Paul Finebaum, Chris ‘Mad Dog’ Russo have heated debate over ‘deserving’ team vs. ‘4 best teams’

Chris Russo and Paul Finebaum got into a heated exchange on First Take Wednesday morning while discussing who should crack the College Football Playoff field.

Finebaum has not been a fan of Florida State this season. He gave his opinion Wednesday that it took the committee long enough to move Washington into the top 4 over the Seminoles.

Finebaum also took exception to Russo saying that Florida State would deserve a top 4 bid based on their resume, not how strong of a team they are. His argument was that the CFP committee should be picking the 4 best teams, not participation trophies.

Here’s a transcription of the full exchange:

Mad Dog: Here Paul, Listen, I’m not a huge Florida State fan, either. So I understand your point about the conference. If you beat Louisville, if you beat LSU, if you win at Clemson, and you win the ACC and you go undefeated, I don’t care who the quarterback is, they’re going to be in the Final 4. Now you know that, you’ve been around long enough, you know that. Again, do I think they’re better than Georgia with 1 loss, or do I think necessarily they’re better than Texas? No. But if you’re the ACC and you’re Florida State, that’s won championships, that’s not some come lately program, it’s a big program. And you go out there and you beat Louisville, Clemson, LSU and then of course Florida on the road, you are going to be in the Final 4 and you deserve to be in the Final 4.

Paul Finebaum: Dog, that’s patently absurd to throw around this word deserve. I thought this was about picking the 4 best teams in the country, not the deserving, this isn’t Little League, where you give out participation trophies. How about identifying who the 4 best are and don’t tell me that Georgia wouldn’t be one of the 4 best having lost to Alabama, are you serious? Having won 29 straight games and lost to Nick Saban and Alabama. Conversely, Texas and Oregon. You just can’t give out trophies because you win the ACC.

Mad Dog: Paul, if you’re going by the 4 best, then take the loser of Ohio State-Michigan because the loser of that game is (among) the 4 best teams in the country too, take them. If you want to do the 4 best teams, let’s do it right now: Alabama, Georgia, Ohio State and Michigan, those are your 4 best teams.

Paul Finebaum: You’re right.

Ethan Stone

Ethan Stone is a Tennessee graduate and loves all things college football and college basketball. Firm believer in fouling while up 3.