Paul Finebaum trolls Florida State after Week 0 loss to Georgia Tech
By Andrew Olson
Published:
Paul Finebaum turned some heads, and riled up Florida State fans, earlier this month when he called the Seminoles overrated and predicted a disappointing season for Mike Norvell’s team.
Now that FSU is off to an 0-1 start, Finebaum is piling on. The SEC Network host and ESPN commentator joined SportsCenter on Sunday to share his thoughts on the ‘Noles 24-21 loss to Georgia Tech.
“I kept expecting an attorney to walk out to midfield and slap Ireland or Guinness with a lawsuit, ‘They served too many beers last night…” Finebaum said. “Because Florida State always finds someone else to blame when things don’t go their way and we saw that last year when they blamed the media. Then, they started suing their own league, and it was really the worst possible start for a team that so many people expected to make the playoffs.
“I realize that’s not over yet, but the way they performed yesterday, especially offensively, this team better call Judge Judy or somebody because I don’t think they’re going to make it. I mean, getting run over by a middle-of-the-road ACC team — it was music to the ears of a lot of Florida State haters.”
Finebaum was a Florida State doubter before the upset in Dublin. He drew the ire of FSU fans with his preseason pick of the Seminoles as the most likely AP top-10 team to finish the year unranked. He also shared his take that Florida State did not belong in the top 10 to begin with, noting the talent lost from the 2023 squad, which sent 10 players to the NFL Draft.
As Finebaum stated, Florida State is not being written off as a potential College Football Playoff team with the field now expanded to 12 teams and placing a premium on conference championships.
FSU’s stock is certainly down, though. Earlier this month, ESPN’s Football Power Index projections had Florida State on the 9-3/8-4 bubble. With the loss, FPI has moved the Noles down to the 8-4/7-5 bubble (7.5-4.7 projection).
The betting markets have also reacted. At DraftKings Sportsbook, FSU’s win total had an over/under of 9.5 before the Georgia Tech game. After losing a game as a double-digit favorite, the Noles now have an over/under of 8.5 wins on the season at DraftKings.
We’ll find out over the next few weeks if this is the start of the rough season Finebaum saw coming, or an early-season stumble that will be excused come December.
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Andrew writes about sports to fund his love of live music and collection of concert posters. He strongly endorses the Hall of Fame campaigns of Fred Taylor and Andruw Jones.
