Although what they’ve done about it frees themselves to some extent from what happened in the game Tennessee Paul Finebaum is still having trouble with Ohio State in the opening round of the College Football Playoff.

Finebaum reacted to Saturday’s playoff games on SportsCenter Sunday, including the Buckeyes’ 42-17 victory over the Volunteers. As for Ohio State, he just wants to know which version of their team is playing in each game, as their consistency will be crucial to how far they advance on the field.

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“The biggest question I have for Ohio State is who shows up?” Finebaum asked. “We know what happened last night. Will the same team make the move to Pasadena? If they can do that, they have a very good chance of winning Oregon because they lost by one last time in Oregon.”

“But I have serious reservations, as great as this win was. Can this team get two or three wins in a row? That’s been one of the problems for Ohio State all season,” Finebaum said.

The Buckeyes, who defeated the Volunteers on Saturday in Columbus, are one of the best teams in college football. By almost doubling their running performance, especially in the passing game, they took a 21-0 lead from kickoff and even had a 32-point lead in the eventual 42-17 win. This Ohio State obviously looked much, much better than the one we saw last time they took that field against the maize and blue.

However, Finebaum also has concerns about Ohio State ahead of their rematch in the Rose Bowl on New Year’s Day. While the Buckeyes had three weeks between the end of the regular season and last night’s game, the Ducks will have a break a few days longer than the one between the Big Ten Championship and their first game in the CFP.

“The only question I have for Oregon is the layoff,” Finebaum said. “I spoke to Kirby Smart yesterday and he said: Yes, it’s great to sit around and watch football on Friday and Saturday, but you’re worried about three weeks off. Of course, that’s exactly what Oregon will have since the Big Ten Championship. You like to rest, but you also worry about sitting around and not playing football, which is what Ohio State did.”

This portion of the playoff round would give us the two best games based on the three possible outcomes. Now that No. 1 Oregon is set to face No. 8 Ohio State, the question is how ready either will be to play in Cali on the first day of 2025.