ESPN Analyst Writes Off Ohio State’s Title Hopes in Surprising 2025 Take

The reigning national champions will look to defend their 2024 crown, but not everyone believes the Ohio State Buckeyes have the firepower to do so. One of the program’s biggest detractors this offseason is ESPN SEC analyst Paul Finebaum.

Last week, Finebaum offered up his top five contenders to win it all in 2025, in which he listed the Clemson Tigers, Penn State Nittany Lions, Oregon Ducks, Texas Longhorns, and Alabama Crimson Tide.

Why not Ohio State? "The team I do not like is Ohio State," Finebaum said on his show, via Athlon Sports. "I think they're vastly overrated."

Of course, as reigning national champions, most fans and analysts are going to give the Buckeyes the benefit of the doubt to remain near the top of the college football mountain. But specifically in the case of the 2025 Ohio State squad, they return nine starters from last year's championship roster, including arguably the best players in the country on both sides of the ball in wide receiver Jeremiah Smith and safety Caleb Downs.

Of course, there is still reason for some skepticism. The Buckeyes only return three starters on defense, and all of them are in the defensive backfield. And of the six starters returning on offense, quarterback isn’t one of those positions.

That said, Oregon only returns five starters, while Texas returns nine. Along with Alabama and those two programs, the Buckeyes aren’t alone in breaking in a new quarterback in 2025.

Finebaum backed the Buckeyes ahead of the national championship game last year, and even defended Ryan Day a bit following the loss to Michigan. So the complete 180 in his opinion just six months later is surprising.

Farbeit from Finebaum to back teams in the southeast before Ohio State, though. Still, Alabama has tons of question marks, and Clemson’s 16 returning starters barely reached the playoffs last year. As for Texas, Ohio State gets to make a statement on that subject in Week 1.

The real headscratcher is the Ducks. Considering Oregon an unquestionable national championship contender with its five returning starters while considering the Buckeyes as “vastly overrated” seems like a bit of a stretch. While Oregon returns a bit more defensively, the quarterback conversations are more similar than most seem to acknowledge, and the Buckeyes have more proven talent on the offensive side to support their new quarterback by a significant margin.