Paul Finebaum shreds Brian Kelly for 'performative punch of the table' after LSU loss to USC

Brian Kelly and LSU lost big in Las Vegas on Sunday with their opening defeat to USC. That payout is why Paul Finebaum thought he had the worst first weekend in all of college football.

Finebaum spoke about Kelly and the Tigers during an appearance on ‘Get Up’ this morning. He said that his team’s outing was the poorest because of the letdown that it was for them to once again be starting at 0-1, although they, unlike some other teams, still have a way to make up for it this season.

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“I’m going to go with Kelly because the expectations were so high,” said Finebaum. “This is his third year. Let’s not forget, Brian Kelly came over from Notre Dame, one of the plum jobs in all of the game, and he starts off the opening game losing once again to a team that most of us thought he was going to (beat).”

“Yeah, he still has a path back and I think, unlike (Mike) Norvell and Dabo (Swinney), I think it’s much easier path. But it’s just so disappointing,” Finebaum said.

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After battling through the first three quarters, LSU had managed to get a lead by the end of the third and into the fourth. The Trojans got it back and closed it out, though, with a pair of touchdowns in the fourth.

What then made it worse was the performative frustration from the Tigers’ head coach postgame. Kelly, whether trying to motivate his team or not, got angry with them in his press conference to the point of pounding the table.

However, Finebaum says the acting was not worthy of an award for Kelly.

“I think what hurt more than anything was just the performative punch of the table that everyone in America is laughing at in the aftermath. Because nobody really believes it was authentic,” said Finebaum. “It was a bad attempt at acting.’

“Brian Kelly is 0-1 on the field and he’s 0-1 at trying to act. That was not an Oscar-winning performance. First of all, you’ve got to punch with your verbalizing comments. He had it all wrong,” Finebaum had said earlier on SportsCenter. “I mean, I’m a big fan of Brian Kelly and I think his record is spectacular. But that was just too little, too late. You do that before the game, you do that at halftime, you do that on the sidelines. You don’t do it afterwards. He did take the focus away from his players and maybe that was his goal. But, in the end, it’s still a loss and a terrible loss at that.”

Finebaum says he’s supposed to speak with Kelly on his show later this afternoon after this loss. Still, that could potentially change with his criticism of him and the Tigers from this morning on ESPN.

“I’m a fan of Brian Kelly – in fact, I’m scheduled to interview him in a couple of hours. So, depending on this segment, that could change,” said Finebaum. “But he won’t be winning an Oscar this year and I’m not sure he’s going to be winning an SEC Championship either.”