After weeks of watching the college football landscape shift beneath his feet, Paul Finebaum made a telling admission on ESPN’s SportsCenter. The SEC analyst has officially abandoned the ship of Steve Sarkisian’s Texas Longhorns. Texas just toppled No. 9 Vanderbilt in a thrilling 34-31 affair. But instead of celebrating what could’ve been a signature win, propelling them toward the playoff picture, Finebaum took a different angle entirely. 

“They have made a nice comeback, and Arch is looking very good, but their schedule is daunting,” Finebaum explained when asked if Texas would make the College Football Playoff. The quarterback situation isn’t the problem. Everyone can see Arch Manning is playing at an elite level right now. The issue is what’s coming. 

“Remember, they still have to go to Georgia; they’re a top-five team, and they have to deal with Texas A&M on the final Friday of the regular season. I don’t think they can get through both, and I think their playoff hopes will end somewhere very soon.” Finebaum was blunt about the math. A trip to Athens on November 15 against the fifth-ranked Bulldogs, followed by a home matchup with third-ranked Texas A&M on November 29. It’s a closing stretch that ends the Longhorns’ season.​

But when pressed on who actually is the best team in the SEC right now, Finebaum didn’t hesitate. It wasn’t Texas A&M, sitting undefeated at 8-0. It wasn’t Georgia, the traditional powerhouse.”It’s Alabama,” Finebaum said directly. “And I realize, and I think everyone realizes, Randy, they lost to Florida State a million years ago or so it seems. It was Labor Day weekend, but what they’ve done since then is exemplary.” The Crimson Tide have been rolling, winning their last six contests and sitting at 7-1 with a ranking of fourth in the AP Poll. 

What makes Finebaum’s take even more striking is his acknowledgment of just how close the conversation really is. “A&M is quite good. I mean, they’re maybe a hair, and I mean like one of my hairs behind Alabama, not very much,” he said, gently suggesting that Texas A&M’s undefeated status doesn’t automatically make them the best team in the league. 

He also took a measured approach to Texas A&M’s signature wins. “Notre Dame, you know, winning at Notre Dame is good, but Notre Dame is not exactly a great team, and they will see better competition later in the season, but right now I’m going to give it to Alabama.” It’s a fascinating pivot for Finebaum. 

But let’s not discount Texas like that. Yes, Georgia and A&M are formidable opponents, but upsets are not exactly an alien concept to college football fans. Meanwhile, Alabama still has to beat LSU and the Sooners to finish off their campaign in style. So, while Finebaum paints an accurate picture, the path to college football playoffs is seldom straightforward.

How Texas’ road trip proved the skeptics wrong

Paul Finebaum wrote off Texas pretty quickly after Saturday’s win. He argued that back-to-back matchups with Georgia and Texas A&M would expose the Longhorns’ limitations. But here’s what he might be missing. Steve Sarkisian’s squad just proved something important about themselves in that 34-31 nail-biter against Vanderbilt that they know how to win when it matters.

The 42-day road stretch that had everyone worried back in September? That’s exactly what forged this team into something capable of hanging with anyone. “I think we’re very hungry,” Sarkisian said of his team’s mindset heading into the final stretch. “I think this group has grown very close together. I didn’t love our schedule, the fact that we were going to be gone for 42 days from home. In the end, it was probably the best thing for us. It was probably the thing we needed, this group to really grow together, lock arms, battle, compete, and fight for one another with a common goal.”​

Think about the timing of all this. Texas entered the season as the preseason No. 1, got smashed back to reality with a 3-2 start, and then got kicked in the teeth with an ugly loss to Florida in Week 6. Most teams fold at that point. Most teams pack it in. But Sarkisian’s Longhorns rattled off four straight wins, all while barely seeing their home stadium. 

Week 10 marked the first time they’d been in Austin since September 20. That’s the adversity that either breaks a team or makes it tougher. Saturday proved which one happened here. Arch Manning threw for 328 yards and three touchdowns in his return from concussion protocol. And the defense held on through Vanderbilt’s desperate fourth-quarter rally. This is the composure that doesn’t show up in stat sheets but absolutely matters in November.​