Paul Finebaum breaks down Alabama's success, how they are winning games under Nick Saban

Following yet another Alabama victory over an SEC West contender, ESPN’s Matt Barrie sat down with Paul Finebaum to break down how this Crimson Tide team keeps winning games despite a lack of star power.

On Sunday’s episode of the Matt Barrie Show this past Sunday following a terrific Saturday slate of college football action, Finebaum popped by to discuss a number of topics, including the Alabama win over LSU. Barrie commented that he doesn’t see one dominant playmaker like the Tide had on each side of the ball a year ago; however, he’s not sure that they need one.

“I look at this Alabama team, like, I could look last year and tell you that Will Anderson and Bryce Young were bonafide superstars, two of the best at their position in all of college football. I can’t,” stated Barrie. “Maybe outside of Dallas Turner, maybe Kool-Aid McKinstry. I can’t give you one bonafide star on Alabama, and I think that’s okay.”

Paul Finebaum agreed but did offer up a potential future superstar.

“Yeah, I mean, you have burgeoning stars and Caleb Downs is probably the guy that we’ll be talking about for the next two years after this, because he won’t be around for his final year. But I think you’re right.”

He then went on to explain how the calendar broke Alabama’s way this season with games vs. Tennessee, LSU and Ole Miss all coming in Tuscaloosa.

“I think Alabama, as unfortunate as it was last year having to play in Knoxville and Baton Rouge in a matter of three weeks, you know, they got the good fortune this year. They had those games at home.”

Against LSU, Finebaum simply thought the Tide made the plays they needed to, especially when coming up with a timely fourth down stop in a track-meet type of game.

“LSU is a terribly flawed team that can overwhelm you because of the dynamic nature of the receivers and Jayden Daniels, but they couldn’t do it last night. Every time LSU did not convert, Matt, I was just marking that down as a disaster, because the fourth down call was just terrible. That was one I felt like they maybe got it back at the end of the half, and then they missed the field goal. But those were possessions that they desperately needed, and in the end, they didn’t have.”

For this year’s Alabama squad, Paul Finebaum saw more of the same on Saturday and is really starting to understand this football team’s identity: keep it close and squeeze out their opponents like a boa constrictor in the second half.

“If you watch the A&M game, the Tennessee game, the Ole Miss game, we’ve seen the template. It’s… hang in there, try not to get behind — and they weren’t, of course — and then just literally maul the team in the the second half. That was the Mantra that Nick Saban brought to Alabama. His opening press conference, he said, ‘we are we are going to overwhelm you, we are going to dominate you,’ where, by the time we get to the fourth quarter, you’re going to throw up your hands and say, ‘I’ve had enough, that’s it!'”

Barrie then compared that LSU-Alabama game to the other high-octane matchup from Saturday evening, USC vs. Washington, where the loser was simply going to be the first offense to misstep.

“It was clear and it was similar to the USC-Washington game in that you were waiting to see who was going to break serve. It was legitimately a break-serve game for both schools. Like, it was back and forth and who was going to force a punt, who was gonna make a play defensively, who was gonna make a stop? Alabama, in the second half, started to do that.”

Maybe there wasn’t a Will Anderson sack or a jaw-dropping play from Bryce Young to seal the deal, but the Crimson Tide are getting the job done with a balanced team that doesn’t require so much from one or two guys.