Paul Finebaum on FSU losing to Georgia Tech: 'I haven't stopped laughing'

Georgia Tech kicked off the college football season in electric fashion, upsetting No. 10 ranked Florida State in a 24-21 victory at Aviva Stadium in Dublin, Ireland in walk-off fashion. With Aidan Birr drilling 44-yard field goal as time expired to secure the win for the Yellowjackets.

Florida State entered the season as the favorites to repeat as ACC Champions and one of the most talked about teams of the offseason. Which led to Greg McElroy asking college football analyst Paul Finebaum if that attention could have had an impact on the Seminoles’ disappointing Week 0 loss.

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“Greg you know that coaching staff, I mean it’s hard to believe that they let it affect them,” Finebaum said Monday on McElroy and Cubelic in the Morning. “But you don’t know, every time you talk about not letting in the noise this isn’t five years ago, or 10 years ago, or 25 years ago. I mean these guys read and hear every single thing, there’s no filter.”

“So it’s hard for me to believe it had a profound effect, but that’s all people talked about and even going into the game in Dublin that was one of the narratives.”

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Plenty of dialogue surrounded Florida State this offseason from their snub from the four-team College Football Playoff last season, to their exciting transfer portal additions like quarterback DJ Uiagalelei, and the buzz surrounding their opening game across the pond. But Finebaum blames those outside of their program for their Week 0 blunder.

“You know who’s to blame?” Finebaum asked. “It’s not the coaching staff, it’s the Florida State fans. They acted like fools and they never stopped, even during the pregame show they continued to show their rear end and that’s why I haven’t stopped laughing. I don’t know about you guys, you hate to be cruel like that, but this is a program that has isolated itself, that is on an island whose fan base is disliked and disrespected. Not only by people just walking down the street in Birmingham, but by its own league.”

Along with Clemson, Florida State’s potential departure from the ACC was also a trending topic this offseason. With lawsuits between both programs and the conference regarding their grant of rights now open and ongoing.

“I mean this is a program that literally went scorched earth against the league that it was in, that it chose by the way, 30 years ago over the SEC because it did not want to deal with the rigors of the SEC week in and week out,” Finebaum said. “Don’t take my word for it, just ask Bobby — well you can’t ask Bobby Bowden, but I talked to Bobby Bowden about it and that’s exactly what he told me.”

An upset loss in conference play to start the season is about as tough as it gets in college football. Making Florida State fascinating to watch for the remainder of the year along with their potential future in the ACC as well.