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Paul Finebaum, Heather Dinich debate whether Alabama controls its Playoff destiny
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Paul Finebaum and Heather Dinich gave their thoughts on whether Alabama controls its Playoff destiny as the Tide prepare to take on Georgia in the SEC Championship on Saturday.
Alabama needs a win over Georgia, but it could also need a few teams to lose. The path is not certain for the Tide even if they win, because they have a loss on their schedule to another Playoff contender in Texas.
Finebaum and Dinich each gave their thoughts on what needs to happen for either team to reach the Playoff. Here are both analysts’ pitches on Get Up Wednesday morning.
Dinich: “Alabama needs to beat Georgia and the best path forward for the Tide would be to have Texas lose or to have Florida State lose. Because if you have Texas lose, then you no longer have to worry about that head-to-head result in Tuscaloosa in Week 2. If Texas wins, the selection committee has a very difficult decision between Alabama’s strength of schedule, which would include a win against the committee’s No. 1 team, and the Texas head-to-head win in Week 2. Those are not weighted. It means something different to each committee member. But then on the flip side, if Florida State loses, you could have Alabama and Texas in there together. That would be a much easier solution for the selection committee.”
Finebaum: “I think we’re looking at the wrong two schools. To me, it should be about Florida State — and I know what everyone wants to say and I don’t want to upset my dear friend Heather — but I don’t really care about the argument that Florida State is an undefeated Power 5 champion. So what? They’re beating Louisville, which lost to a pedestrian Kentucky team last week. To me, Alabama and Texas are razor close. I’ll give Alabama the edge for one reason, because they would’ve beaten the biggest bully in the land, and that should count for something. That game on September 9 is important, but it’s not very important to me, because in my eyes, looking at college football, I see a better team in Alabama.”
We will know for sure whether Alabama is going to reach the Playoff on Sunday during the selection show.
