Paul Finebaum reveals his top 10 teams following bowl season
Now that bowl season is over, it’s time to once again take stock of the college football landscape.
Paul Finebaum did just that Thursday when he ranked the nation’s top 10 teams with only the national championship between Alabama and Clemson left to play. Half of the teams came from the SEC, reflecting the conference’s successful regular season and mostly impressive showing in big bowl games.
Our show staff put together this post-Bowls Top 10 list… I'm sure everyone will agree on all of them and there will be no debate about any of the choices. pic.twitter.com/55Oq5T9yf7
— Paul Finebaum (@finebaum) January 3, 2019
Alabama at No. 1 needs no explanation, but it appears No. 6 LSU has benefited the most in Finebaum’s eyes after ending UCF’s 25-game winning streak with a statistically dominant 40-32 win in the Fiesta Bowl. Florida cemented itself at No. 9 with a 41-15 Peach Bowl demolition of Michigan, while Kentucky rounded out Finebaum’s top 10 after holding off Penn State to win the Citrus Bowl.
Georgia, who had perhaps the most justified complaint about being left out of the College Football Playoff, slipped to No. 8 after a lackluster performance against Texas in the Sugar Bowl.
But it still reflects the SEC’s outstanding season, and the league is poised for another one in 2019.
Nothing sparks debate quite like saying “there will be no debate about any of the choices.”
Which is exactly what the Finebaum staff is counting on.
I figure LSU will finish somewhere between 6-9. There really isn’t much difference.
Hard to imagine they’d jump UF though.
LSU beat Georgia, Georgia beat Florida, Florida beat LSU. The rankings are in the eye of the ranker.
I think it depends on what ranker we’re talking about. If we’re looking at the CFPM, I think LSU will have a harder time jumping UF. LSU was already ranked one spot lower, and while both won their NY6 bowl games, UF did so against the #7 team in blowout fashion, where LSU won by 8 points (though the score is a poor measuring stick for that game, given how outplayed UCF was). The only argument they could use would be that LSU killing UCF’s streak was the more impressive win, but then they’d have to justify why UCF wasn’t #7 instead of UM.
It’s that kind of “logic” that had UCF claiming a natty.
I hate that you can’t edit comments >=S
CFPC* (College Football Playoff Committee)
LSU, UGA, and UF split their games. That’s a wash. LSU and UGA both lost to only ranked teams. UF lost to Missouri, who will be unranked. UF definitely has the worst loss. All will have about the same as far as best win goes. Based solely on SOS, quality wins and losses, I would have UGA, LSU, and then UF.
Uf came into bowl season at 10 LSU at 11. Uf beats number 7 by 26. LSU beats number 8 by 8. Please justify how the hell u jump a team that beat you head to head.
Because rankings take the whole season into account. Missouri was ranked last week. They won’t be this week. That counts. The East performed poorly in bowl games while the West did well. Advantage LSU.
Uf 2-0 vs the west not to mention the east head to head was better than the West, that’s a fact. Saying UF will drop behind LSU for losing to Mizzou two months ago, is like saying LSU will drop for beating an overrated Auburn and Miami. You have no argument that LSU is better than UF. That’s like saying UCF is better than LSU.
The CFP committee doesn’t release another poll… The AP and Coaches will.
Also are you really arguing over 5-10?
I don’t take the rankings that seriously. MSU lost their bowl game. That won’t help either team. Only the Kentucky and LSU wins help you. Auburn won. Alabama won. Texas A&M won. Even LaTech won. The regular season should have already been factored in to all the rankings. The majority of your opponents either lost their bowl game or didn’t even make one. UF looked good in their win, and Kentucky, a team that beat you also looked good. You are counting on the previous poll to carry you. Maybe that works, but bowl season favored LSU in a big way. Blame your East brethren.
Finebaum almost has to put LSU way up there, given how in love he was with UCF.
Next week decides 1 and 2 but all else seems reasonable enough.
I’m happy with it. Haha
Notre Dame #5? I do not think so. They should not have been in the top four and in the playoffs. Florida? I do not know where they should be ranked but after they took Michigan to the wood shed, they are not ranked high enough. LSU? Maybe close to #6 or #7. Outside of Notre Dame and Florida these rankings are very good.
Yeah, he whiffed that one.
This basically says bowl games don’t matter. Dame gets leveled, drops 2. Texas wins a 1 score game jumps 8, Florida demolished UM and only jumps 1?
I don’t know the exact best order, but Dame and texas are too high, and not sure what to do with UGA, LSU, UF. They all beat each other, so that’s a wash, but UF finished with the most impressive bowl win, so that would put them ahead in a 3 way tie. But are they better than the other 2 in reality? Tough one…
In my mind, it all comes down to what would happen if they played again today. If UGA faced UF today, and both teams played the way they did in their respective bowl games, I have a hard time seeing a UGA win. Same with LSU, no way they pull it out missing all the starters. But when you weigh that against the entire body of work, it gets tricky.
Glad I don’t have to be the one to decide.
Well definitely better than LSU….
LSU had five opponents win bowl games. UF had two.
And LSU lost to Florida…
And Florida also beat the doors off of the #7 team which spent the majority of the season in the top 4.
See…complicated…
Michigan lost their last two games in blowout fashion. Who cares where they were ranked earlier. LSU has the way better SOS. All three SEC teams will be bunched together. UGA counts. They blew out UGA while LSU blew out UGA. That counts too. It’s not simple, but it’s also not that important.
Man you drunk? You got a serious UCF complex going.
Sorry. UGA blew out UF.
Sorry we beat your a$$. Gotta coast off another teams accomplishments, bc your team couldn’t get it done. :(
Keep whining. I already said I don’t care. I don’t vote and am happy with being anywhere in the top 10. I will laugh at you though if one of the polls puts LSU above UF. Again, I don’t care otherwise. Funny seeing you get all worked up though.
Like I said, head to head is a wash. Uga beat Florida who beat LSU who beat uga.
So if you objectively look at it, strictly based off of our most recent sampling of games, do yo think UGA could beat UF with the showing they put on vs UT or that LSU could beat UF shorthanded, which they were unable to do at full strength?
By the way, I’m not making the claim that any of the 3 should be first or last, just laying out why it seems like such a complicated thing to factor. So many “yeah but’s” and “what abouts”
Texas just beat your conferences #2 team. Too high? Typical SEC homer. Go ahead and say Georgia had nothing to play for..
Any one of those teams would beat the brakes off ND.
A two loss Washington St may end up in the top 10. That would mean one of these is out.
Not relevant to anything. The faux outrage is hilarious, however.
There’s only one guy upset. The rest is just talk and speculation
You’re the only one mad you cant give a legit excuse to your argument.
I don’t have an argument. Just saying how and why it could happen. Hard to talk logic with a simpleton though. This is Finebaums poll.
Well, by your logic, Kentucky should be ranked higher then UF since we beat the brakes off them gators
Well by your logic, Kentucky should be ranked higher then UF since we beat the brakes off those gators
gators should be #7. Then Texas and then UGA at #9.
Surprised Finebaum ranked LSU so high solely for the fact that he rarely shows LSU any love on The Finebaum Show.
He had to because he had UCF winning. He puts a lot of weight behind that win
Finebaum is still clueless. I shouldn’t be surprised since he didn’t give the Longhorns any credit before the bowl games. Having Norte Dame at #5 after being embarrassed by Clemson is ridiculous. ND looked awful.
How in the world does he put LSU ahead of Florida? Same records, Florida won head to head, and Florida won their bowl more convincingly against a far better team (meat chicken) than UCF. No logic there at all, just fuzzy feelings.
And four loss Texas? Really? Why do you hate the Gators Pawwwwwl?!
Oh that’s right, he went to UToothless.
4 loss Texas team took Georgia behind the woodshed. Dominated every aspect of the game. SEC is overrated minus Bama, and everyone is starting to see that. Its funny most of your conference lives through bama, SEC, SEC, SEC right? lol
The SEC will still have four or five teams in the top 10. Saying everyone is starting to see that the SEC is overrated is just a dream of yours. Any of our ranked teams lose to a team the caliber of Maryland? Enjoy your victory. LSU will be visiting soon. The Tigers will be ready.
Texas still has 4 losses….
You are right they do have 4 losses. Making no excuse for Maryland, we lost. Take a look at the SEC non-conference schedule, and then Texas the last few years. This year was Maryland, USC, and Tulsa. Next year we have LSU. We could buy 3 wins every year but what fun is that?
So you ruin your own argument about out of confernce scheduling by saying you play LSU.
ben7254, what do you mean? I am stating that our 3 non conference schedule is not 3 cupcakes every SEC plays each year. LSU is a pretty good team, they haven’t done much in a while but still a good team. I have nothing but respect for them.
but I mean UF plays FSU every year and besides these two last years they were no cupcake. We played michigan regular season as well. We scheduled to play miami when they were good. Dont look as good anymore but we tried and we tried to schedule UCF. Im not saying i dont wish we played more out of conference and out of state p5 teams but i cant control that
I love how UT gets one decent win in the past 5 years and now their fans are coming out of the woodwork. “We’re back!” Lmao. Go home, you’re drunk. UGA laid an egg. They win that game 9 out of every 10. They’re stronger, faster, and more talented. UT is .500 in the SEC.
As a Longhorn, I dont think we “are back”. That is what the media likes to talk about. You say UT is a .500 team in the SEC? How is Missouri and A&M doing in the SEC? The exact same they did in the Big12, middle of the pack.. If the SEC was so mighty then yall would be beating the brakes off of them. The SEC can never give any credit just say stupid things like “go home your drunk” or UGA didnt show up. Things are judged on the field not making excuses. Plus are last two bowl wins are against the mighty SEC. Nice try bro, see LSU next year. I will hope on the check the excuses then.
Oh and Garren_t, ya when I watched that game I did see how much stronger, faster, and more talented Georgia team was.. Lol. If they cant get up to play in a BCS bowl game then stay home.. They are not Bama where they can turn their noses up for a non championship game. How much hardware has Georgia taken home lately? When was there last Championship win? Ya.. Been awhile..
So these are the records and winning percentages of conferences teams vs ap ranked teams. ACC 7-29 19%, Big12 14-33 30%, Big10 11-27 29%, Pac12 9-28 24%, SEC 27-45 38%
So as you can see as a whole the sec has a better winning percentage and wins vs ap ranked teams.
I will give you that, because Im not going to go into if teams are over rated or not, all your ranked teams are in the SEC, you dont play out of conference schedules that we can match up. The bowl wins for this year are Big12 4-3 and SEC 6-5 (of course with one game to go and will prob be 7-5) last year Big12 5-3, SEC 5-6. This is with the SEC pretty much picking its bowl games. Out of every conference as a whole, the SEC is the best. Its not the best by the margins every keeps trying to make it, there are a lot of good match ups when we actually get to play.
I cant argue that at the top the sec is dominant but as a whole the sec is slightly better than everyone else
If you matched up the sec top to bottom the sec would have a winning record. Meaning if the number 1 sec team vs the number 1 big12 or acc team, #2 vs #2, ect. Not saying the sec wont loose a few games but even the sec’s worst teams are better than other confernces worst teams. Sec vanderbilt or arkansas would still beat Acc Louisville, Big12 kansa, pac 12 oregon state or colorado, big 10 rutgers or Illinois
A lot of those are correct, the SEC would win, although you wont be able to do that since we only have 10 teams (yes I know “big12 lol). Although in the bowl our top and second did play. Alabama wooped OU and Texas wooped Georgia (and dont say they didnt have anything to play for). Also Okla St beat Missouri (Texas beat Missouri last year).
idk if we are even arguing anymore
I dont think we are, cheers. Look forward to next year.