Paul Finebaum: Nick Saban is at a 'dangerous' point of his career

No. 3 Alabama fell to No. 6 Tennessee this weekend in a high-scoring shootout 52-49. The Vols snapped a 15-game losing streak against Alabama and the Tide lost their first game of the season, and suffered their first regular season defeat since their upset loss to Texas A&M last year. ESPN’s Matt Barrie and Paul Finebaum discussed the state of Alabama following their loss, suggesting that the current changing landscape of college football between NIL, recruiting, and the transfer portal may not favor the Crimson Tide moving forward.

“I think it’s fair and I’m sure as soon as this gets posted some Alabama fans are gonna say, ‘well Matt Barrie haven’t you looked at your own rankings at ESPN, Alabama’s number one in the recruiting rankings.’ But I don’t think that matters anymore Matt, because it can change so quickly and nobody’s there for long,” Finebaum said.

Saban’s calling card traditionally has been to recruit and develop high school prospects into championship, and often NFL, players. But the impact of NIL on recruiting plus the significance of the transfer portal has definitely impacted and shifted the importance of player development across the country.

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“And I think Saban was slow to conform, Jimbo Fisher definitely got the jump on him a year ago, that’s changed obviously, but Nick Saban is a coach, he’s brilliant, he’s a genius, and players want to be part of it,” FInebaum said. “But my concern now, and you’ve laid out what’s happened until now, is if it looks like slippage is it just a few drops, or is it a geyser?”

Finebaum also opened up the history books, comparing Alabama’s potentially decline to one they saw in Tuscaloosa exactly four decades ago.

“And I referenced last week, and people go quit going old school, but I’m one of the few people around long enough to have watched the end of the reign of the greatest coach in college football history of a different era Paul Bryant. And now I’m watching the current goat and what ended Bear Bryant, and I know he died after he retired, but his last year was a mess and I’ll remind the audience one more time what happened,” Finebaum explained. “The number two team in the country went to Knoxville on the third Saturday of October and was upset and it was the first time in 11 years and it led to confusion and chaos and they ended up losing three more games and it was over.”

Saturday’s events were definitely eerily similar to those in 1982, and Alabama fans are surely hoping they lead them down a similar path. But Finebaum does believe that Saban and the Tide are currently in a difficult position, and could see troubling times depending on how the rest of their season unfolds.

“I’m not suggesting that with Saban because he seems like he’s in more control, but he is at a very dangerous point of his career should he lose another game and get knocked out of contention for the playoffs,” Finebaum said.