Paul Finebaum Declares 2-Loss SEC Football Giant's Season Over

Just 15 combined points keep Auburn from being an undefeated football team five games into Alex Golesh’s tenure as head coach, but somehow it feels like this whole season is already resembling a lost cause.

Sitting at 3-2 isn’t quite the vote of confidence fans were expecting to start the month of October, and those early losses to Tennessee and Florida in SEC play signify that there’s still a gap between Auburn and the better teams in this conference.

How big of a gap? Paul Finebaum thinks it’s too big to overcome this year.

It ‘Feels Over’ for Auburn

Paul Finebaum Names SEC Football Sleeper Whose Season 'Feels Over' After 5 Games — IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

“The season feels over to me, and I know that sounds like an over hyperbolic statement, but everybody knew how important that game was and everyone felt that game was winnable,” Finebaum said on McElroy and Cubelic after the 24-14 loss at Tennessee.

He added: “And I think anyone who saw the game knew that it was winnable. The defense did everything it could and kept them in a game while Tennessee could not have been struggling any more.”

Auburn Had a Late Chance at Rocky Top

Tennessee’s offense certainly did struggle in the air, putting up 86 passing yards and even benching quarterback Faizon Brandon in favor of George MacIntyre, but Vols back DeSean Bishop had a career-high 220 rushing yards to carry the team in a 10-point victory.

That didn’t keep Auburn out of it, though. Byrum Brown led a spirited 94 yard drive in just 4 plays in the fourth quarter, hitting Arlis Boardingham on a 16-yard touchdown to come within a field goal.

But a turnover on downs on Auburn’s successive drive after not converting a 4th and 1, followed by another Tennessee touchdown from 24 yards out, and then Brown’s late interception helped seal its fate.

“Even as Auburn was marching in the fourth quarter, I still felt like they might pull out something. They might pull out a miracle here,” Finebaum observed.

“And then it’s just, okay, you know, it felt like suddenly I was watching last year all over again, and Hugh Freeze was calling the plays.”

It Won’t Get Easier

A meager 1-2 in SEC competition now, Auburn faces a gauntlet going forward that could spell disaster for Golesh’s first season on The Plains.

Up next is a road trip against undefeated rival No. 2 Georgia, the only team in college football averaging more than 50 points per game right now, followed by a home tilt against Lane Kiffin and LSU, and then on the road against a top-ten Ole Miss side.

There’s every possibility Auburn loses each one of those games, which would put Golesh at 3-5 and on a four-game losing skid going into November, which itself includes road tests against ranked Mississippi State and closing out at playoff hopeful Alabama in the Iron Bowl.

Alex Golesh and Auburn could be facing disaster in the weeks to come.

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