The Paul Finebaum Show callers will have plenty to talk about ahead of the SEC Championship.
Monday will be the start to the grand finale of the 2020 SEC season on The Paul Finebaum Show.
Saturday will be the final day of the 2020 SEC season, as 10 teams will play their final conference games. The most notable game on the slate will be the SEC Championship game between the Alabama Crimson Tide and the Florida Gators. While Alabama is guaranteed to make the College Football Playoff, Florida is only playing for an SEC Championship and a New Year’s Six bowl now.
Here is what The Paul Finebaum Show callers will be talking about Monday
5. Does Florida even have a chance in the SEC Championship Game?
Over the course of 60 minutes, Florida went from a serious national title contender to a team that may not even make a New Year’s Six bowl game. Despite being an overwhelming favorite at home, the Gators lost in unbelievable fashion to the LSU Tigers on Senior Day. For the Gators to make it to a New Year’s Six bowl, they have to beat Alabama in the SEC Championship Game on Saturday.
Alabama has blown out seemingly everyone it has played this season. It has made the two other high-quality teams in the SEC in the Georgia Bulldogs and the Texas A&M Aggies look awful in their head-to-head matchups. Because LSU upset Florida, the Gators technically have a chance to stun the Gators. However, we are looking at a potential snooze-fest in the 2020 SEC Championship.
4. Sarah Fuller continues to make herstory kicking for Vanderbilt
Two weeks after making her Power 5 debut on the second-half kickoff in the Vanderbilt Commodores’ blowout loss to the Missouri Tigers, placekicker Sarah Fuller continued to make herstory against the in-state rival Tennessee Volunteers. Fuller became the first woman to score a point in a Power 5 contest, as she connected on two made PATs in Vanderbilt’s ninth loss of 2020.
Fuller was deemed the short-yardage field-goal kicker and the PAT specialist by interim head coach Todd Fitch entering the Tennessee game. After she made her first kick, Fuller’s teammates were pumped to see it go through the uprights. Vanderbilt is slated to play Georgia in Athens on Saturday. Will she be able to make the first field goal of her college football career vs. the Dawgs?
3. Did Kyle Trask lose the Heisman Trophy on Saturday night in The Swamp?
For much of the last month, Florida quarterback Kyle Trask had been the favorite to win the 2020 Heisman Trophy. Though he surpassed Gators legend Danny Wuerffel for the most touchdown passes in a season with his 40th of the year on Saturday night, a pair of picks and a lost fumble allowed LSU to upset Florida and knock the Gators out of the College Football Playoff picture.
Trask completed 29-of-47 passes for 474 yards and four touchdowns. However, the three turnovers is all Gator Nation and the SEC media will talk about from his performance. With the way that Alabama has played and the fact the Crimson Tide has two serious Heisman contenders in quarterback Mac Jones and wide receiver Devonta Smith, maybe Trask does not win it after all?
2. So who will take over for Gus Malzahn at Auburn now?
After dancing like the star of his cul-de-sac’s 4th of July party, Gus Malzahn found himself out of a job less than 24 hours later. The long-time Auburn Tigers head coach went 6-4 in his eighth and final season at the helm. While Auburn will have many suitors to replace him in 2021, how sure are we this was the right move for Auburn to make in the midst of a global pandemic?
Three of Auburn’s four losses this year were to top-10 teams in Alabama, Georgia and Texas A&M. Most teams would lose to that trio. Even though he won his final game as Auburn’s head coach over the Mississippi State Bulldogs, it was strange to see his patented sweater vest unravel merely hours after the fact. He had to have known beforehand. Otherwise, this is totally shocking.
1. I mean, who throws a shoe, honestly?
The only thing that could top Auburn abruptly firing its head coach is how Florida ended up losing its rivalry game to LSU at home. Sure, Florida made plenty of other boneheaded plays that added up to them no longer being in contention for the College Football Playoff. However, who throws a shoe, honestly? With one 20-yard pass to no one on third down, Marco Wilson ruined lives.
Because Wilson tossed an LSU player’s cleat, this resulted in an unsportsmanlike penalty and an automatic first down for the Bayou Bengals offense. The LSU drive continued, culminating in a made 57-yard field goal by Cade York. Florida had a chance to send it to overtime with a 50-yard boot, but the attempt was unsuccessful. It looks like the shoe was on the other foot.
Over the course of 24 hours, we saw Florida lose in spectacular fashion and its star quarterback probably cost himself the Heisman Trophy, we saw Vanderbilt continue to make herstory, even in defeat, and we saw the Gus Bus run out of gas somewhere near Starkville. At least we got one more epic dance video out of Malzahn before he was fired. U Can’t Touch His buyout. It is huge!
The Paul Finebaum Show will touch on all the emotions by the end of Monday afternoon’s show.
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