On Tuesday, the 2024 Alabama football season came to an end with a 19-13 loss to the Michigan Wolverines in the ReliaQuest Bowl from Tampa, Florida. Many of the same issues that plagued Alabama throughout the season, including most notably turnovers from quarterback Jalen Milroe, reared their ugly heads once again on Wednesday, and the Tide finished the year with an underwhelming record of 9-4 as a result.

One of Alabama's fiercest apologists over the course of this frustrating season has been ESPN college football analyst Paul Finebaum, but even he had to admit defeat after the loss to Michigan during an appearance on ESPN's Get Up, via Awful Announcing on X.

“I led the Alabama parade to get them into the playoffs. You know that, I stood on every building… and on the first day of the new year, I'm surrendering.”

Finebaum then quite literally grabbed a white flag and waved it in front of the camera.

“I am waving the white flag. Forget Alabama. Count me out,” said Finebaum.

A fitting end to the season

ESPN announcer Paul Finebaum before the 2024 SEC Championship game at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
Brett Davis-Imagn Images
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Alabama football indeed had several prominent media members including Finebaum lobbying for them to make it to the playoff despite their record, eye test, and other indicators pointing to the opposite conclusion.

Many in the college football world were outraged when SMU instead made the cut over the Crimson Tide, and those complaints only grew louder when SMU was blasted by Penn State in the first round of the playoffs.

However, Alabama more than validated the committee's decision with their performance against Michigan, which gave them a loss to Michigan on both the first and the last day of 2024 (see the 2024 Rose Bowl).

There were several troubling performances throughout this past season for Alabama, including most notably a disastrous blowout loss to the Oklahoma Sooners playing without its top five wide receivers earlier this year. Many of those bad habits manifested in the worst way on Wednesday against Michigan, as quarterback Jalen Milroe racked up three turnovers in the first quarter alone.

Alabama football now enters a crucial offseason under head coach Kalen DeBoer, who has quickly lost the favor of a fanbase that was cautiously optimistic for him following Nick Saban's departure last winter.

In any case, Alabama now faces its fourth straight summer without a championship to celebrate.