Paul Finebaum doesn't believe feud between Nick Saban, Jimbo Fisher will impact Saturday's game

Alabama faces Texas A&M this weekend, in a matchup many fans have had circled on their calendars since May of this year due to the back-and-forth exchange at press conferences between their two head coaches this offseason. Nick Saban and Jimbo Fisher both sounded off on each others recruiting methods and usage of NIL, sparked by Saban accusing Fisher of “buying every player on their team”.

As the Crimson Tide and Aggies face off in just a few days, ESPN college football analyst Paul Finebaum spoke about the coach’s feud on McElroy and Cubelic in the Morning and how he believes it’ll impact Saturday’s matchup.

“I think the key to this game isn’t the off the field issues Greg, it’s what happened on the field, and you understand that, Cole understand’s it, everybody understands when you lose a game like Alabama lost last year that’s always going to be paramount,” Finebaum said.

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The Aggies do have bragging rights for the year, as they defeated Alabama last year in upset fashion for the first time since 2012 in their debut season in the SEC. Finebaum believes last year’s loss will be the only motivation Saban will need heading into this matchup, and that his feud with Fisher will be an afterthought.

“So I don’t know Greg, conventional wisdom with Nick Saban is that he doesn’t care about that stuff and I’m going to hold true in believing that if this game is out of hand, I don’t see Nick Saban saying ‘you know what, lets just rub it in’, because that’s just not who he is,” Finebaum explained. “I don’t care what he really thinks of Jimbo Fisher and the narrative has been manufactured ever since late May that was no big deal, and we all know that was a very big deal, but I think the animus is really more on the other side.”

Finebaum clearly thinks the Crimson Tide will dominate this matchup, as they are currently 24-point favorites for the game. Fisher worked under Saban during their time at LSU as his offensive coordinator, which Finebaum also spoke about regarding their relationship.

“I think it’s really more on Jimbo Fisher’s contempt for Nick Saban than Nick Saban’s contempt for Jimbo Fisher. Nick Saban views Jimbo Fisher as just one more of his prodigies that got away a little bit, maybe the oldest, who just would not listen to the old man growing up,” Finebaum said. “I think if you look at all of Saban’s disciples, Jimbo is clearly the recalcitrant one, the one that wanted to be different.”

Finebaum clearly thinks Saban is above the offseason drama that was created earlier this year, and that Saban will get the last laugh on the scoreboard this weekend, and still believes if he’s up big, he’ll show mercy to his former colleague Fisher.

“And I don’t really think that if it’s sitting there at 45-17, assuming that A&M can score 17 points late in the game and Alabama is on the goal line, I just think Nick Saban will say you know what I know everyone wants to see this game get out of hand, hang a half a hundred, but I don’t believe he will, that’s just my thoughts,” Finebaum said.