Paul Finebaum addresses how far Tennessee could fall after loss against South Carolina

Tennessee‘s upset loss to South Carolina this weekend has many wondering how far they will fall in the next College Football Playoff Poll, as they currently sit at No. 5 with wins over No. 6 LSU and No. 8 Alabama. Former player and current analyst Greg McElroy anticipates a minimal drop for the Volunteers, and that some members of the media will be upset about it and attribute it to SEC bias, which Paul Finebaum responded to Monday.

“My message to fans is always listen to people that understand the SEC and understand college football like Cole (Cubelic), and Greg, and of course the guy you’re listening to right now, don’t listen to haters,” Finebaum said. “I feel sorry for you Greg that you had to work with the guy for a couple of years, and the only reason I say that is because I had to work with him for a couple of years. And I’m not gonna mention his name because he’s really not worth mentioning.”

Finebaum got back on track, and despite agreeing with McElroy also knows that the upcoming decisions that will be made by the committee aren’t as simple or as black and white as they may seem from the outside looking in.

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“But the point is you make a really valid point, I’m not certain you’re right because you don’t have one or two people on this committee, you have 13, and there’s no telling collectively what they’re going to come up with,” Finebaum said.

The Volunteers and No. 10 Utah are the only two top-10 ranked teams that suffered losses this weekend, despite many top teams winning in various close contests. This past weekend’s results along with rivalry weekend and conference championships looming definitely leave plenty of room for Tennessee to move in the rankings, but Finebaum is not too worried about where they lie, as their playoff hopes have likely been diminished and their ranking from this point forward will only impact which bowl game they play in.

“But the Tennessee situation, I guess I look at it more from a finite standpoint that after the top four I’m not overly concerned where Tennessee is,” Finebaum said.

Finebaum of course couldn’t help but take a final jab at a team he’s been down on all season, responding to the proposition that some have made about Clemson potentially still having a chance to make the College Football Playoff.

“I think the biggest joke in two weeks is going to be if we’re talking about Clemson being in the playoffs, I just find that to be a laughable proposition,” Finebaum said.