Paul Finebaum, Heather Dinich reveal what penultimate CFP rankings mean for Alabama, Ohio State

It’s evident that Ohio State has a better shot at the College Football Playoff than Alabama after Tuesday’s rankings had the Buckeyes in the No. 5 spot over the Crimson Tide, and Paul Finebaum and Heather Dinich are weighing in.

On Wednesday’s edition of Get Up on ESPN, Finebaum and Dinich revealed what the penultimate rankings meant for the Ohio State and Alabama, the latter not being happy about it.

“Bama is done, and that’s hard to swallow if you’re a Nick Saban fan and knew that this team coming in was perhaps his best in many, many years, with the Heisman Trophy winner coming in and maybe the best defensive player, but it has gone all wrong for Alabama,” explained Finebaum. “They lost that game at Tennessee. They came back and lost a few weeks later on a two-point conversion against LSU.

“Their biggest problem, they don’t have any good wins, and I think the committee saw that last night.”

Meanwhile, Dinich believes the the Buckeyes are in the perfect position to jump one of the Top 4 over conference championship weekend.

“Ohio State is in prime position at No. 5 to take advantage of chaos ahead of them,” added Dinich. “The easiest path for the Buckeyes to get back in this thing would be a USC loss. As you pointed out, our analytics think they’re going to lose to Utah. If you have a two-loss USC, it would be extremely difficult for the committee to justify them in the Playoff, and Ohio State could slip right in there, and they have the edge versus Alabama right now.

“That No. 5 spot was critical to have an edge going into the selection.”

While many will argue that Alabama is better than Ohio State regardless of their record, Dinich stated the reasons why they prefer the Buckeyes to the Crimson Tide.

“The selection committee loves their wins against Notre Dame and Penn State, which is now a top ten win, and then when you look at Alabama, their best wins are against Ole Miss, now Mississippi State snuck in the rankings last night so that did help, but a one-point win on the road against Texas, which against a majority of the game was a backup quarterback, that’s what they’re looking at for Alabama,” explained Dinich. We can’t forget that Alabama hasn’t looked like a Top 4 team for most of the season. Have they gotten better? Yes, but there was a lot of issues. Turnover margin, penalties, the list goes on.”

While Ohio State and Alabama both have slim chances at the College Football Playoff, the Crimson Tide would need a miracle to get in, while the Buckeyes have the inside track. Whether or not you agree with it, that’s the way the committee has swung.