Week 5 brought a sigh of relief at Tuscaloosa. Yes, Kalen DeBoer is the right man for the job. What can be more Alabama than beating Kirby Smart and Georgia? The Tide head coach has done it twice now, and on Saturday, it was away from home, ending the Bulldogs’ 33-game winning streak at Athens. Now, Alabama is back in the AP Top 10, and the air around the program feels different.

But the 24-21 victory could have also gone the other way. In hindsight, Georgia might want to kick that field goal on 4th & goal rather than going for it. And if Bama had lost the game, all hell would have broken loose. A Fire DeBoer campaign, possibly led by Mr. SEC himself- Paul Finebaum. Kirk Herbstreit echoed similar sentiments.

“If he loses that game, you can imagine the talk shows down there with Paul and the boys,” Herbstreit said in a September 29 episode of his show, Nonstop. He imagined the analyst to be hollering, “’We got to fire this guy! He’s done!’” if DeBoer came back from Athens with a loss. “[That’s] how much was at stake for him in that game,” Herbstreit added. Co-host Joey Gallaway also chimed in, agreeing with Herbstreit’s expectations from Paul Finebaum. “Paul would be going to show from the front lawn of Kalen DeBoer,” he said. When it comes to Paul Finebaum, we know that extreme is the norm for the analyst.

Kalen DeBoer badly needed the Goergia win. A 9-4 first year, losing a playoff spot, and then ending the season with a bowl defeat. This record may work for some programs, but the standards are different at Bama. Coming into the 2025 season, there was genuine hype, but all that vanished in four quarters against FSU. ‘Fire DeBoer’ trends were followed by the donors thinking whether they should pull the plug on his $63 million buyout. However, Alabama has looked like a different team since then, which was ultimately confirmed by how the Tide approached its big night in Athens.

Paul Finebaum had already called Alabama “cooked” after that FSU loss. But the Georgia game has changed his stance on DeBoer. “Kalen DeBoer is really phenomenal in the sense that how many times does this guy come back from the dead?” he said recently on The Matt Barrie Show.

But the analyst is also planning a different career route for himself. A few years from now, football fans might be able to see him at the Capitol. Yep, Paul Finebaum is seriously considering moving to politics. If that happens, there’s a good chance you’d have to call him Senator Paul Finebaum.

Paul Finebaum is considering becoming Alabama’s next Senator

A reason why college football is fun is because of Paul Finebaum and his brazen takes on the sport. He fears nothing when he lays out his comments, and they’re sharp enough to bruise. But the veteran analyst, after a decades-long career, is planning to step away from the sport altogether. He told Outkick’s Clay Travis that running for the Alabama Senate seemed like an “interesting” decision. An eventful talk with someone keen to see him as Senator pushed him to consider the role.

“I ended up talking to someone who made it clear that there was a desire for me to be involved. And this person, obviously who shall remain nameless, was compelling and compassionate in the approach to me, and I started thinking about it,” Finebaum added. He has a hold over Alabama fans, at least, considering how big a fanboy he is for the Crimson Tide. The analyst is hoping to leverage that in his run for the Alabama Senate. “I’ve been speaking to Alabamians for 35 years. I feel like I know who they are. I think they know who I am,” he said.

Kalen DeBoer still has to survive the rest of the season to truly escape the sword that’s hanging right above him. But Paul Finebaum might not get to be involved for the rest of DeBoer’s future if he manages to keep his job. The Senate chair will be vacated by former Auburn HC Tommy Tuberville in 2027. Finebaum, if he is sold on running for the position, will have to send in his bid in January 2026. And who knows, maybe the analyst will bow out of his career with Kalen DeBoer on his good books by that time.