Getty Paul Finebaum said with certainty that Texas A&M will lose their third game of the 2022 season on October 8 against Alabama (Photo by Bob Levey/Getty Images)
Paul Finebaum was dismissive of Texas A&M’s chances against Alabama on Saturday, October 8 at Bryant-Denny Stadium during his weekly appearance on ESPN host Matt Barrie’s college football segment — already counting the game in the loss column for the Aggies.
Finebaum said that things will get easier for Texas A&M — who faces South Carolina, Ole Miss, Florida, Auburn, UMass, and LSU to finish out the 2022 schedule after clashing with the Crimson Tide — but also said that winning out after dropping 3 of their first 6 games isn’t what the boosters paid for.
“The good news for A&M, if there is any good news, is the schedule gets easy and manageable,” said Finebaum. “But so what? Saturday night will be the third loss of the season. You can manufacture 8-4 or 9-3. I don’t know where they are going to end up. But that’s not what Texas A&M is paying for.”
Paul Finebaum Shares Joke Downplaying Jimbo Fisher’s Success
Jimbo Fisher went on to have a successful career with Florida State after serving as an assistant under Nick Saban at LSU. During his first 7 years as the head coach in Tallahassee, the Seminoles won less than 10 games once.
That didn’t stop Paul Finebaum from sharing a joke from an unnamed source undermining what Fisher has accomplished during his career. “Somebody texted me during that (Texas A&M and Mississippi State) game and with one of those riddles: ‘What is the difference between Jimbo Fisher and (former Auburn head coach) Gus Malzahn?’ The answer is Jameis Winston,” shared Finebaum.
He’d go on to tout the success of Winston while ignoring Fisher’s development of Christian Ponder and E.J. Manuel, two first-round picks in the NFL draft, in explaining that joke. “Take Jameis Winston out of this guy’s arsenal, and he may not be a head coach right now,” Finebaum said. “That’s how important Winston was.”
Paul Finebaum Called Texas A&M a ‘Cupcake’ Game for Alabama
Easily the most disrespectful thing Paul Finebaum said about Texas A&M was that they are a ‘cupcake’ opponent for the undefeated Crimson Tide. “Essentially now, this is a cupcake game for Alabama,” Finebaum said. “This is not to be taken seriously.”
While Nick Saban would assuredly not let this outside noise influence his players’ habits — perhaps referring to such talk as ‘rat poison’ — oddsmakers by and large agree with Finebaum’s assessment. The Aggies are currently 24-point underdogs, per Action Network, against the Crimson Tide for their Week 6 matchup on October 8.
The ESPN host then went on to say that those spending big money on tickets to see Nick Saban and Jimbo Fisher’s programs go at it, after the two clashed in the offseason over the former’s insinuation that the latter bought his 2022 recruiting class, were wasting their money. “I know about upsets, but don’t tell me. It’s not happening this year,” Finebaum confidently proclaimed. “The amount of money people are paying for this game, they are taking an ‘L’ on those tickets.”