Paul Finebaum says Alabama’s Week 2 win doesn’t change concerns for Georgia game
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If you’re an Alabama fan, you likely couldn’t have asked for much more out of your team on Saturday.
Looking to bounce back from an overwhelmingly disappointing loss to Florida State during Week 1, the Crimson Tide took Louisiana-Monroe to the woodshed, beating the Warhawks 73-0 in Tuscaloosa.
And while virtually all phases of the game looked improved for Alabama, the performance did little to assuage the public’s doubts of the team.
Of course, one of the most outspoken members of the public when it comes to SEC football is ESPN’s Paul Finebaum, and he shared his takeaways from the Tide’s showing on The Matt Barrie Show:
“Well, it’s [the win] better than the alternative. And if Alabama had gone out there and struggled and won 24 to 10, it would just be a continuation of an extreme week of negativity,” Finebaum said. “What you do have to wonder is why it took the second week of the season for Kalen DeBoer to connect with his players. He clearly failed to do it in the first week.”
The analyst went on to use a golfing analogy to detail how this game was tailor-made to boost DeBoer & Co.’s confidence, and he added that the looming matchup with Georgia still casts a shadow over their future.
“But sometimes, you play golf and you play one of the five toughest courses in America and you can’t do anything and you go out to a muni that’s made for fun and all of a sudden you feel great about your golf game again,” Finebaum said. “That’s essentially what happened here. Alabama opened at “Seminole,” a good club down in Florida, and then they played at the “Monroe Muni” yesterday, where it’s one of the top 25,000 courses in Louisiana. So it was made for them. I’m glad to see Alabama fans celebrating a 70-whatever victory over Monroe.”
“It doesn’t change the concerns, though, that we’ll come back again in about 3 weeks when Alabama goes to Georgia.”
Current sports editor with the Enterprise-Journal in McComb, Mississippi. 2024 graduate from Mizzou and college athletics enthusiast.
