Paul Finebaum, the most miserable man in college football, reminded Notre Dame fans just how miserable he is on Sunday with a lazy take on Notre Dame and the College Football Playoffs. The ESPN caricature who knows as much about college football as a random drunk guy at Corby’s said on Sunday the Notre Dame should, “never be allowed back to the playoffs after their embarrassing loss last year to Clemson.”
The hot take came after Finebaum was asked if Notre Dame was going to return to the playoffs this year. Finebaum then went into one of his characteristic miserable rants about how Notre Dame game was going to lose to Georgia and then lose to Michigan (lol on that one Pauly Boy). That’s all fine. He’s wrong about Michigan, but that’s fine.
But then he dropped that nugget about how Notre Dame should never be allowed back to the Playoffs. And that’s where I take issue.
It’s fair to criticize Notre Dame for their performance against Clemson. I certainly did enough roasting on Twitter during the game, but that narrative changed, at least a little, a week later when Clemson did the same thing to big, bad Alabama. Finebaum wouldn’t dare say as much about ‘Bama though.
By Finebaum’s logic, the list of programs that should “never be allowed” back wouldn’t just be Notre Dame. It would also include Michigan State, Washington, Alabama, Oregon, Florida State, and Oklahoma. All of those teams have lost at least one playoff game by 20 or more points in the last five years.
This isn’t the first time that Finebaum has launched some shots at Notre Dame. He has long had a problem with the program – specifically with head coach Brian Kelly who might only be eclipsed by Urban Meyer on Finebaum’s hate meter.
Look, Finebaum is a troll and a miserable human being who has somehow developed a faithful following down in SEC country, and I’m sure his base will eat up his latest Notre Dame trash talk. The problem for Finebaum, in this case, is that he is essentially giving Notre Dame a hard time for doing precisely what Alabama did a week later. The Crimson Tide lost worst to Clemson than Notre Dame did.
Notre Dame will undoubtedly face a lot extra scrutiny any time they allow for their fate to be left up to interpretation. If the Irish were to finish the regular season undefeated this year, or in any year, they are going to the playoffs regardless of what pin-heads like Finebaum spout off about on ESPN which has turned into nothing more than a Buzzfeed of Sports with fewer listicles and quizzes.
Now, if Notre Dame finishes any regular season with a loss, they will have an uphill battle for a playoff spot regardless of what their other 11 games showed. That is the price tag of being independent and the result of having embarrassing losses in the 2013 BCS Title game and the 2018 Cotton Bowl.
Amazingly, in the same video segment, Finebaum did state that he thought Notre Dame could get to 10-2 this year which is an improvement from the national media narrative around the possibility of Notre Dame finishing the season unranked. That is a scenario that is more optimistic outcome than some Notre Dame fans I know have.
Why does anyone care what this clown says? I continue to be baffled by how he remains in the spotlight. He has no idea what he is talking about and reeks of “failed athlete”, or more accurately, “never played an inning or a down in his life” kind of guy. He so incredibly biased towards the SEC, and Alabama in particular, that no one should view him as credible. Have you ever watched is dopey show? Full of awkwardness and dead air. He has to go.
What about Ohio State losing 35 to 0 against Clemson a few years ago in the playoffs? It was 9 tO 3 at halftime and then we lost Julian Love our lock down corner and they attacked us
where he was missing. The problem was our offense and Kelly is supposed to be an offensive genius LIKE LINCOLN RILEY WHO ACTUALLY IS ONE
We have to score more points to win these games, and we have to recruit better or develop our players better. In the championship game Drew Tranquil siad that they feelt like they could play with Clemson throughout the game
so that is a big improvement. Murf
Mark May did a good job being the bad guy to Notre Dame fans. Finebaum is trying to take the mantle.
May did it a lot better—he approached it as a “hater” who would never respect ND no matter how good they were. He didn’t even pretend he was giving a serious analysis when he was discussing ND. That worked really well with Lou sitting in the chair next to him and taking the opposite approach. The result was that Mark May was annoying to ND fans without undermining his credibility. He came across as the jerk who was going to put you down no matter what—even if he knew you were good, he’d never admit it. And that was ok, because he was a former football player working as a mediocre analyst.
Finebaum, on the other hand, is just being a clown, and it’s really too bad. He is much more accomplished than May could ever dream to be; but he’s willing to throw it all away to become be a “personality” rather than continue his work as a respected sports journalist. When he signed his 7-figure deal, it came with the requirement that he leave his integrity at the door. And he did.
Finebaum is a clown, but that’s what he is paid to be. Don’t watch clowns and then complain that they are absurd.
Keith , I totally agree…Paul Finebloom is. King Clown…He is so jealous of the Glory of Notre Dame…He represents HATE..I will say that Finebloom will now give Notre Dame Fire to beat. Georgia and Michigan and anyone else who stands Inour way of this years Championship…Btw where is Fineblooms alma mater ..?..They Suck just like him lol
ND got rolled, and other teams could have delivered a much better show.
It’s a business.
Wear it.
Ratings were excellent. If it’s about getting people to watch the show, then Notre Dame should be there every year:
https://www.tigernet.com/update/Clemson-ND-with-impressive-TV-ratings-31962
Wear that.
So ND adopted the Washington Generals business plan.
They did make a few bucks….
No sense getting mad at Finebaum. He is what he is. We’ll see what people like him say when ND finally wins it all, and we’ll be able to laugh about it then.
Now that I’ve looked at the video of Finebaum’s comment, it’s pretty plain to me that he was joking. Most of the pundits think that ND will lose two or three games this year, which is reasonable. If we want to go to the playoffs, we have to win out this year. I think we can do that; I think we might do that, and I also think we might not. We’ll see.
Frank , Bob — who is this guy ? And who cares. Take a survey of ND fans or just college football fans across the country —-doubt they know who this guy is. So Frank , why the article ? Irish vs Louisville about 2 hours away ! Go Irish.
Yeah, like me for instance