Paul Finebaum reacts to SEC football schedule, predicts what's next
After a ton of speculation and debate on the subject, the SEC decided to keep things status quo for next season and play an eight-game conference football schedule after a majority of teams decided the benefits didn't outweigh the perceived costs, but with what appears to be a promise to address the matter again in a year's time.
Like most SEC football fans, Paul Finebaum was leaning on the conference adopting the ninth conference game, but believes a lot of the negative reaction around the SEC's decision is a little overblown.
"The obituaries I keep reading in national websites from big-time writers, I think it's really shortsighted. This is a temporary decision. It's an interim decision. It's for next year," Finebaum said on WJOX in Birmingham.
That's certainly the impression that SEC commissioner Greg Sankey let on after the vote, saying that the vote is for the 2024 football season, when Texas and Oklahoma are scheduled to join the conference.
Related: How Texas, Oklahoma would have voted in SEC schedule debate
After that? Momentum does seem to be building towards the nine-game slate, despite some concerns among SEC members, including the inevitability that another game would mean another loss for half the conference's teams, which may prove costly for some when it comes to College Football Playoff or bowl selection.
Finebaum predicts the SEC will overrule those concerns and go for nine in 2025.
"I don't think anyone likes [the eight-game schedule], including me," he said.
"We all want to see more games, and that case has been made ad nauseam, but we will get there. And I think we'll get there in '25. Some of the spin is a little overdone, 'We didn't see this coming.' Most people saw it coming and [the schedule-makers] were already ready."
(WJOX)
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