Paul Finebaum has been in the college football media for the past 45 years. You can like him or hate him, but he sure does know the sport. Usually, Finebaum dishes out analyses that could brutally hurt their subjects. And fans are seldom impressed by what he says. His recent controversy on ESPN‘s First Take is now building up into quite the media storm. Texas fans would consider him their own, given his sweet-and-sour comparison of Tim Tebow to Arch Manning. The analyst is now dealing with the intense fire coming from the sea of college football fans.

Finebaum’s career spans a wide variety of media. He began as a journalist writing for the Birmingham Post Herald in 1980, and went on to launch his own radio network. Now, he’s one of the most prominent faces of college football media on social media as well as television. On ESPN’s First Take, Finebaum is known for takes that are quite unsavory to the college football community. He recounted one particular incident in the show, in a July 9 episode of Dave Campbell’s Texas Football. It saw a similar trajectory as his current pickle. Finebaum was called into the show urgently during a trip to Nashville for the SEC media days, about two years ago. “I rushed up. I mean, I literally had to go upstairs to my room and put on a tie because I was dressed shabbily, like all of us are when we travel.”

Then came the kicker on that First Take show. “When you say something on that program in particular, you know it’s likely to go viral. So a lot of times, you end up getting quoted on stuff that maybe you didn’t say,” Finebaum said in his defense. “This was Nick Saban‘s last year. And they said, ‘If Nick Saban doesn’t win the national championship this year, do you think he will be in trouble?’ And I’m like, going, I think [to] myself, he’s won seven national championships. No, he did not win the previous year… Instead of saying, ‘That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard,’ you don’t want to insult the hosts who were just there for one day. I said, “Yes, I think his legacy will take a hit if he misses the playoffs two years in a row,” he recalled.

The rest of the media found their subject for their next headlines. “Having said that, and then I went in to say, ‘But Nick Saban is the greatest coach of all time.’ They completely dropped the second part. And the headline… not 10 minutes later, Awful Announcing, Saturday, whatever: ‘Finebaum says Saban is on hot seat.’ And I mean, by the way, you don’t recover from that. Because one headline begets a thousand headlines, especially when it’s on a subject like that,” Finebaum said. Though Texas fans might rejoice about his Manning comp, others didn’t.

First Take even prepared a segment that showcased a rebuttal of that particular comment, and Finebaum was back to defend himself. That conversation saw Baker Mayfield, Cam Newton, and the Manning family dragged into the controversy. He is still adamant on his claim that Arch Manning will be “sitting on the front row in New York at the Heisman ceremony.” While some analysts remain skeptical of the hype around the Texas QB1’s debut, he finds a friend in Finebaum. And in this controversy, the analyst sees a contemporary in New York’s political scene.

Paul Finebaum compares himself to an upcoming New York politician

You would not believe who Paul Finebaum saw himself relating to amidst the Arch Manning-Tim Tebow comp controversy. “I feel like the battered New York Democratic candidate for mayor who everybody has attacked — I don’t want anything to do with him by the way. I’m just making a point that I have been unfairly attacked, not only by you three, but by the entire country.” If you thought this comp was ludicrous, picture Finebaum and NYC Mayoral Democratic Primary winner Zohran Mamdani on the same page.

However, like the politician, Finebaum refuses to take back his words. “I rest my case. I’m not backing down,” he said in that rebuttal show of ESPN’s First Take. This means in Finebaum’s eyes, not even Trevor Lawrence, Tua Tagovailoa, DeVonta Smith, or Cam Newton could meet the standards set by Tebow. Arch Manning now has a ceiling of going over 3000 yards as a starter, winning the Heisman, and racking up first-team honors. And Tebow not only won the Heisman in his starting debut. He followed it up in the next two years by ending up as a finalist.

First Take will have viewers watching with rapt attention whenever Paul Finebaum gets on that screen. However, when the analyst gives out opinions like these, it tends to damage him more than the network. But Finebaum is not one to cave in to pressure. What will his next hot take be on this show?