Paul Finebaum admits he still has questions about Alabama after strong two-week stretch

Following a Week 1 loss to Florida State, the pressure was cranked up on head coach Kalen DeBoer and the Alabama Crimson Tide. That seems to have calmed down now, following a very strong two-week stretch. Despite that, Paul Finebaum isn’t sold on Alabama.

Finebaum would appear on The Matt Barrie Show on Sunday morning. There, he admitted that despite the good stretch of success, he still has questions about Alabama. Those are questions it’s going to take time to answer.

“I am feeling better,” Paul Finebaum said. “But I’m still — I mean, I’m watching that game. One team has great speed, one team is slow. One team is deep and talented across the board. The other team has a couple of good players. I’m thinking about Luke Fickell. How long has it been since he was the hottest coach in the country? Look at him now. I thought it was a pretty good move when he made it but it’s just taking so long and I don’t know how much time he has.”

Since the loss to Florida State, Alabama dominated ULM 73-0 and took care of business against Wisconsin 38-14. Both of those games were at home and both were against, seemingly, overmatched opponents. So, it’s hard to say if Alabama has been tested by the types of teams they need to beat to get to and succeed in the College Football Playoff.

Alabama won’t have to wait long for another test. The Crimson Tide have a bye week before hitting the road to take on Georgia. There, and throughout the rest of SEC play, Alabama should start to learn something about itself.

“But, Alabama, they’re hot right now. And guess what? They have a bye week before they go to Georgia. I think that you can calculate whether Georgia winning or losing really affects them that game. I don’t think it affects it very much. Georgia is still stinging from that loss last year. That will be a bigger than life game. We know that. We know what happens when Georgia and Alabama play. I still, as much as I give Kalen DeBoer credit for bringing this team back, you still have a lot of question marks. I was in a meeting the other day and one of the quarterback gurus I work with was wondering about Ty Simpson,” Finebaum said. “But every time he gets questioned, he goes out and plays flawlessly.”

As it stands now, Alabama is 2-1 going into SEC play. That’s where this year’s team will make a name for itself. Certainly, that’s also when Kalen DeBoer will have the chance to prove himself to the fanbase, which has grown concerned in the second season of his tenure there.