Paul Finebaum says ‘Nuclear winter' coming for SEC if Ole Miss doesn't win title

Jeff Hauser

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Paul Finebaum says ‘Nuclear winter' coming for SEC if Ole Miss doesn't win title image

ESPN analyst Paul Finebaum delivered one of his bleakest evaluations yet of the SEC’s place atop college football, warning the league faces a “nuclear winter” unless Ole Miss wins the national championship.

On Friday's edition of Get Up, Finebaum acknowledged how isolated the league’s traditional talking points have become amid mounting postseason losses.

“It’s getting very lonely up on this hill defending the SEC,” Finebaum said. “Unless Ole Miss pulls this off, it is going to be a nuclear winter for SEC fans.”

Finebaum argued that the expanded College Football Playoff has stripped away many of the league’s familiar excuses, calling the results unavoidable. The Southeastern Conference finished the bowl season 4-8 overall and 1-6 against nonconference Power Four opponents, the worst combined mark among the major conferences.

Two of those wins came in conference matchups, with Alabama defeating Oklahoma and Ole Miss eliminating Georgia in the Sugar Bowl.

Ole Miss is now the SEC’s lone remaining CFP representative and will face Miami Hurricanes in the Fiesta Bowl, with a trip to the national championship game at stake.

Finebaum said the Rebels are carrying more than their own title hopes.

“It may be deeper,” he said of the SEC, “but it’s not playing for national championships like it used to.”

The SEC’s coaching-hire tendencies compared with the Big Ten Conference might be the difference here. Some insular staffing has left the league vulnerable as postseason results continue to be bad. 

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Contributing Writer