Paul Finebaum Pumps the Brakes on Rising SEC Program’s Hype After Week 10 Defeat

ESPN analyst Paul Finebaum said Kentucky doesn’t look like a College Football Playoff team after Tennessee’s 34-6 rout in Knoxville, even as he praised first-year coach Will Stein for the Wildcats’ rise to No. 6 in the rankings.

“I felt Kentucky was overdone,” Finebaum said Sunday on ESPN’s The Matt Barrie Show. “And you hate to even say that, because no matter what happened last night, I’m still impressed with what Will Stein has done. They don’t look like a playoff team to me.”

Why Finebaum doubts Kentucky

Kentucky Wildcats quarterback Kenny Minchey (3) looks to pass the ball against the Tennessee Volunteers | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Finebaum had already torched the selection committee after the first College Football Playoff rankings, and Saturday gave him more ammunition.

“As right as they were about Alabama at No. 5, they were as wrong putting Kentucky at No. 6,” Finebaum said.

Kentucky trailed only 10-6 at halftime, but Tennessee outscored the Wildcats 24-0 after the break. Kentucky reached the red zone twice and settled for two Adam Zouagui field goals both times. Quarterback Kenny Minchey threw an interception, lost a fumble on a sack and went down four times, while running back Jovantae Barnes also lost a fumble. The Wildcats turned it over on downs twice in the fourth quarter, too.

Tennessee averaged 7.67 yards per play to Kentucky’s 5.15, and Daune Morris broke a 66-yard touchdown run late in the first quarter. DeSean Bishop added 109 rushing yards and two scores.

Stein didn’t dispute the result. “You can’t turn the ball over three times, that’s obvious. There’s fourth down mistakes, penalties, stuff that we’ve controlled all year long and did not play to our standard tonight,” he said.

Kentucky’s resume under Will Stein

Kentucky Wildcats head coach Will Stein celebrates an interception during the third quarter against the Vanderbilt Commodores | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

The loss doesn’t erase what Stein built in his first season. Kentucky (7-2, 5-2 SEC) won 31-21 at Texas A&M and then strung together back-to-back overtime wins by a single point over South Carolina and LSU.

Barrie asked Finebaum whether Tennessee had arrived or Kentucky’s story had simply run its course. Finebaum’s answer cut both ways, because the Volunteers’ win carried weight only if the Wildcats were legitimate.

“It’s a little bit of a tricky pick to make them a national championship contender, but they’ve got the running game, they’ve got the defense,” Finebaum said of Tennessee. “I mean, they beat a really good team. This wasn’t just some fluky game.”

Stein said his team now has to handle something it hasn’t faced since September. “It’s a hurt locker room. We haven’t experienced losing in a long time, which is really good. But we got to learn from it,” he said.

Kentucky hosts Florida on Nov. 14, visits Missouri on Nov. 21 and closes the regular season against Louisville on Nov. 28.

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