Paul Finebaum: Alabama controls national title destiny, but there's a caveat

SEC analyst Paul Finebaum’s faith in the Alabama Crimson Tide is wavering after this weekend.

The Alabama-Texas A&M game on Saturday shouldn’t have had as much intrigue as it did. Undefeated Alabama came to Kyle Field to face the Aggies who’d just lost to Arkansas and Mississippi State. The expectation was that they’d walk out with another win in the column.

Jimbo Fisher and the Aggies showed Alabama’s not as infallible as they seemed one week ago.

“We were starting to center on (Alabama-Georgia) in the SEC, and now, there are just too many other intangibles,” Paul Finebaum said on the ESPN College Football Podcast. “Alabama is not done. I had someone text me, ‘Before you go off on Alabama, remember Alabama controls its own destiny.’ Right, if they win out, they win the national championship. But let’s not worry about that right now because this doesn’t look like an Alabama team that we were trying to make them out to be a week ago.

“We tend to look at the brand, people were saying this is the best Alabama defense ever and it was hard to believe after Florida but Ole Miss helped us believe that. But they’re not, they’re not going to be. I don’t talk fundamentals because that’s not my specialty, but the line of scrimmage, they have some real issues.”

Finebaum, typically a big believer in Bama’s dominance, took issue with the Tide’s composure and the coaching decisions, as well.

Redshirt freshman QB Zach Calzada shredded the Alabama defense, passing for 285 yards and three touchdowns in the 41-38 victory. On the other side, Bryce Young took five sacks from the Aggies and threw a pick.

The Tide doesn’t face another ranked opponent until Arkansas on Nov. 20. However, Mississippi State, Tennessee and LSU are all looking to copy the Aggies in the coming weeks.

Nick Saban has an opportunity to make a statement of their continued dominance. Crimson blood is in the water but it’s still more likely that Bama steamrolls the Bulldogs this weekend. Finebaum may change his tune once again after Week 7.

Finebaum shreds Golding, O’Brien

On The ESPN College Football Podcast, Finebaum also disparaged Bill O’Brien and Pete Golding’s performances in Saturday’s loss.

“Pete Golding, the defensive coordinator, came under fire a couple of weeks ago .. it was just really abominable what I saw,” Finebaum said. “And Bill O’Brien surprised me. Now the fact that Bill O’Brien’s losing a game in the state of Texas shouldn’t be a big surprise. I think Alabama had it on the three yard-line and had three straight passing plays.

“Even former players, DeVonta Smith was tweeting run the damn ball .. you never see that with Alabama players. I wanted to believe that O’Brien had the right cards.”

Alabama must be perfect moving forward to have a chance at the college football playoff. That includes not just the players, but their offensive and defensive coordinator as well.