Paul Finebaum looks ahead to what Alabama, Auburn should expect in Week 1 games

With Week 1 of the 2024 college football season finally here, SEC Network analyst Paul Finebaum looked ahead at what to expect from the Alabama Crimson Tide and the Auburn Tigers while making an appearance on McElroy and Cubelic in the Morning.

This comes in the second year for Hugh Freeze at Auburn while he tries to rebuild the program. Meanwhile, Kalen DeBoer is taking over at Alabama, trying to maintain the program built by the legendary head coach Nick Saban.

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“I just think, in Auburn’s case, they want to feel good about themselves as they handle the weakest part of the schedule,” Paul Finebaum said. “With Alabama, it’s a curiosity factor. What’s the offense going to look like? How does Jalen Milroe look different? How does Kalen DeBoer handle himself?”

Nick Saban’s first game at Alabama was back in 2007 and saw Alabama beat Western Carolina 52-6. Still, there were up and down moments in that first season before Alabama took off under Saban.

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“So, I remember…Nick Saban’s first game. It was a, I can’t remember the opponent, but it was a big deal,” Finebaum said. “I mean, we were all there on that Saturday night. It was a 49 to three game or whatever but every single series was analyzed and compared to the previous, just like this one will be.”

Auburn is coming off a 6-7 season in 2023 and is opening the season with an FCS opponent in Alabama A&M. Meanwhile, Alabama won the SEC and played in the College Football Playoff last season. The Crimson Tide has Western Kentucky out of C-USA. Both the Tigers and Crimson Tide are going to be massive favorites in those games.

It’s easy to wonder what the reaction would be if either team is sloppy or struggles at all. However, Paul Finebaum thinks it’s going to be more important for Auburn to win convincingly.

“I think if Auburn looks terrible there might be a bigger reaction because there’s probably more question marks about Payton Thorne,” Finebaum said. “I think in Alabama’s case, any overreaction short of a game that goes into the fourth quarter would be ridiculous.”

Both teams kickoff the 2024 season on Saturday with games that start at 7:00 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. EST respectively.