Paul Finebaum says Vanderbilt 'could beat a lot of those Big Ten teams' in CFP rankings
Paul Finebaum is trying to remind the college football world that this year’s Vanderbilt is not the traditional doormat of years past. In fact, he believes the suddenly bowl-eligible Commodores could beat some of the Big Ten teams mentioned in the College Football Playoff rankings.
Tuesday night featured the first version of the CFP poll of the season with Oregon leading the way. Ohio State (No. 2), Penn State (No. 6) and undefeated Indiana (No. 8) were also featured high on the poll.
However, Alabama was a particular topic of conversation as the highest-ranked 2-loss team. Finebaum used that opportunity to remind everyone that one of the losses by the Crimson Tide isn’t has bad as originally perceived, even taking a shot at the Big Ten in the process.
“That loss against Vanderbilt, I’m not trying to eject you from your seat, isn’t as bad as it looked 4 weeks again. I think Vanderbilt could beat a lot of those Big Ten teams that we’re sitting here whining about,” chastised Finebaum. “Vanderbilt went down to Auburn last week and won, they have been impressive.”
On the wider topic of Alabama, Finebaum remains high on the Crimson Tide as a team who controls its own destiny. Considering the Tide had 2 losses before we even reached November, that is remarkable, to say the least. It’s also a reminder of the opportunity that exists in the expanded Playoff era.
“I think as far as Alabama is concerned, they’re about where they ought to be, but it doesn’t matter where they are, because if they win Saturday night, they have a straight shot into the Playoff,” predicted Finebaum. “… I don’t think they’re in bad shape here. I’m not saying it’s easy to go into Tiger Stadium on a Saturday night, but they really do control their own destiny right now. And that’s remarkable considering how bad they have been.”
But can they beat the unranked Gamecocks?
I don’t think so, but we’ll find out.
Got my tickets to the sold out show. Pavia is still a bit hobbled so we’ll see if he can continue his magic with our front five wrecking crew.
I hope the Good South Carolina shows up for this Vandy game. The metric of whether an SEC team is any good this season seems to be based on whether you can beat Vandy.
South Carolina would be dominating in the Big 12, likely the ACC.
I’m surprised that they weren’t ranked in the Top 25 of the playoff rankings.
Finebaum is hopelessly lost in ancient history. Someone forgot to tell him that today everyone has money and everyone can spend it on recruiting. That includes (shocking for Paul) Vanderbilt. So painful for his all red wardrobe to accommodate.
But it gets worse Paul, other conferences have money also. Thank you people who advertise on television!
Here’s hoping LSU wins Saturday night, and Vanderbilt continues winning and is ranked inside the Top 20 when they get to Tiger Stadium November 23rd. And LSU hands them their only November loss.
Vandy vs SC is the most underrated game in the SEC this week ( who would a thought ??)
no one wants to play either of them
As a South Carolina fan. Good luck Vandy. I think it’s going to be a great game!
It seems pretty clear, once again, that the CFP representatives that will come from the Big 12 and the ACC will have a lot of work to do. The Big 12 representative will feel more like the “goodwill” gift to a G5 school. Outside of BYU and Miami, it looks bleak. Finebaum may be right about Vanderbilt. Up until Ole Miss dismantled Arkansas I thought the same about the Hogs. Not any more.
No matter the outcome against LSU, I still remind myself to keep in touch with reality. If this will be defined as a down year, most all others could only dream of such a thing.