Paul Finebaum raises serious concerns about Alabama, says it is 'slipping a little bit'

Paul Finebaum is raising some serious concern about Alabama following their shocking loss to Tennessee on Saturday.

While the Crimson Tide have escaped games against teams like Texas and Texas A&M by the skin of their nose, their mistakes did them in against the Volunteers. Joining Sunday morning’s SportsCenter, Finebaum explained why he believes Nick Saban’s squad is in some trouble.

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“The lack of discipline,” Finebaum responded, asked what concerns him the most about the Alabama program. “It just feels like this program is slipping just a little bit, and I know that’s a big statement to make considering Nick Saban is the coach, but the penalties are inexcusable. We’ve already seen it a couple of times this year. We’ve seen it at Texas and we saw it again.

“Nick Saban keeps talking about a path, they do still have a path to the SEC and the national championship, but it’s very narrow, and it’s about as suffocating as I was yesterday in that Tennessee casket.”

Alas, there’s still a path to their hopes and dreams like Nick Saban mentioned, but the Crimson Tide will have to play much better against programs like 5-2 Mississippi State and LSU, and undefeated Ole Miss in the coming weeks. If not, the College Football Playoff will go off the table for Alabama.

Regardless, it’s tough to argue with Paul Finebaum’s assessment of Alabama thus far in 2022, and some could say the Crimson Tide were lucky to even be undefeated entering Neyland Stadium. To avoid critics praying on their downfall, Alabama is going to have to start silencing the doubters.

Josh Heupel on buzzer-beating Tennessee win over Alabama: ‘This is college football at its absolute best’

After 15 long years, Tennessee fans can light their cigars. The Volunteers defeated Alabama — and Josh Heupel had an emphatic reaction after the game.

“Rocky Top, this is college football at its absolute best,” he told CBS’ Jenny Dell. 

Neyland Stadium was rocking all day long as the No. 6-ranked Volunteers took on No. 3 Alabama Saturday afternoon. All 102,000 people in attendance saw a thriller as both teams traded scores all game long. But one team had to come out on top, and thanks to the leg of Chase McGrath, Tennessee fans got to celebrate.

“Our team competed 60 minutes,” Heupel said amid the field-storming. “These fans were phenomenal. What an environment, man.”

It’s hard to state what the win means for Vol Nation. Tennessee’s last victory over Alabama came in 2006 — one year before Nick Saban arrived at Alabama. The Volunteers started out hot on offense and never looked back, putting up more points than any Saban opponent during his time at Alabama.

For Heupel, the second-year Tennessee head coach, he knows fans have waited a long time for a night like this.

“It’s about this team, for our former players, our fans,” Heupel said. “We know what this means.”

Dell didn’t even have to ask what Heupel plans to do to celebrate.

“I’m going to light a cigar tonight,” he said.