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Paul Finebaum tips his cap to Big Ten’s current status after Ohio State’s national title
By Paul Harvey
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Paul Finebaum appreciates SEC football as much as anyone around, but even the “Mouth of the South” and SEC Network host had to tip his cap and admit the current status of college football.
When it comes to the top dog in the sport? Finebaum admitted during Tuesday morning’s broadcast of ESPN’s “Get Up” that it is the Big Ten who owns the sport.
Ohio State captured its first national title since 2014 Monday night, giving the Big Ten back-to-back titles for the first time since World War II. And with the SEC not even making the final game in back-to-back seasons, there is no sugarcoating it.
“I think you have to say the Big Ten owns the sport right now, there’s no scraping that away,” Paul Finebaum admitted. “No matter how much you want to try and qualify or stipulate about where the SEC is. When it doesn’t appear in the national championship game 2 consecutive years, there’s no other way to look at it. And you said it. It’s not like the SEC wasn’t viable. Ohio State beat Tennessee at home. They beat Texas in Texas. Notre Dame beat Georgia, the team that began the season at No. 1.”
Finebaum did provide fans of the SEC a silver lining, at least those who reside in the Lone Star State:
“The SEC has a lot going for it, they have Arch Manning coming back for Texas. And don’t forget: Texas opens the season at Ohio State,” said Finebaum about the opening of the 2025 season. “We may very well have a 1 vs. 2 matchup on the first weekend of the sport.”
Paul Harvey lives in Atlanta and covers SEC football.