ESPN analyst sharply criticizes Matt Rhule

Paul Finebaum has been out for blood, with the college football season only a few Saturdays away. The ESPN college football analyst is on a Linsanity run of some sort, hopping on the network’s morning shows to criticize programs and head coaches, whether it be Lincoln Riley or Matt Rhule.

While Finebaum has tried to push Deion Sanders to USC, he’s also acknowledged in a similar breath that Colorado is irrelevant in the bigger picture of college football. So, if he thinks that about Sanders and the Buffaloes, what does he feel about Rhule and Nebraska?

Well, he didn’t exactly follow the old rule of saying nothing if you have nothing nice to say. He was brought in on Friday’s Get Up and was asked to weigh in on some quotes from the head coaches at Big Ten media, which included Rhule and Michigan’s Sherrone Moore, amongst others.

Finebaum was particularly perturbed by Rhule’s claim that the Big Ten should have four teams in the 12-team College Football Playoff every year. When introducing the claim to Finebaum, Mike Greenberg said that Rhule claimed that the Big Ten should “automatically” get four teams in the CFP.

That’s not entirely what he said; here is what he said via ESPN’s Heather Dinich:

“In the Big Ten we have to go to someone else’s stadium in our league five times and duke it out,” Rhule said. “But I think we’ll have a lot of access to the College Football Playoff. I think four teams from this league should get in every year because this is the best league. This is the NFL of college football in my mind.

“That’s not to diminish any other league,” he said. “The SEC is amazing. These other leagues are great, but the challenge in the Big Ten is going to be really difficult.”

But Finebaum took issue with Rhule more than his argument’s central premise, imploring the Cornhuskers head coach to “stay in your lane.”

“Job 1, win enough games to get to some stupid bowl game,” he said. “Don’t worry about the big boys because you’re not one of them. We saw what you did in the NFL; you were a complete disaster in Carolina. You somehow got this job in Nebraska. And you’re talking like you belong at the table with Ohio State and Georgia — you don’t. Just try to win maybe six games, quit choking big games on the final play, and leave the punditry to the professionals; thank you.”

Tell us how you really feel, Paul.

Rather than addressing the substance of Rhule’s comment, Finebaum seemed more interested in taking a swipe at the Nebraska coach. While Rhule’s Cornhuskers might not yet be on the same level as Ohio State or Georgia, his past success at rebuilding programs (Temple, Baylor) suggests they could become a factor in the future.

[ Awful Announcing ]

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