Paul Finebaum piles on Brian Kelly after embarrassing LSU performance vs. Alabama

The LSU Tigers dropped their third game of the season against the Alabama Crimson Tide on Saturday. For Brian Kelly, not only was it his first loss at night in Death Valley but it likely eliminated the Tigers from College Football Playoff contention.

While making an appearance on The Matt Barrie Show, analyst Paul Finebaum was critical of Brian Kelly, piling on after what was an embarrassing performance from the Tigers.

“What do you say about Brian Kelly that hasn’t already been cursed and uttered by tens of thousands of LSU fans? He went out and made a change at the defensive coordinator position,” Paul Finebaum said. “Looks like he might want to make another change. That was one of the poorest defensive schemes I’ve ever seen. Offensively, [Garrett] Nussmeier simply went in the tank.”

In the end, LSU lost to Alabama by a score of 42-13. On the defensive side of the ball, LSU struggled to get stops, especially when Alabama quarterback Jalen Milroe ran the ball. For the game, Milroe rushed for 185 yards and four touchdowns on 12 carries. It was more yardage than he threw for. Meanwhile, as a team, LSU rushed for just 104 total yards while Tigers quarterback Garrett Nussmeier threw a pair of interceptions.

Paul Finebaum went on to be critical of the season as a whole for LSU, pointing out that the Tigers have had several close games and flat performances before the Alabama game.

“What we saw from LSU should not have been a surprise. We’ve seen it every week. They screwed around the USC game. They absolutely shouldn’t have beaten South Carolina. They beat Ole Miss in overtime on the final play to tie it in regulation. This is a team that’s been living on the edge. I’m foolish and many of us are foolish to think they could correct it. They didn’t,” Finebaum said.

“Brian Kelly now is going to have to sell winning 10 games again as if anyone will be listening.”

With the loss to Alabama, LSU fell to 6-3 on the season while suffering a second loss in SEC play. That, essentially, eliminated the Tigers from Playoff contention. It will be the third season in a row where Brian Kelly failed to get the Tigers into the CFP, this time with it being a 12-team field.

For Kelly, however, the disappointment goes beyond not making it to the College Football Playoff.

“Yeah, I think everybody asks the same question. We really – look, they’re disappointed. We’re disappointed in the way we performed, you know. We’re not going, these guys are not like, ‘Hey, we’re out of the playoffs.’ They’re disappointed and I’m disappointed that we didn’t live up to the standards of LSU Football. That affects us more than the damn playoffs,” Kelly said postgame.

“We’re disappointed. When you put on the jersey for LSU, there’s a standard of football. Those three letters on your jersey? It’s a prerequisite. We didn’t live up to that. That’s the disappointment.”

LSU still has three regular season games remaining this season. With those, Kelly and the Tigers will look to end on a high note, starting with a road trip to Florida.