Paul Finebaum blasts Jimbo Fisher over final play call in 24-20 loss to Alabama

Texas A&M is still reeling from their heartbreaking 24-20 loss to Alabama on Saturday night, and even though the Aggies greatly exceeded expectations due to their competitiveness in all three phases, head coach Jimbo Fisher’s final play call at the goal line with a chance to win the game has received immense criticism throughout sports media.

On Monday, Paul Finebaum, well known as the “mouth of the south” and host of the popular Paul Finebaum Show made his weekly appearance on McElroy and Cubelic in the Morning, as the conversation immediately turned to Texas A&M’s final play call with 3 seconds left and a chance to win with a score against the Crimson Tide on Saturday night.

“I think Jimbo Fisher is getting too much credit.” Finebaum stated. “If you turnabout’s round the turnovers for (Jalen) Milroe, I don’t think it’s a close game, but that happened, so what else can you do? Jimbo’s done a good job overall with his defense, but I still don’t understand the offensive philosophy and certainly one of the few times in my life I agree with Johnny Manziel, the play call at the end was embarrassing.”

Finebaum went on to explain what confused him the most about the final offensive play call, as quarterback Haynes King, playing for injured starter Max Johnson, threw an ill-timed pass on a timing route to freshman wide receiver Evan Stewart.

“I don’t know how to get around it. You’re the genius play-caller of all-time and that’s the best you can do on the 2-yard line with a chance to walk off with, not arguably, the biggest win of your career. It was an embarrassing play-call. You think about what was on the line there, not only a win, but the defining win of Jimbo Fisher’s career. It’s even more signifiant that last year, that game was at home. This is on the road after everything we’ve talked about now since May 19. It would’ve immediately ended all conversation about Jimbo Fisher and his future.

“And in some ways, (it would’ve) put a dagger right square in the heart of Nick Saban. So, when you’re in that situation, you’ve got to think to yourself, ‘what is my best chance of getting in the end zone?’ That’s not after the fact. It was a terrible play call and that’s on Fisher. All the good will that came out of making it close went out the window. Quite frankly, the comment Jimbo Fisher made after the game is one reason he’s so unpopular outside of his zip code. The idea that Jimbo Fisher with a straight face could say ‘we had our backup quarterback in there.’ I realize we don’t hold these guys accountable, but what a laughable and disingenuous statement that was when you consider that wasn’t his backup quarterback.”