Paul Finebaum: LSU Football, Brian Kelly in a "Really Bad Spot" Moving Forward

Finebaum described the Tigers as a "hot mess" after three straight losses, no light at the end of the tunnel.

Paul Finebaum, radio and ESPN television personality, gets ready to speak on television near activities outside the Superdome, before of the College Football Playoff National Championship game in New Orleans Monday, January 13, 2020. / Ken Ruinard / staff, The Greenville News via Imagn Content Services, LLC

Brian Kelly and the LSU Tigers dropped a third consecutive Southeastern Conference matchup on Saturday night after walking out of Gainesville with a 27-16 loss to the Florida Gators.

Kelly and Co. continued a tough stretch of games after piecing together another subpar showing in The Swamp.

Now, the Bayou Bengals are in headlines for all the wrong reasons with the 2024 season crumbling in the blink of an eye.

After a Week 1 loss to Southern Cal, it set the tone for what was to come. Fast forward to SEC play and LSU has now dropped three straight to Texas A&M, Alabama and Florida.

The Tigers fell to 6-4 on the season and 3-3 in Southeastern Conference play with two games to play after a loss to the Gators on Saturday night.

SEC Network's Paul Finebaum made his weekly appearance on The Matt Barrie Show where he opened up on LSU's struggles as of late.

“Now, you just said you don’t want to play Kansas if you’re another team. You do want to play LSU,” Finebaum said on The Matt Barrie Show. “I talk to you every Monday after I talk to Brian Kelly. There’s something that came about two years ago; we really enjoyed the relationship. And in the last few weeks, it’s just downright like riding a roller coaster at Six Flags, because it’s almost indescribable what a hot mess LSU is at the moment.” 

The on-field result has been below standard, but a piece that has been a major takeaway to some are the sideline interactions Kelly is having with his players. Finebaum alluded to that.

“I mean, you see Kelly yelling at players, them yelling back at him. You see the Notre Dame fans chirping, especially if they get through the next two weeks and make the playoffs and he is suddenly in a really bad spot, because this season has blown up on him,” Finebaum said.

"He had the number one quarterback in the country committed, and now that’s about to become a bidding war with Michigan, of which we have never seen before. And if he doesn’t get that guy, I don’t know what next year looks like for him.” 

Finebaum opened up on Kelly's future despite winning 10 games in each of his first two seasons at the helm of the program.

“It’s bad because LSU fans, they have no basement,” Finebaum said. “I mean, they just go from [if] beating Alabama a week ago to maybe getting to the SEC Championship game, into the playoffs. To now, the season is over and they have a home game next week against Vanderbilt. I doubt the enthusiasm level in the parking lot is going to be [up to standard]. It’s going to be close to comatose. 

“And then the final game of the year is against Oklahoma, which won’t be any better. And Kelly, who I really believe is an elite coach, somehow, has just watched this thing blow up on him. A number of injuries happened, and who knows what else. Garrett Nussmeier cannot get out of his own shadow. I think, depending on how the season ends, I mean Kelly’s going to be facing maybe the coldest winter of any SEC coach.”

LSU will return to action on Nov. 23 against the Vanderbilt Commodores in Tiger Stadium with kickoff set for 6:30 p.m. CT.

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