Paul Finebaum taking SEC over the field to win 2025 national title: 'You'll never go broke betting on the SEC'

Paul Finebaum isn’t putting any team in college football outside of the SEC above their top contenders. When tasked with choosing a team from the conference or the field to win the national title this season, the SEC Network analyst is sticking with his guns.

“Of course I’m here at SEC Media Day, and of course I’m going to take the SEC. It’s not because of location, it’s because the SEC has so many opportunities,” Finebaum explained, via First Take. “Certainly, Texas has the best. But I just got through sitting next to Kalen DeBoer, the Alabama coach, he’s the guy who replaced [Nick] Saban — he has a team that’s very capable. He’s got a much better chance this year than last year, when he completely blew up the season with four losses.

“LSU, they’re under a lot of pressure Week 1, but [Garrett] Nussmeier might be No. 1 in the draft come next April. Nobody’s forgotten Georgia. They’re capable. I don’t think they’re quite up to the standard, but Georgia has been preseason No. 1 for a couple of years. All this talk about the Big Ten dominance — first of all, if Georgia had not blown the game against Alabama two years ago, across the street from where I am, they would’ve beaten Michigan. That’s not even in question.

“By then, Michigan was no longer able to steal signs, and they wouldn’t have been able to win the game against a really quality team. So, here’s where we are. There’s a lot of variables. You’ll never go broke betting on the SEC to win the national championship.”

Leave it to Finebaum to sneak in a shot at Michigan and Jim Harbaugh’s title before ending his point. Still, it’s tough to argue with the ESPN analyst’s sentiment, even if he does come off as a bit of a homer.

The sheer number of title contenders in the SEC is tremendous. Many believe Texas is the best team in the sport, but Finebaum also named Georgia, LSU and Alabama among the best. They’ll certainly be tough to beat in 2025.

On the other hand, detractors will point out that the SEC hasn’t won a title in the past two seasons — they haven’t even made the game. That’s certainly working against them, as the Big Ten, Big 12 and ACC want some respect put on their teams.

All told, it’ll be settled on the field, not with Paul Finebaum’s insight. The SEC Network analyst believes in the conference, but it remains to be seen if his confidence is rewarded this season.