,” Paul Finebaum said. “They’ll have a win over the number one team in the country. They’ll also have a win over Alabama, which will be probably in the top six, maybe a little bit higher depending on the chaos. I realize they lost the opener, but the chairman said that’s not going to be held against them, a one-point loss to FSU. The glaring problem on their resume is on October 8th when they lost at home by 27 to Tennessee, but they haven’t lost since and I think that will weigh heavily on the committee’s mind.”

All of that, however, is assuming that LSU can beat Georgia. It wouldn’t be an easy task and assuming that LSU wins that game is a big leap. That also assumes that the committee wouldn’t give USC credit for ranked wins against Notre Dame and in the PAC-12 Championship Game.

So, there is a lot of season to go, but for now, Paul Finebaum and Heather Dinich think LSU is in a better spot than USC.

Paul Finebaum on Georgia missing the Playoff

Another thing that came up on Get Up was the remote chance that Georgia could actually miss the College Football Playoff. However, Paul Finebaum was dismissive of this.

“Georgia will be in. They have Georgia Tech this weekend, so we’ll move past that game. I can’t even come up with a scenario. I mean, last year they got blown out by Alabama in the same spot, they were still in. Now again, Alabama was maybe a little higher regarded than LSU is this year with one loss versus two, but I don’t think there’s going to be a debate,” Paul Finebaum said.

“Georgia can punch a ticket. Then it’s just a matter of where they land in terms of seeding. The first round games are in Atlanta and Phoenix, so they may be deprived of playing in Atlanta with a loss, but that would be about the only penalty I can see.”