Paul Finebaum claims Ohio State have "difficult" path to CFP in 2025

In the three weeks since the Ohio State Buckeyes won the national championship, a lot has changed for coach Ryan Day's team. The Buckeyes have lost both defensive coordinator Jim Knowles to the Penn State Nittany Lions and offensive coordinator Chip Kelly to the Las Vegas Raiders while Day signed a new deal.

The biggest turnover that the Buckeyes will face will be in the roster after 15 of their starters were invited to the NFL combine later this month and in total, the team will lose 17 players from the national championship-winning team.

During Sunday's segment of the "Paul Finebaum Show," outspoken ESPN analyst Paul Finebaum highlighted the difficult path that the Buckeyes will face to make the College Football Playoff next season citing their difficult schedule.

"I know they have Texas," Finebaum said. "They're at Michigan, Penn State. Right now ... how about 9.5? If Ohio State wins nine games, they can still probably make the playoff because that schedule is so difficult."

Analysts back Ohio State to stay in CFP contention

During Wednesday's segment of the "Triple Option" podcast, former Ohio State coach Urban Meyer tabbed the Buckeyes to be one of the main contenders for the national championship once again next season (48:10).

“Ohio State, obviously, they’re loaded and they recruit their tails off. Julian Sayin, I keep hearing great things. I stood next to him, he’s very slight. But he’s got a great arm, great release, ball gets out fast. Keep hearing great things about him," Meyer said. “Yeah I’m going to go, if you’re saying I have to, I’m going to say Texas, Ohio State, Oregon, in that order.”

During a January segment of the "Joel Klatt Show," Fox Sports analyst Joel Klatt also predicted that despite losing a huge portion of their roster and the staff changes, the Buckeyes would still be competitive next season.

“The national champs will look a lot different next year, there’s no doubt," Klatt said. "But they’re still going to be an elite team, and they’ve still got two players specifically that I think could be the two best players on each side of the ball in the sport. … Hard to take a huge step back when you’ve got the best player in the sport on each side of the ball.”

According to BetMGM, the Buckeyes are favorites to repeat as national champions (+500) followed by the Texas Longhorns (+550) and the Georgia Bulldogs (+650).