Paul Finebaum: Alabama players don't care about the Texas game

This weekend, Alabama and Texas are getting ready for a big Week 2 showdown, and the Crimson Tide are heavy favorites. But Paul Finebaum thinks the game will be closer than people expect it to be.

Alabama is currently a 20-point favorite over Texas on Saturday, according to VegasInsider. But during an appearance on First Take, Finebaum said the game will be closer than that because the Crimson Tide just want to go in and win. Even though it’s a big game, he thinks the Crimson Tide will have trouble winning by such a large margin.

He also pointed to some big games last season to back up his point.

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“Stephen A., I’ve never bet on a football game on my life, and I’m going to Vegas this weekend and … I’m going against you,” Finebaum said. “You just gave the reason why. Alabama doesn’t care about this game. This is just a road trip where they just have to go somewhere and get a win, and sometimes, that helps the home team that’s a 20-point dog. If you remember last year — sometimes, last year doesn’t matter to this year — but Alabama [was] a big favorite a Florida, they needed a last-second stop. Alabama was a big favorite at [Texas] A&M, they lost the game. Alabama [was a] big favorite at Auburn, they went to four overtimes.

“This is not a great heavy-favorite team on the road because they believe Stephen A. Smith. They’re watching right now down in Tuscaloosa going, ‘Hey, Stephen A. thinks we’re going to blow them out by 40.’ That affects young players. … That’s just a problem sometimes. The team that they’re going to beat by more than 20 is the other Texas team, Texas A&M. … But this time, I think it’s going to be close. It’s not going to be close in the game. We’re going to be watching the end of the game to see if Alabama wins by 25 or 17. That’s what we’re talking about.”

The game is filled with storylines, most notably the relationship between Steve Sarkisian and Nick Saban. Sarkisian worked as Saban’s offensive coordinator before taking the Texas head coaching job, and that’s been a hot topic of conversation heading into the matchup. He’ll try to beat his former boss when the game kicks off Saturday at noon ET on FOX.