Paul Finebaum, from the SEC Network, tells McElroy & Cubelic which team might've changed his mind after SEC Media Days & why he's surprised his Lane Kiffin interview went so viral
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All right, welcome back in. Michael Rowan Kubelik in the morning. 7.23 a.m. right here on JOX 94.5. He joins us each and every week. Thanks to our friends at Crane Works. You can see him on ESPN, the SEC Network. Hear him 2 to 6 p.m. right here on JOX 94.5 weekdays. It's Paul Feinbaum. Lift it, load it, grade it, grind.

Paul Feinbaum on Mac and Cube in the morning is brought to you by Crane Works. Lift it, buy it, rent it, the big dog's got it. Now, Paul Feinbaum.

Paul, great to catch up with you again. Great to see you last week. I asked Greg this a little bit earlier. I'll kind of ask you, was there a team or even a part of a team that you changed your opinion on based on conversations you had, what you heard, what you saw last week at SEC Media Days?

I don't know. In talking to Josh Heifel and a couple of the Tennessee people, I probably am a little more optimistic about the volunteers. I've always felt they were in that next group after the three or four that we talk about, but I think they're maybe closer to that first group than the second tier. So I think after the obvious, the ones we talk about every day, I think they have the next best shot to make the playoffs.

When you look at years past, Paul, you've been covering this event for a long time. Has there ever been a situation where you just didn't read it the right way? Where you thought, hey, I thought a team was going to be this. You went all in and then next thing you know, they ended up being terrible. Has there ever been one that you feel like you kind of missed on?

Well, a lot of times. Greg, I mean, I've got, I think, what was it, 2001 or 2? I'm trying to remember. Maybe 2000. Whatever Mike DeBose's last year was, they were number three in the country opening the season in the Rose Bowl.

And I think they went three and eight. So I would say that would start my list of missed calls. The Auburn one a couple years ago, was it 11 years ago? And I took some heat. I said, I thought Auburn really could have a seven and five record maybe. And I remember some of the national colleagues looked at me like I was crazy. And they ended up

within one play of the national championship. But I think the most noteworthy in recent years was 2015, when a lot of us thought Auburn had an excellent chance at winning the SEC, and they crashed and burned. Paul Feinbaum with us on the Buyers' Right Hotline joins us every Monday, thanks to Crane Works. Did you see this sort of Lane Kiffin heat coming? I had no idea that there was anything going on between you guys.

Yeah, listen, guys, you know me. I never want to end what looks like the feud of the media days, but let me give you a fact or two. We interviewed Kiffin like everyone interviewed Kiffin on Monday, okay? I think we talked to him at about 545.

He said what he said, and it was the exact same thing he said when I was with him in Oxford last year and a previous appearance and a previous appearance. Why on Thursday that became the story of the week other than Nick Saban, I have no real idea. I'm entertained by it. But I think it shows this dichotomy between reality and the aggregated viral social media world that we live in.

What is there history there that we don't know about? I mean, what's going on? Well, Greg, it's not a recent history, I can assure you, because really, Kiffin and I, this week, were very friendly off the air. I gave him personal condolences on his dad, and we had communicated quite a few times over the last two or three weeks. What he did is what he always does with me. He goes back to 2013. Yeah.

And he relitigates the famous appearance I had on game day when I called him the Miley Cyrus of college football. But he used that as the precursor.

and then started just kind of joking about all the times I was ruling and writing Nick Saban off, which I was not even paying attention to him. I mean, I just said, okay, I've heard this before. I've heard that before. And I laughed, and it was a little more somber because of his personal circumstances.

And we left, and we shook hands, and we said goodbye. It's amazing. I felt we were good until I looked at Twitter and found out we weren't. Paul Feinbaum with us.

On the Buyers Ready Hotline, joins us every Monday. Thanks to Crane Works. What was your assessment of Coach Saban? I know we saw him a little bit at the draft, but saw a lot more of him here at Media Days. And Laura told us a story on Thursday about how frustrated he was day one by not working enough and wanted to work more. And then they revamped his schedule for Tuesday. How would you assess kind of, I guess, Coach Saban's full sort of dive into college football media work?

Well, Greg worked with him a lot more than I did, but I was just in awe in watching him. I was doing a lot of stuff in the morning while you guys were in the other room, and so I had a chance to interview him on our show, but the only time I came in full gear with him was a Wednesday night. Greg and I were doing a show with Laura, and

i this the weirdest thing is you're sitting there on that desk and greg knows this better than i do and you know laura goes to coach savin then goes down to greg and whoever else was with us and they get to me and like what i'm thinking to myself do i really want to answer this question with nick saban sitting five feet away from me when i'm talking about his former team so i found myself almost

After being asked a question, asking him the same question, and Greg, I don't know about you, he seemed more than happy to answer. Yeah, he didn't. It was strange that he would make a comment

And you're expected to follow up, not necessarily disagree, but maybe take it in a different direction because it feels like he should have the final word. You know what I mean? It's like how he should have the first word and the final word. We can fill in and color in the blanks because we're TV people.

maybe with some names and maybe he didn't, you know, he's not great. I don't think he looks at it like a coach. Like he's not going to be real intent on trying to figure out what players names are. He's going to be like, they're good on the edges of the defense. That's pretty much it. Uh,

We'll color things in, though. I'll be around it. So I think he's going to be great. I think it was a lot of fun to kind of be with him in that setting. I hadn't spent that much time with him in a long time. So I enjoyed it. Did you have any interaction with him off the air that you could enlighten us to?

Well, I think the funniest thing is we talked about it later when I was on Get Up one morning, and I was just having fun just talking about how this last six months has been the worst six months of my life without Coach Saban. And they played it for him. And, you know, instead of taking it in the spirit that I meant it, like it was in deference to him, like all of our lives had been ruined. He took it as Mick Saban. He took it, okay, he took it as a competitive coach and responded by saying, well, you know,

I'm not concerned about him. I mean, he's tried to ruin my life the last 17 years. But that's just who he is. He views everything through that prism. I joked with him later when he came up to me. I said, when are you opening in Las Vegas on your comedy tour? And I think he thought it was funny. I'm not sure. But we had a couple of other interactions, but

By the way, Greg, tell me if I'm wrong, but I saw the same entourage around him in the green room that I did when he was walking into a stadium. He had a group around him that literally never left. I thought it was pretty funny, but I think he had fun with it. He was in coaching mode, and even when we were doing the show we were doing, he had the rundown in front of him. He had all the notes, and

And he noticed very quickly that we didn't do what we were supposed to do. So I just, I had a great time with it, but I wonder what type of, how he's going to react with the producers because he is a perfectionist and they better be as well.

Paul Feinbaum joining us on the Buyer's Right Hotline. Before we let you run, getting a little bit away from SEC media days, there was a little bit more chatter last week about Florida State and them seemingly not having a home right now. And the damage that they've already done to themselves in the ACC might not be able to be undone. With a little bit of new information coming out, how do you see the future for Florida State Athletics?

I think today is going to be fascinating when they appear at ACC Media Days. There's some reporting this morning, as you guys know, that they are probably not going to file by this deadline in a couple weeks that they want out of the league right now. But I don't think that was really a surprise. They don't have a route out.

But I think ultimately they are going to get out. There's just too much legal maneuvering and too much shrapnel flying. But I still don't think they're any closer to a home.

I think a lot of people thought the Big 12 was a good place for them, but it's really not. That's not what they want. They want the SEC or the Big 10. And I don't think you can absolutely say, well, hey, just because the SEC and the Big 10 don't seem to want them right now, they won't end up. I think the SEC and the Big 10 look at it as if,

okay, maybe we really don't want them electively, but if the other guy wants them, then suddenly do we have to play defense? So I think that's really where they are. In a year of screaming and hollering and going to court and making a lot of noise, I'm not sure Florida State has really moved the ball one yard from where they were a year ago. Paul, always great stuff. Always appreciate the time. Look forward to catching up with you again next week.

A pleasure, guys. Thank you. Thank you. Paul Feinbaum, ESPN, the SEC Network, and here, right here, 2 to 6 p.m. weekdays on JOX 94.5. We'll follow up a little bit of that, media days that are coming up this week, some of the storylines, and more next right here on McElroy and Kubelik in the morning. Catch up with all things McElroy and Kubelik in the morning by subscribing to the podcast. Mythically, he's grown. He's almost like a little bit bigger than...

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