Paul Finebaum is firmly convinced the Alabama Crimson Tide didn't show up for the Indians Hoosiers in the Rose Bowl, as evidenced by a 38-3 rout New Year's Day. Finebaum pinpointed the blame while also using a specific word to describe what the game really meant.
Paul Finebaum has hidden message for Indiana football, Big Ten after Alabama Rose Bowl win originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
SEC Network pundit Paul Finebaum is essentially out on the Kalen DeBoer experiment for the Alabama Crimson Tide, thanks in large part to their 38-3 Rose Bowl loss on New Year's Day to the undefeated Big Ten champion Indiana Hoosiers.
Finebaum sounded off about the Crimson Tide's shortcomings during a recent episode of "The Paul Finebaum Show" while also giving the Hoosiers the smallest bit of credit he could.
“But this just felt like the beginning – this wasn’t the beginning," Finebaum said. "This was a continuum. We’ve seen this movie before. Every time DeBoer would have one of these, he would make up for it. This game was different, but the Georgia game in Atlanta was an absolute bludgeoning, except he was able to turn that Oklahoma game around – by the way, against an Oklahoma team that probably had no business being in the playoff, either.”
The Crimson Tide's loss marked the end of a short-lived College Football Playoff run, one that would have been unimaginable under former coach Nick Saban, Finebaum added.
"You knew, walking out of that stadium in Santa Clara [in 2019 against Clemson], Alabama would win again," Finebaum said. "[Nick] Saban was still going to be great. It was just an incredibly bad night. Those happened very rarely."
Transitioning to the present day, those games have appeared to become a norm for a Crimson Tide team playing a complete polar opposite to the Hoosiers, as they advanced to the semifinal and will rematch the Oregon Ducks in the Peach Bowl.
The Hoosiers stunned the Ducks in Eugene during the regular-season, as the winner is going to advance to the national title game against either the Ole Miss Rebels or Miami Hurricanesin the Fiesta Bowl.
It remains to be seen if the SEC and Big Ten are left standing come the night of the title game, but perhaps the Crimson Tide ran into the Hoosiers' buzzsaw at the worst possible time.
In a few weeks, we'll find out.
Category: General Sports
