Let the record show that Paul Finebaum is not a fan of late-season cupcakes.
The ESPN radio host went off on Alabama, who is playing FCS Mercer in Week 12 of the season. While Finebaum thinks "cupcake" teams have their place in football, he thinks the games this late in the season are "an absolute disgrace".
Via 247Sports:
"I think it's an absolute disgrace," Finebaum said. "The only thing I would say is that if you have a Thanksgiving game or a Friday game, maybe I can cut you a little slack there. But for Alabama to be playing Mercer is absurd. You're building toward a crescendo at the end of the season, why do you need these games? You get these games out of the way early in the year, just sweep the garbage out.
"I absolutely hate these games."
To be fair, Alabama isn't the only team that is taking it easy this week. For example, rival Auburn is playing UL-Monroe, and fellow Playoff contender Clemson is taking on The Citadel.
That said, Finebaum does have a bit of a point about how it is often best to get these kind of games out of the way early in the season... or at least not put all of them in Week 12 before rivalry week. Week 12 has often become one of the worst weeks of the season in terms of game quality, and there's not a better example of that than the Michigan-Wisconsin game this week being the only matchup between two ranked teams. (and just barely with Michigan at No. 24)
Alabama did not waste their opportunity against an easy team: they took a quick 35-0 lead before halftime.