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Paul Finebaum gave his opinion on the current state of the SEC through the first 6 weeks of the college football season during an episode of McElroy and Cubelic In The Morning.
The conference features 6 ranked teams, anchored by No. 1 Georgia, but the ESPN analyst explains that the perception of the SEC is different now.
https://open.spotify.com/episode/7xPsdkLd7kHbqNm9JBgf4g?si=4yFuwEFwR3uQaztS1GjsMg&utm_source=copy-link&utm_medium=copy-link&nd=1&_branch_match_id=1108527879306044570&_branch_referrer=H4sIAAAAAAAAA8soKSkottLXLy7IL8lMq9TLyczL1o9wCjMqTwqJ9HZJAgAQ2WFXIAAAAA%3D%3D
“I think from a top-heavy standpoint, a lot of it is Alabama. We talk about the Playoff predictor and who’s in the top this or that. Alabama’s still not there. Alabama hasn’t been there for so long. It was automatic,” Finebaum said. “Georgia became the 2nd automatic. So that hurts a little bit. The question has moved from does the league get 2 to does the league get 1? That’s a big shift.”
Beyond Georgia and Alabama, Finebaum believes the rest of the SEC teams aren’t adding much consistent value.
“Tennessee emerged in recent years. So many questions about them. Florida has not been great. They’re a shell of their former selves. There’s some very bad teams at the bottom,” Finebaum said. “It makes for competitive games but they don’t help with the overall reputation.”
Finebaum juxtaposes the SEC with the soon-to-be dismantled Pac-12, which has a bevy of intriguing matchups on its slate.
“When you look out to the Pacific Northwest this week and you have a game like Oregon-Washington. Southern Cal as flawed as they are, are still playing marquee games every week. Colorado, like them or not, are still being noticed,” Finebaum said. “The SEC is not there.”
