Paul Finebaum has been reacting to the SEC matchups for the 2024 season that were announced on Wednesday. He particularly highlighted one matchup that is likely to be the game of the year for the 2024 season.

Finebaum went with Georgia’s trip to face Alabama in Tuscaloosa as his early (and unsurprising) pick for 2024’s game of the year. Since 2010, the Bulldogs and Crimson Tide have faced off in more SEC Championship Games than on-campus meetings.

“This is really the headline,” said Finebaum about the in-season matchup between Georgia and Alabama. “I know we’re talking a lot about Oklahoma and Texas and we should be, but nationally people are saying Alabama and Georgia are playing sometime during the season.”

Finebaum also explained the SEC pitting Alabama and Georgia against each other in the first season of a 16-team league helps remove some of the criticism that the league opted to remain at 8 games. He also points out it will be hard for the College Football Playoff committee to penalize either team for a loss in the matchup.

“When that game is will be very critical. It will be the game of the day, it will be the game of the year, and I think furthering the point earlier about the SEC coming under criticism for not going to 9. That one game shuts it up because what we’re talking about is the CFP. It’s going to 12 next year and they’re going to have an impossible time penalizing the SEC’s 2 biggest rivals and 2 biggest games — 2 biggest teams I should say in relation to the CFP — because that game speaks for itself. They’ve only played for the national championship twice since 2017.”

Here are Finebaum’s full comments on the matchup: