Paul Finebaum’s rampage against non-SEC teams in the College Football Playoff picture continues with the Utah Utes finding themselves in the firing line. After checking in at No. 5 in the penultimate rankings, Finebaum ripped into the Utes and their mass appeal.
Finebaum shared his belief that no one wants to see Utah in the playoff during an appearance on ESPN’s morning show Get Up!
“Oklahoma is getting in because let’s be honest, the country does not want to see Utah in the College Football Playoff,” Finebaum said. “I’m sorry. It’s Utah. … (Oklahoma) may not be any better. But they’re going to look a lot better.”
Of course, if Utah gets a win over Oregon in the Pac-12 Championship, it is going to be hard to deny them a spot in the final four.
And head coach Kyle Whittingham knows all they need to do is take care of business.
“We haven’t paid a whole lot of attention to it,”Whittingham said at his Monday press conference, according to 247 Sports. “We certainly understand the big picture, but control the controllables and all we can control is trying to get a win Friday against Oregon and then it’s out of our hands at that point.
“I think the experience our players had last year playing in the stadium, playing in that environment will be a positive. A lot of these guys were in that game. Other than that it’s a new opponent—a different match-up so I’m not sure there is a big advantage.”
Kickoff between the No. 5 Utes and No. 13 Ducks is set for 8:00 p.m. ET on Friday, December 6.
The game will air live on ABC.
A full look at the rankings for games played through November 30 can be seen below.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B5oVXOilL6v/
- Ohio State (12-0)
- LSU (12-0)
- Clemson (12-0)
- Georgia (11-1)
- Utah (11-1)
- Oklahoma (11-1)
- Baylor (11-1)
- Wisconsin (10-2)
- Florida (10-2)
- Penn State (10-2)
- Auburn (9-3)
- Alabama (10-2)
- Oregon (10-2)
- Michigan (9-3)
- Notre Dame (10-2)
- Iowa (9-3)
- Memphis (11-1)
- Minnesota (10-2)
- Boise State (11-1)
- Cincinnati (10-2)
- Appalachian State (11-1)
- USC (8-4)
- Virginia (9-3)
- Navy (9-2)
- Oklahoma State (8-4)
