Remember when I praised Paul Finebaum the other day in regards to his take on Deion Sanders and Colorado not being relevant?
Here it is if you forgot…
https://mikefarrellsports.com/college/mind-of-mike-finebaum-nails-it-about-coach-prime
Welp, I’m an idiot. I’m not dumb for agreeing with Finebaum that Colorado football isn’t relevant to the landscape of college football because they aren’t. They won’t contend for a Big 12 title, they aren’t close to being a playoff team and Deion Sanders is the only reason we even talk about the Buffs. All of that is correct. But Finebaum’s smart take on this wasn’t thought out, it was simply engagement farming. How do I know? Take a look at what he just had to say…
https://twitter.com/firsttake/status/1815402550717255712
People talk about Deion Sanders and Colorado for clicks. As much as he’s accused of his team playing for clicks, those of us in the media talking about him have to admit it’s because it will be clicked on. To say otherwise is disingenuous. Does it mean some of our opinions are outlandish and made up for engagement? Nope. Mine aren’t, they are truly how I feel. And let’s be real — we write about what is topical and Deion is topical. But it’s clear that Finebaum is in it for the clicks just like Deion and his team.
Finebaum spoke about Colorado’s lack of relevance at SEC Media Day. Last time I checked Colorado was not in the SEC nor do they have any impact on that conference. You could stretch it and say they might take a playoff spot away from a SEC team but we all know that isn’t true. Finebaum did it for attention as Deion was the star of the show at Big 12 Media Day as expected and he was riding that wave into SEC Media Days.
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But this newest take? Replacing Lincoln Riley at USC? This is simply preposterous. Deion has done nothing, and I mean nothing, to be considered a Power Four head football coach. Maybe he will, time will tell. But right now he’s 4-8 (1-8 in conference) in the same conference that Riley just won 8 games in. Riley was 8-5 (5-4 in conference) with a head to head win over Colorado. As disappointing as he’s been at USC so far, he’s 21-8 and has at least produced a Heisman winner. Deion hasn’t done much but bring in a ton of money to a dying program. USC doesn’t need money. They are in the Big Ten now and have LA to sell.
As much as I think Riley is overrated and as much as I know some power brokers at USC (administration and boosters) aren’t happy, he’s a legitimate coach. He’s been to the college football playoff numerous times and so on. To think that USC would move on from him to bring the circus that follows Deion to LA is preposterous. Coach Prime mails it in, he doesn’t recruit and relies solely on the portal. In a tougher conference like the Big Ten, that is a recipe for disaster. Heck, it wasn’t good for CU in the PAC 12 and might not serve them well in the weaker Big 12. You can’t just “fail up” because you’re an iconic former player. Boosters love attention for their program but they want wins. Prime doesn’t deliver the latter.
I wasn’t really fooled by Finebaum as I’m not an idiot. I just didn’t think he was dumb enough to follow the smart take on Deion and Colorado with a moronic take like the USC head coaching job. But today’s media is shameless and it’s July so we all do what we have to do to survive until the season gets here. Some of us try to do it with integrity even if our opinions of Deion and his version of Daddy Ball can be deemed harsh. And others like Finebaum are just doing what everyone else is doing — throwing out dumb opinions for clicks.
