FM Talk 1065 Podcasts
Finebaum Football Friday Brought to you by Bryant Bank 091924
It's time for football Friday with Paul Beinbaum, preceded by Bryant Bank. Your hometown bank with Big Bank benefits, located in Mobile and Baldwin counties. Now, here's Dan Brennan and Dalton Arwig. And now, here he is, Mr. Paul. Fine, Bob. You can wake up, Paul. The Georgia Kentucky game is over. Yeah. Are you sure? Is there a proof of life? That was, I guess you just get these clunkers every now and then, but welcome to our show, Paul. And thank you for being part of our fine bomb Fridays and the football round up that we do every day. Every Friday brought to you by Bryant Bank. We appreciate you very much, man. No, I hate for somebody else to be part of fine bomb Friday, so I just want to say to you. So, yeah, why don't we start with that game, surprise to many Georgia hanging on to be Kentucky 13 to 12? Who wasn't surprised? I don't know. I think even... Oh, you weren't surprised. I wasn't. Dan, you called this. Yeah. I kind of called it. They just... This is the Georgia Kentucky game. This is the way it goes, Paul. I think if you watched Georgia over the last couple of years, they are very consistent in being inconsistent. I don't understand it, but it happened last year at South Carolina in Auburn in the year before against Missouri. They just don't like perfection, so here we are, Georgia in the off-week with questions, and I don't know, maybe I'm thinking here too much, but I think that's exactly what Kirby Smart wants. He wants his team to bear down, get better, because they have some serious injuries that they need players back and eliminate all this. We're going into Bama for revenge, and that's an automatic win, because Nick Saban now wears pancake makeup on Saturday. I wanted to get your thoughts, Paul, on stoops at the end of the game, fourth and eight. Of course, the offense wasn't really moving the ball, but they were on Georgia's side of the field, and he punted it away. I thought it was ridiculous. Dan seemed to like the decision. I don't know if that's just the dogs van, but what were your thoughts on stoops not just going for it? Well, all you can do is look and see what happened afterwards. You got the ball back for one play, so it confirms with 99% of America's thought, it was a stupid boneheaded decision, which is really not unlike Mark Seuss, and this guy just does not have any guts, and instead of saying screw it, let's try to win the game right now. He played it safe, and he got the result that he always gets. Yeah, but his rationale was, when they punted it back to us, we'd have to go like the length of the, if they didn't make the first down, and then Georgia punted them in a hole, he said we would have very little time and very little chance of going the length of the field. That's... Okay, well, how many plays did they have when they got the ball back? They had one. Yeah. Yeah. And they were on the other end of the field. They were coming back, yes. Yeah. But it's also getting a buy, who Georgia is setting up to play next weekend, Bama. And big 10 folks, Wisconsin folks were hoping for a close game there, but it wasn't really at all. Tyler Van Dyke knocked out in that first quarter, and then Bama just destroys the Badgers. Yeah, I mean, it was... That game was decided early on a couple of plays, and the injury was devastating. I like when Alabama did. I know that there's a feeling that, among some, maybe Alabama folks were getting too high. But why? I mean, for me, you went on the road, you know, an average of big kind of opponents still better than playing out Georgia State, well, Georgia State, for that matter, so I think they're the end of it all. And you got to win, and that's really very good. And you also have a lot of confidence now as you get the awful week, and here you go. You have the first of several game of the years coming up. Yep. By the way, I was listening to that game on my way to a friend's house when the quarterback got knocked out, banned Dyke, right? The replacement, he sounded horrible on the radio. I mean, just describing what he was doing on the field. And when I got to my friend's house, the TV was on, and it was all confirmed. He was not, they did not have a reliable backup ready to go. Let me assure you, I'm a professionally trained expert. He was horrible. That's kind of great. I'm really not an expert, but some people think I am going to go ahead and declare this issue null and void. Okay. Throw it out of court. Also, a backup quarterback who had a much better week than Wisconsin's, arch manning. And I mean, Quinn Ears leaves with the oblique injury, arch comes in, and then immediately runs for a 70 yard touchdown, so that we didn't see much from Peyton or Eli over the years. Is there a quarterback controversy? I know Longhorns fans are saying there's not, but if Quinn Ears shows up and has a rough half, I could see it just sitting right there. Yeah, I don't think it really is because of the coach, but I don't know when we're going to see Ears again, probably not. I don't know why you would bring him back next week for Mississippi State. I mean, Dalton could quarterback against Mississippi State and probably-- He would do fine. So then you give them an off-week, comes back to Texas now. The Texas is an oblique injury, if for some reason he sputters, then yeah, you bring in arch manning. And then you have the controversy. You know, Quinn, Quinn Ears started two weeks ago with the hiking in favor. Now these are listed behind arch. I was thinking, has that ever happened before? I believe a couple of years ago Spencer Rattler started the season as the Heisman in favor of Oklahoma and was quickly replaced by Caleb Williams. You're right. That's right. And we've seen that. Yeah, it's very rare, but arch shot up the boards. I mean, if you're betting on arch doing the Heisman now, I think you might have missed your shot. Just a week ago. Yeah, no, it's like, it's like, hey, yeah, I just saw interest right to them. I think I'll jump in the stock market for it. The Hank Brown era has started at Auburn and Dalton could not be more excited. Yeah, I'm excited too, but I'm going to kind of like one of these cliche monitors, but there's a reason Hank Brown was the backup, because he doesn't have the mobility and nor do I think he has the ability. He looked good against a terrible opponent, but Arkansas is a simply mediocre SEC team, but but they are an SEC team. They are. And that's how Auburn opens their SEC schedule this weekend. Early in the season, we were saying, all right, Auburn rolls into this three and oh, they take care of Arkansas, then they're waiting on Oklahoma that we knew they had to start hot with five games at home to start the year. Now, this Arkansas game, if they lose this, we might be talking about a, you know, maybe a two and nine kind of season, I mean a two and a 10 or three and nine kind of season for Auburn. Here's, here's my suggestion here and got me to the sounds familiar. If Auburn loses the game, I think Jimmy Rainn ought to just walk out to the field and offer the job on the spot to Bobby Petrino, but I think that's happened before and he's familiar with the Auburn program and just go ahead and undo what should have happened probably in 2000 and three. That would be, that would be fascinating if that happened. Will, will you and the whole SEC crew be in, we'd be in Starkville for the Mississippi State Florida game this weekend? No. The way we've gotten so far this year, I'm not, I'm surprised we aren't there, but, but, you know, we, we, we will be in Baton Rouge. I know there's a follow up question, but I don't, but I don't have anything to answer. It's Mississippi State blown out by Toledo Florida made it, made the score look better, I guess, against, against Texas A&M than it actually was, but you've got two really right now bad SEC teams here playing and maybe Napier's job on the line this weekend. First of all, the guy on the other side, like Jeff Webby, I've already had calls. One you know, when he's going to be fired, he's been there exactly three games. Wow. But as far as Napier, I, I don't think his job is on the line. I think his job has already been adjudicated. I think he's done. The issue isn't to fire him, and I, I feel like I am an expert now, having been to Florida twice already to see something nobody else has done. The reason why it's complicated is, had he been fired last week, then players on the team could have bailed out on, on the red short rule, so they couldn't afford to do that. The other issue, I know it's not like I'm, I'm an NCAA volunteer, but if the, the moment a coach is replaced, go back to last year with Saban or last January, the portal opens. So Florida's got to figure out how to handle this, where they don't, the whole team just doesn't leave, especially DJ Leibway, who is the best player for the future, the quarterback. So that start, that transfer portal opens right when they fire. It's not at the end of the season. I believe it, it opens the moment the coach is out. Wow. That's, that's big. Yeah. That could put a stop to these mid season firings. And it's not even mid season. Yeah. I was told that yesterday now, I, I asked somebody because I had no work their idea. So I wonder if you, if you figure out a way to maybe, maybe have him resign effect of November 30th and just tell him he can't, he just doesn't have to come to work. Wow. That's, it adds another layer to all this. I heard that conversation. Fantastic discussion you had about the transfer portal and hirings and firings. And then what the extended playoff means for teams looking for new coaches and how that plays into this with the season now going into late January. Yeah. January 20th is now the championship game and that, that's the second part of that question is who, you know, who should take a place. Most people think it's Lane Kippen, the people in Florida want Lane Kippen. I mean, they were changing. We want Lane right behind me in Gainesville, which it was, I know Florida fans were, Florida officials were cringing. I was loving every minute of the other part of the way, but it was, uh, it was, uh, it was, uh, you know, old misses the playoff, a potential playoff team in Lett, unless we get knocked out of the playoffs, they're, by losing three games, uh, he's going to be a tough guy to hire. I mean, unless Lane Kippen was, uh, you know what, I'm just going to abandon my team. Nobody is going to let, uh, somebody, uh, this isn't like Kirby Smart six or seven years ago where, uh, you're an assistant and we'll let you, uh, shuttle back and forth. Uh, I can't imagine at school letting, uh, their head coach coach and other, be a head coach somewhere else. Yeah. Wow. Uh, so many layers to that. Uh, let's talk about the big one this weekend, Norman, Oklahoma, Sooner's first SEC game ever, and they're bringing the, uh, fortunate son Josh Heipel back in, who's doing a great job with the Tennessee Vols. A lot of storylines to this game Saturday night, Paul. Yeah. The biggest is the fact that, uh, Josh Heipel was fired, uh, Oklahoma in 2014, uh, after being a coach there for 10 years and, and, uh, winning a national championship. They have not won one since, uh, they're, they're, they're sold on bread and vegetables for now. Uh, I think for now, there's, uh, 55 hours from now that could change if, if Tennessee goes in there and just destroys them like they have everyone else, uh, Tennessee should win this game. Uh, they're by far the better team. Uh, I don't know what, uh, Oklahoma's defense is close to being a lead for offense is close to being, uh, dysfunctional, uh, Tennessee seems like they've got everything going for them. Yeah. To this point in the season, they've showed, they've been good on defense. They've been really good on offense. And that's been probably the biggest surprise with Tennessee released that people are talking about their defense this year, where in years past that was in the case, Dalton. Yeah. That, that D one. Yeah. As a defensive expert, I mean, but, uh, hey, you got to have both. You do. And I know that that D line's looking at, uh, what Oklahoma's O line has looked like these last couple of weeks and Arnold, it's made some boneheaded decisions, including that pick six, which, uh, put two lane right back into the game this last weekend. So that'll be absolutely fascinating. What kind of a reaction, what kind of reception will hype will get walking into, uh, walking on to the field there? I think it will be a thunderous ovation. Uh, one thing about Oklahoma people, uh, they, they really, uh, they're built, uh, on tradition and that they know how important he has been. Just because he got fired, uh, it's not like he, he abandoned the program. Uh, so, uh, I, I think you're, I, I think you'll be a big moment. Um, and I think it'll be very, uh, conflicting for Josh Eiffel. I mean, he was, uh, about, by the way, uh, when he played, uh, Brent Benables was, uh, was on the defensive sideline, so everybody, everybody knows everybody out there. Yeah. And I wanted to ask you quickly about the, uh, the Heisman race when hypo won the natty with Oklahoma and it was a close race. Chris Winky ended up winning it, uh, uh, for, and Florida State, of course, lost Oklahoma that year. Was that Heisman race as tight as, uh, what I'm reading about this week with all these lookbacks on that year? I think we'll remember being, I'm, uh, by the way, I'm still trying to figure out Chris Winky won anything. Um, but, uh, I mean, Florida State, uh, I mean, Florida State had a couple of those guys like that, um, but he, uh, but I think that, that was a classic case of Florida State probably being the, uh, the marquee team all season long and that's, that's why the Heisman being being, uh, voted on in early December often isn't a true indicator. Yeah. You know, now just three games into the season, Florida State is not the marquee team in 2024. Uh, Paul, thanks again for your time this morning. Great to see you guys. Thank you. Paul Feynbaum, the Paul Feynbaum show every afternoon here on FM Talk 106 5 2 to 6 PM. And we're coming back more mobile mornings on the way right after this. [MUSIC]