Story byJeff HauserFri, January 2, 2026 at 5:43 PM UTC·2 min readPaul Finebaum says ‘Nuclear winter' coming for SEC if Ole Miss doesn't win title originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here. ESPN analyst Paul Finebaum delivered one of his bleakest evaluations yet of the SEC’s place atop college football, warning the league faces a “nuclear winter” unless Ole Miss wins the national championship. AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementOn Friday's edition of Get Up, Finebaum acknowledged how isolated the league’s traditional talking points have become amid mounting postseason losses.“It’s getting very lonely up on this hill defending the SEC,” Finebaum said. “Unless Ole Miss pulls this off, it is going to be a nuclear winter for SEC fans.”Finebaum argued that the expanded College Football Playoff has stripped away many of the league’s familiar excuses, calling the results unavoidable.
