Paul Finebaum calls Tennessee's College Football Playoff dreams 'absolutely fiction'

Paul Finebaum watched as Tennessee broke through its glass ceiling and made the College Football Playoff in 2024. However, he’s not confident the Volunteers can return to the dance in 2025.

The program has undergone some serious changes over the last couple of months, and the SEC Network analyst recognizes that. He called dreams Tennessee has of making the CFP “fiction,” thinking the Vols simply don’t have the juice to compete with the top dogs this season.

“I love fiction, and that is absolutely fiction,” Finebaum responded, regarding whether it’s fact or fiction, Tennessee will return to the CFP this season. “Tennessee is not making it back to the Playoff.

“They lost Nico [Iamaleava]. They have Joey Aguilar, who went to App State, transferred to UCLA and then to Tennessee, all in what seemed like about a half an hour. Tennessee will be good, but they’re not good enough to make the Playoff.”

Evidently, Finebaum believes Tennessee will be solid, but they’ll be one weight class below the contenders in the SEC and college football as a whole. It’ll be disappointing for the Volunteers to return to that tier after competing with the big boys in 2024, but there’s certainly some signs that would lead you to agree with Finebaum.

We won’t have to wait long to find out if Paul Finebaum’s concerns are real with Tennessee. They have some tough games to start the season — Aug. 30 against Syracuse, Sept. 13 versus Georgia and they’ll face Alabama on Oct. 18. How they do in those contests might determine where they end up.

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Moreover, Paul Finebaum agreed with Tennessee’s decision to move on from Nico Iamaleava. The quarterback went to UCLA, and the Volunteers ended up replacing him with the aforementioned Joey Aguilar.

While the SEC Network analyst believes Tennessee did what it had to do, he’s not super enthusiastic about where the team stands entering 2025: “This was the biggest story of the off-season, with Nico leaving. Joey Aguilar, from App State via UCLA, is not the perfect answer,” Finebaum stated earlier this summer on SportsCenter.

“He’s good, but he’s not great. Nico could’ve been great, even though he wasn’t last year. Quite frankly, I don’t like Tennessee’s chances of the Playoff at all.”

Despite all the drama, Aguilar and the Volunteers will be expected to compete after making it to the Playoff in 2024. Whether or not the quarterback can do enough to make Tennessee fans forget about Iamaleava remains to be seen. 

It won’t be easy, as Iamaleava came to Knoxville as a five-star recruit in the Class of 2023, according to the On3 Industry Ranking. After sitting out a season, he flashed success in his first full year as a starter in 2024, going to the CFP. He also finished the season throwing for 2,616 yards and 19 touchdowns last season. That was with just five interceptions. He also rushed for 358 yards and three more scores.