The South’s mouthpiece was under fire by the voice of Indiana football during a historic Rose Bowl win, and has since responded by complimenting IU, albeit while shredding Alabama and coach Kalen DeBoer.
Don Fischer called out ESPN personality Paul Finebaum, host of “The Paul Finebaum Show” which airs four hours daily on SEC Network, during Kaelon Black’s fourth-quarter touchdown run as the Hoosiers cruised to a 38-3 romp over Alabama.
“What are you thinking now, Paul Finebaum,” Fischer said.
Finebaum responded on his appearance during ESPN’s “Get Up” on Friday morning. Here’s what he said to Mike Greenberg’s question about what Crimson Tide fans will say on his call-in show.
Said Finebaum: “I think it will be an absolute bloodbath for Kalen DeBoer, and I’m basing it on the reaction I’ve been getting, really since halftime of the Rose Bowl yesterday, I have rarely, if ever, heard Alabama fans this angry, and part of the reason they are angry is because they got behind Kalen DeBoer a couple weeks ago when he was considering Penn State, then he looked like he was maybe going to Michigan, and then Alabama came from 17 down to beat Oklahoma. They brought their arms around him, saying Kumbaya, and now they’re getting shoved down their throat by Curt Cignetti, who is a Nick Saban disciple, who coached yesterday like Nick Saban — and Indiana team that looked like Alabama under Nick Saban — and that is what is driving Alabama fans crazy today: that their team was soft, their team got beaten at the line of scrimmage, their team got beaten into submission, which are the principles of how Nick Saban coached throughout his entire career.
“Now, Cignetti is doing that at Indiana — a school that not a single Alabama fan respected, and now they’re having it shoved down their throat. It tasted terrible, and they will react bitterly against the man in charge, and that’s Kalen DeBoer.”
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On3’s Josh Pate, who also picked Alabama, agreed: “Well, they should be angry. Everybody in [Alabama’s] building should be angry. That’s not to take anything away from Indiana. Like, Indiana, better team, as it turns out Indiana should have been picked by people like me when you’re putting your actual money on things.
“But I think when you look at it, it’s one thing to lose the way Georgia and [coach] Kirby [Smart] lost last night, where you have a transcendent quarterback performance (and) at some point you just tip your cap — Saban did that when Deshaun Watson beat him, when [Johnny] Manziel beat him — that was not what we saw in the Rose Bowl yesterday.
“What we saw in the Rose Bowl yesterday is someone who worked for Nick Saban, who packaged everything up – not just in terms of performance, performance is downstream of principle – Curt Cignetti runs Indiana the way Saban ran Alabama. They’re not fueled by doubt and disrespect that may seem that way. They’re not. And that’s why even if they’re successful, they’ll continue to go on and be successful over and over and over again. It’s called they work to a standard. It’s the same list of phrases you used to hear Saban talk about all the time.”
Those included not getting beat because they can’t run the football, and Pate went on to say that is how Alabama has lost multiple football games under DeBoer. He also said that offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb was fired by the NFL’s Seattle Seahawks last year because they couldn’t run the football.
The discourse went on to discuss how Alabama needs to improve and the future of quarterback Ty Simpson, who left the Rose Bowl loss to IU with an injury after defensive MVP D’Angelo Ponds hit him hard in the side, forcing a fumble, and eventually knocking Simpson out of the game.
Here’s more reaction from Finebaum:
Paul Finebaum compares Indiana under Curt Cignetti to Alabama football under Nick Saban
Of course Cignetti won a national championship at Alabama while working under Saban as wide receivers coach. Finebaum noted that discipleship that has built up the cream and crimson.
“If you just walked in from lunch yesterday and watched, you would have thought the team beating down Alabama was Alabama under Nick Saban,” Finebaum said. “I realize the uniform was similar, but they played just like a Nick Saban team. They beat you to death and made you give up, and that’s what happened. And that’s why everybody in Alabama is beside themselves because their team looked soft, their coach looked soft and their program looked soft. And that is unprecedented territory for Alabama. Yeah, there have been bad losses in recent history. Nick Saban lost by 28 once in a national championship game with Tua Tagliaovola… but ultimately he also had a number of championships in his back pocket. Kalen DeBoer doesn’t have anything in his back pocket right now except goodwill from the Alabama fan base, and I thought that would change 10 days ago when we were in Norman, but it has not. It has actually gotten worse.”
Paul Finebaum’s instant reaction to Indiana football win vs Alabama in Rose Bowl
AL.com reached Finebaum after IU’s spanking of Alabama.
“Truly beyond words,” he told them.
“A historically humiliating performance,” Finebaum said. “Alabama fans will have a difficult time swallowing a 35-point loss to Indiana in the Rose Bowl. Never good when it’s the worst loss since something that happened during the (former Alabama coach Mike) DuBose era.”
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This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: ESPN’s Paul Finebaum reacts to Indiana blasting Alabama in Rose Bowl. What he said
Reporting by Aaron Ferguson, Indianapolis Star / Indianapolis Star
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
