Paul Finebaum Makes Bold 'Guarantee' for Texas Longhorns

Week 1 of the 2025 college football season is shaping up to be a delight, with several exciting games littering Labor Day weekend. However, one game stands far above the rest.

Of course, that would be the Texas Longhorns travelling up to Columbus to face the Ohio State Buckeyes in a rematch of last season's College Football Playoff semifinal at the Cotton Bowl. Both teams will almost certainly be in the preseason top five, and the revenge factor for the Longhorns is the cherry on top.

It's tough to tell who will win this game when both sides are so evenly matched, but one analyst believes it to be an easy choice.

Paul Finebaum Guarantees Texas Longhorns Will Beat Ohio State Buckeyes

SEC analyst Paul Finebaum has no doubts whatsoever about picking the Longhorns to get their revenge against the Buckeyes on Aug. 30.

“I am as married to Arch Manning as an old geezer like me can be to a young, great college quarterback, but I like everything about him,” Finebaum said Friday on ESPN's "Get Up." “The Manning name matters, but it isn’t going to matter that field in a couple of weeks at Ohio State. The experience of being an understudy to and understanding []’s system is what’s going to get them over the top and probably — well, not probably — definitely beat Ohio State in the opener.”

Finebaum is a notorious SEC homer, possibly the most notorious in the sport, so maybe him pumping the Longhorns' tires like this isn't much of a surprise. Considering their opponent, though, it's quite the bold claim.

At the very least, Steve Sarkisian's team should have no problem getting up for this game. Not only is it a chance for revenge, but it's also a measuring stick for the program as a whole.

“We take a lot of pride in preparing for those games and take pride going into those games prepared to play with the right mindset and the right physicality that’s needed,” Sarkisian said last month on the "Always College Football" podcast. “Definitely the right execution is gonna be needed in a game like that. We use it to some degree. It’s not the end-all be-all because this is what training camp is all about. We’ve got to prepare ourselves for a grind of a 16 or 17 game season, but yet man it’s sure good to have those [big games] that are at the front end of the season to kind of kickstart you and get you ready to go.”