PAUL FINEBAUM
I know that he is loyal to the SEC since he works for the conference's network, but I am not a fan of analyst Paul Finebaum. Instead of giving insightful takes, he is consistently blind to a conference and its teams. I understand that his radical takes pay the bills, but it is exhausting.
I know with it being July, I figured that I would hear something from Finebaum eventually. Well... he made an appearance on First Take and had something to say about the Florida State Seminoles' chances versus their season-opening opponent Alabama:
"I don't think Florida State will even be competitive in that opening game. "Finebaum on FSU competing against Bama
I get it... Florida State finished with a 2-10 record in 2024. We have heard it time and time again until we are blue in the face. Heck, even some of our own fan base is doubting the squad and head football coach Mike Norvell.
However, this is a Seminoles team that added 44 recruits and transfers to its roster. Plus, Florida State hired an offensive coordinator with former UCF head football coach Gus Malzahn and will likely trot out ten different offensive starters from a season ago (offensive lineman Richie Leonard IV likely being the only starter returning from 2024).
Overall, Finebaum was right about Florida State taking a nosedive in 2024. I think we all thought that the Seminoles would do that, but not to the level of only winning two football games.
He also stated that the Seminoles wouldn't do well in 2022 and 2023, but they ended up going 10-3 and 13-1, respectively. Sometimes I believe that the SEC homer just tries to have outlandish takes to see if anything sticks. Then, if he is wrong, he just crawls back into the mode of acting like he never said anything.
All in all, Florida State football has bigger fish to fry than worrying about what Finebaum has to say. It makes me not even want to go to the SEC and join the Big Ten instead. However, it would be nice to shut the mouth breathing fans of that conference up.