Paul Finebaum eyeing SEC, teams out West as October headliners

SEC Network analyst Paul Finebaum is looking to the Pac-12 to provide some of the biggest storylines of October. The conference boasts four unbeaten teams heading into Week 6 — Oregon, USC, Washington and Washington State — as well as some of the best quarterbacks in the country.

The Ducks and Huskies are set to meet in two weeks on Oct. 14 in a game that will have implications for not only the Pac-12 title race, but potentially the College Football Playoff. Fans who tune in to that one will be treated to a matchup between Washington QB Michael Penix Jr., the country’s leading passer, and Oregon’s Bo Nix.

Of course, Finebaum also had to fit the SEC in there somehow. He believes October will be a pivotal month for the conference as it looks to bounce back from an “underwhelming” start to the season.

“I really believe it’s going to remain out West,” Finebaum said on The Matt Barrie Show. “Oregon and Washington, I think that game may very well be the most important game of the year in college football ahead of all these games that we promoted and thought in the SEC. The second part of that is going to be watching the SEC. I gently brought this up on the SEC Network yesterday. Somebody asked me about the story of September and I said ‘A little underwhelming.’ It was more than a little underwhelming.”

The SEC has three undefeated teams remaining and has already seen Alabama and LSU suffer early losses. Both teams entered the year ranked inside of the top five of the AP poll, but the Tigers in particular no longer look like a contender as they sit at 3-2.

Even Georgia, which is coming off of back-to-back national championships, hasn’t looked quite as dominant. The Bulldogs struggled early in their first two conference games against South Carolina and Auburn, even trailing in the second half against the Tigers last week, before rallying to come back.

Finebaum still believes the SEC can rebound from its slow start, but it’s been concerning to say the least.

“I’m not writing the SEC off yet,” he said. “Georgia, to me, is the second story of the college football season. What’s up with them? Is this just a Rip Van Winkle snooze manifestation of a terrible schedule or is it real? They’ve still come back twice against very subpar teams, but I still give them credit. When you know you can come back home and away, it will give you the necessary elements if you’re ever against an upper division team later on.”

Ultimately, there’s still plenty of football to be played and things will look a lot different at the end of the month. As things stand right now however, these are the concerns on the mind of Finebaum.