Paul Finebaum names best SEC team ahead of College Football Playoff rankings

Paul Finebaum at SEC Media Day | Christopher Hanewinckel-Imagn Images

Following Week 10 of college football, an upper tier of SEC teams has finally emerged. Five teams currently possess zero or one loss in conference play and all still have a very straight shot at that coveted championship game and potential College Football Playoff auto-bid. On Sunday, though, Paul Finebaum was brought on to SportsCenter to declare which SEC contender is made of the strongest brass.

A second conference loss is the unofficial death knell for Playoff-hopeful SEC teams, since there's now five with one loss or less. Those teams? Alabama and Texas A&M with zero league losses, while Georgia, Ole Miss and Texas all have just one, with Alabama beating Georgia and Georgia beating Ole Miss as far as head-to-head matchups go. But a couple more of those still remain.

We will eventually get an answer on who's the top dog among this pile of SEC contenders. For now, we just have Paul Finebaum's take, as he was asked to name the team he believes has been most impressive in the SEC.

"It’s Alabama," Finebaum said. "I realize, and I think everyone realizes, they lost to Florida State a million years ago or so it seems. It was Labor Day weekend. But what they’ve done since then is exemplary."

Alabama Crimson Tide wide receiver Germie Bernard (5) scores the game-winning touchdown vs. South Carolina | Jeff Blake-Imagn Images

That Florida State win over Alabama looks stranger by the week given the directions each program went in following that bizarre result, but there's not doubting what Finebaum says: Alabama has slayed ranked team after ranked team and also won some slobber-knockers on the road. But the Crimson Tide aren't the only SEC team catching Paul Finebaum's eye.

"I think Texas A&M is quite good," he added. "I mean, they’re maybe a hair, and I mean like one of my hairs, behind Alabama, not very much." For Finebaum, the sticking point is a lack of obvious great wins like Alabama has stacked up.

"You know, winning at Notre Dame is good, but Notre Dame is not exactly a great team," said Finebaum. "And they will see better competition later in the season, but right now I’m going to give it to Alabama."

Since launching into league play, Alabama has now defeated Georgia, Vanderbilt, Tennessee, Missouri and South Carolina and are as battle-tested and talented as any team in the league. They've proven they can hang in a prize fight and throw some hurtin' bombs. Plus, their schedule gets somewhat easier as the regular season closes here shortly.