Paul Finebaum: Nick Saban's championship window is closing
Is this the beginning of the end for Nick Saban? Evidently, Paul Finebaum believes so.
Following an uncharacteristic public spat, Finebaum explained why he believes Saban’s championship window is closing in an appearance on ESPN’s First Take.
“The easy answer is to say no, that Nick Saban can adapt,” started Finebaum. “But my answer is yes. It’s closing slightly. I think he’ll win this year. He’s the favorite, and I think he has the best team. He has the two best players. But I think it gets more difficult after he holds up the trophy this year, because he has so much more competition, and the topic of the day — NIL — is the reason.
“You have Jimbo Fisher, who came close a couple of years ago to the Playoff, now moving up in the rankings. Kirby Smart, who had more draft choices a couple of months ago, a couple of weeks ago I should say in Vegas than Alabama. So, I think it’s going to get more difficult. You have competition from out West in Lincoln Riley, who I think is going to start dominating the Pac-12. So, I don’t want to say that it’s over for Nick Saban, but I think it’s going to get far more difficult to win championships. Right now, he’s been winning them at a pace of about every other year.”
While Finebaum believes another championship could be added to the Alabama leader’s trophy case this season, he added that if Saban doesn’t win this season, it could be all she wrote for the seven-time champion. While you can never count out Nick Saban, Paul Finebaum sees the writing on the wall when it comes to the situation.
Paul Finebaum ‘gobsmacked’ by Nick Saban taking shots at Jimbo Fisher
Moreover, Paul Finebaum was as shocked at Nick Saban taking shots at Jimbo Fisher and Texas A&M as the rest of the college football world. In an appearance on ESPN’s Get Up on last week, Finebaum reacted to the staggering words of the Alabama coach.
“I am gobsmacked by what he said,” started Finebaum. “Not because I haven’t heard him insinuate that privately, but for Nick Saban — the greatest coach of all time — to go public, and accuse one of his biggest rivals of essentially cheating, although that’s open for interpretation, is really stunning.
“He has insinuated this in the past, but one thing you have to remember about Nick Saban, he always is complementary towards everyone else. Even when you know it’s passive-aggressive. But this was way off-script. He’s been leading towards this for some time, but that volcano erupted last night.”
“I think he’s very worried.’
While many college coaches may have the same thoughts on their mind regarding the Aggies, Saban being the one to put his name on the words in public is astonishing to Finebaum. Continuing, the ESPN SEC expert added that he believes it all stems from Saban being “worried” about his empire crumbling.
“I think he’s very worried,” responded Finebaum. “Lets remember a couple of things, that he lost to Jimbo Fisher last year in College Station. First time he had ever lost to one of his assistants. He lost the national championship game to another assistant. And now you have a new force in recruiting.
“People will say well, Alabama has everything going for them. They do — they put more players through the pros. They do this, they do that. However, they do not have as deep of pockets to buy players as Texas A&M. Texas A&M is an oil-rich state, Alabama is not. And I think that’s what really concerns Saban here.
“These new collectives, which are way too complicated to explain in a short period of time, are giving boosters the right to go out and bring players in. Even though it’s technically against the NCAA rules. But guess what, there’s no such thing as NCAA rules anymore. It’s the wild, Wild West. The NCAA really doesn’t care, despite what they say. So, if you want to cheat, it’s open season.”
Paul Finebaum has watched as Nick Saban has dominated the SEC — and the sport of college football as a whole — through every change to the sport. However, the seven-time national champion is showing some cracks in his perfect armor for the first time in a long time.