Paul Finebaum circles Alabama vs. Arkansas, potential Tide stumbling block

Alabama vs. Arkansas is one of the spotlight games this weekend. The Razorbacks are reeling after a loss to Texas A&M, while the Tide ride a 55-3 walloping of Vanderbilt into Fayetteville this weekend. Despite a few other top-15 matchups taking place this weekend, SEC Network analyst Paul Finebaum hand-picked Alabama vs. Arkansas as the best game among a loaded slate.

“I think it’s Alabama at Arkansas,” Finebaum shared on ESPN when asked what game he was looking forward to most. “That game has lost a little bit because Arkansas lost in a bizarre fashion to A&M the other day in Jerry’s world. But this is probably the toughest game Alabama is going to have, at least until the SEC Championship game. So I’m locked into this, to the idea of Alabama losing or potentially losing a game. I realize they’re a 17-point favorite. But I’m locked into this game.”

Bit of an odd choice to go with a game that has a 17-point spread when games like Clemson at NC State and Kentucky at Ole Miss are on the docket. But everyone knows that ‘Bama is the needle in college football, so you can’t fault him too much.

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Paul Finebaum also further broke down the game on McElroy and Cubelic in the Morning the other day. Despite the large point spread, Finebaum seems to think Arkansas will keep it a competitive and close game throughout.

“I think it’s going to be a a very difficult game for Alabama. I’m particularly interested in how Arkansas handles this loss because Greg you can go in a lot of different directions, and I’ll spare you the high school coach speak,” Finebaum said.

He also thinks the loss last week, while deflating, eases some of the pressure on the Razorbacks.

“But in some ways, there’s not as much pressure on Arkansas. Because I think had they beaten Texas A&M, you very likely were going to get GameDay on campus,” Finebaum explained. “Which doesn’t mean as much to people like us who understand the mechanics of stuff like that. But it’s an added incentive to the fan who makes an all world game into an out of body experience.”

So circle the battle between these two crimson powers in the SEC West. Let’s be honest. For as great as those other top games may be, if Alabama is on the ropes vs. the Hogs late, every college football fan in America will have that game on.