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Paul Finebaum says he’s ‘great’ with current Playoff results entering semifinals
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Paul Finebaum knows the current College Football Playoff system isn’t perfect by any means right now, but that doesn’t mean the ESPN analyst isn’t enjoying the inaugural 12-team Playoff or doesn’t think it’s been riveting so far.
Quite the contrary, Finebaum said, during his weekly Monday morning appearance on the McElroy & Cubelic In The Morning show. Finebaum also took major issue with the whole narrative about the SEC so far being that the perennial powerhouse football conference is no longer that.
Yes, Tennessee flamed out in the first round against Ohio State and Georgia was pushed around in the quarterfinals by Notre Dame, but the SEC does still have 1 team alive as we head toward this week’s semifinal showdowns.
“I’m great with it. I think we’ve had a really amazing Playoff,” said Finebaum. “I think the national narrative has been focused primarily on one thing, that the SEC’s reign of power is over. I guess everybody missed the announcement back in the early summer that Texas was now a member of the SEC, but that’s OK. I understand it all, and I’m sure if I was one of those columnists up in the Big Ten, I’d probably be casting my arrows in the direction of the south as well.”
After Finebaum was done his semi-sarcastic rant about the SEC, show co-host Greg McElroy, who by the way used to play quarterback at Alabama, chimed in with his own hint of sarcasm about the 1 SEC team that remains alive.
“Well, as you know Paul, Texas lost. Because they didn’t win convincingly enough, so, in the eyes of many, it was actually a loss, so you can’t give them credit for it,” said McElroy about Texas, which needed double overtime to outlast Arizona State in the quarterfinals on New Year’s Day.
Texas will face Ohio State in the second semifinal on Friday night in Arlington, Texas. Meanwhile, Notre Dame clashes with Penn State in the first semifinal on Thursday night in Miami.
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
