Paul Finebaum explains why avoiding postseason ban could mean big things for Tennessee

Compared to what some thought Tennessee’s punishment would be from the NCAA for what took place during Jeremy Pruitt’s tenure, the Volunteers have to feel good about the result. Paul Finebaum especially believes so considering they’ll be able to play for the postseason moving forward.

Finebaum commented on the NCAA’s result for Tennessee on SportsCenter today while at SEC Media Days. He said that the final outcome would have been far harsher a few years ago but, with where college athletics is today, the Vols should do their best to take advantage of the fact that they’ll still be able to compete for bowl berths.

“People say, ‘What does probation have to do with winning?’ There was a chance that the NCAA was going to give them a postseason ban. And probably five years ago or 20 years ago? They probably would have gotten a two or three-year postseason ban,” Finebaum said. “But in the current world of NIL and the NCAA? That stuff doesn’t matter.

“Tennessee paid an eight million dollar fine, which is nothing in college athletics. They lost some scholarships,” said Finebaum. “But they can play for a bowl game and I think they’ll get to a major bowl game this year.”

Being able to compete for a bowl game this fall is significant to Finebaum because of Tennessee’s upcoming team. He isn’t yet sure if they can reach the peaks that last season’s team did. However, all things considered, he believes that the Volunteers will be able to take a few more runs at the upper-echelon programs of the SEC.

“This team has a very good chance to replicate what it did last year,” said Finebaum. “Not necessarily winning against Alabama because the game is in Tuscaloosa. But they’ve got a shot at Georgia. Georgia’s toughest game of the year is in November in Knoxville.”

The NCAA elected to not punish the staff and players that have turned Rocky Top into a college football destination once again. With that behind them, Finebaum believes they need to make the most of it by continuing their upward trajectory both in their conference as well as in the national landscape.

Kiffin deflects question on Tennessee football’s sanctions

Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin is always going to be linked to Tennessee for his one season in Knoxville and his abrupt departure.

During SEC media days, the first question Kiffin was asked was about the penalties the NCAA recently assessed Tennessee following an investigation that found more than 200 individual infractions. However, he didn’t want to get too deep into it.

“Well, that didn’t take long,” Lane Kiffin joked.

The one major takeaway that Kiffin was willing to share was that it was telling how people around the Tennessee program reacted.

“I’ve got a lot of thoughts on that case. The case at USC, the case at Tennessee, and penalties and all that,” Kiffin said. “I’m not really gonna get into that. I’m more here to talk about the Ole Miss team, you know, happy for Coach [Josh] Heupel. I read where he was ecstatic about the penalties and the $8 million fine. So that probably tells you about how severe the penalties are in their eyes. So I’m happy for them that they don’t have to go through what we went through.”