Paul Finebaum recently weighed in on the looming SEC showdown between the Georgia Bulldogs and Tennessee Volunteers. Sitting at No. 6 in the AP Poll, the Bulldogs begin conference play this weekend with a primetime trip to Knoxville.
Tennessee, unbeaten at 2-0, holds the No. 15 spot in the rankings and looks to keep momentum under Josh Heupel. ESPN’s College Gameday has already labeled the Bulldogs-Volunteers matchup as the national game of the week, underscoring its significance in the early SEC race.
Finebaum Weighs In as Kirby Smart Faces Pressure as Josh Heupel Seeks Redemption
ESPN analyst Paul Finebaum did not hold back after Florida’s loss to South Florida, a setback that may have sealed Billy Napier’s fate. The Bulls, now ranked in the Top 20, stunned the Gators in Gainesville with a late field goal, exposing the issues plaguing Napier’s program once again.
“He completely blew it,” Finebaum said on McElroy and Cubelic. “(These are) the same problems we’ve been seeing from Napier in terms of game management from beginning, and at this point, there’s no reason for optimism. I’m sorry, we went through that last year. It was a roller coaster, terrible at the first, great at the end. And you just can’t keep playing with fans’ emotions. You have to get control of your program. And he clearly has not. So I think the end is near for Billy Napier.”
Napier sits at 1-1 this season and owns a 20-20 overall record in three-plus years at Florida. That mark, Finebaum argued, falls short of what the Gators expect from their head coach. Penalties compounded Florida’s problems, setting up the game-winning kick for USF. Napier later admitted that a spitting incident on the field reflected poorly on his staff’s discipline.
Finebaum added that Florida’s upcoming schedule only worsens the situation.
“I’m not suggesting anything,” he said. “I don’t have any more control over that program than my dog sitting here next to me. But ultimately, it’s hard to come back from this, and the only way is to undo the damage. And the problem for Napier is mathematically, he only had so much room for error anyway with the toughest schedule in the SEC. And now he’s completely thrown a game away. When you look at these next four or five games, even if you win one of those … then you are back to square one, and the odds of Billy Napier winning all four of these games is pretty close to zero.”
Georgia opened the 2025 season with wins over Marshall, 45-7, and Austin Peay, 28-6. Tennessee rolled past Syracuse, 45-26, in Atlanta before crushing East Tennessee State, 72-17. Both teams have new quarterbacks after the 2024 meeting in Athens, a 31-17 Georgia win. Gunner Stockton now leads the Bulldogs, while Appalachian State transfer Joey Aguilar directs the Volunteers.
Georgia holds a 29-23-2 edge in the all-time series and has won the last eight matchups. Saturday’s game at Neyland Stadium kicks off at 3:30 p.m. on ABC. Tennessee will try to end Georgia’s run, while the Bulldogs enter as a seven-point favorite.
Key players for Georgia include Stockton, wide receiver Zachariah Branch, running back Nate Frazier, linebackers CJ Allen and Raylen Wilson, safety KJ Bolden, cornerback Daylen Everette, and defensive lineman Christen Miller.
