Paul Finebaum reveals team most likely to take down Alabama

Alabama football is the obvious favorite to win the national championship but Paul Finebaum has made his pick for the team most likely to get in their way.

Paul Finebaum had an utterly shocking take on national championship contenders on ESPN this week!

Just kidding.

The ESPN analyst actually said exactly what everyone else has been thinking pretty much all year: Alabama is the favorite and Ohio State has the best chance of getting in the way of Nick Saban’s eighth national title.

Paul Finebaum picks Ohio State as team most likely to take down Alabama

“Ohio State is built for this,” Finebaum said pointing to C.J. Stroud as a top quarterback and his wide receiver room full of future NFL talents. “It’s a tailor-made schedule for Ryan Day to make a serious run at the championship.”

The Buckeyes don’t necessarily have an easy schedule. ESPN’s FPI ranks their slate 35th nationally. However, it is “easier” than what most of their competition in the Big Ten will face and it does have some nice advantages.

Ohio State gets Notre Dame, Wisconsin and Michigan at home this year. Their only road matchup with a team ranked in the preseason Top 25 comes at Michigan State.

The path to the Big Ten title game is clear. Even if they are upset in the opener against Notre Dame, that result won’t factor into conference standings and they’ll have plenty of time to recover to secure a playoff spot in the end.

Few teams have the pure talent level to match Alabama. Ohio State is clearly one of them. They’re rightly the favorites to win the Big Ten.

The hardest part would be actually beating Saban and the Crimson Tide when it comes down to it. Georgia managed it last year. Maybe the Buckeyes can continue to find cracks in Saban’s armor.

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