Paul Finebaum: 'Texas is back' after knocking off Alabama in Tuscaloosa
Texas won one of its biggest games in years Saturday night with its 34-24 victory over Alabama in Tuscaloosa, Ala. For ESPN analyst Paul Finebaum, the win was a statement that Texas has arrived back, seriously, in the College Football Playoff race.
“I think we can all collectively say Texas is back and they’re in the top four,” Finebaum said Sunday morning on SportsCenter. “There’s no getting around that. When you go into Bryant-Denny Stadium and do what just a handful of teams in the Saban era have done, you deserve considerable kudos. They not only won the game by double digits, they dominated the game. This game really should have been a much bigger beatdown but if you look at the top four right now, clearly Georgia is there, Michigan. But Texas and Florida State have snuck in. I know a lot of people are asking about Ohio State and Southern Cal. They’re right outside of that.”
The Longhorns outgained the Crimson Tide offense by nearly 100 yards as Quinn Ewers led the charge wirh 349 yards and three touchdowns. One of his touchdowns was from 39 yards out and another was a deep ball from 44 yards away.
The ability for Texas to take the top off the defense and exploit a weaker Alabama secondary was something that Finebaum said was extremely impressive.
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“But what Texas did to Alabama on plays like this is simply unbelievable,” Finebaum said as a highlight of Xavier Worthy’s 44-yard touchdown reception played on-screen. “I was talking to Nick Saban yesterday morning in Tuscaloosa and he was very nervous and very agitated about the depth and the injuries in the secondary and that was prescient as that’s where the game was destroyed last night of course other than the line of scrimmage and other than the lack of discipline again by Alabama.”
Texas is expected to rise up from its No. 11 spot in the polls later Sunday morning.
The Longhorns are also now 8-2-1 all-time against the Crimson Tide, although Alabama had won the prior two games. That included a 20-19 Crimson Tide win last year and the 2010 BCS National Championship Game.