Paul Finebaum shares his ‘biggest surprise of the year’ in the SEC after 3 weeks
By Keith Farner
Published:
Looking back to the summer when the revised SEC schedule was released, Paul Finebaum and others believed LSU got a major break in terms of opponents and timing of playing them.
But after a 1-2 start, the SEC Network host and ESPN college football analyst is surprised by the Tigers’ losses to Mississippi State and Missouri. Finebaum shared those thoughts on his regular appearance on “The Roundtable” on WJOX-FM in Birmingham, Alabama.
In the loss to Missouri, Finebaum said he couldn’t understand how LSU failed at the goal line four straight times. But defense is the larger issue.
“I was not really sure I understood the Bo Pelini hire, bringing back somebody who had once been good. I mean I know his resume. Pete Golding and Todd Grantham have to be thanking Bo Pelini every Saturday for doing a worse job than them,” Finebaum said. “This season looks like it’s pretty close to getting off the rails. If it’s not today, it probably will be Saturday afternoon at Florida Field. There’s no getting around, this is the biggest surprise of the year. And when you think about it, LSU, Mississippi State, Vanderbilt and Missouri, they haven’t even played an average team yet have they?”
Finebaum recalled that schedule reaction, and how LSU got a break.
“Look what they ended up with, and it hasn’t helped them, and the reality is going to start happening Saturday, and it is not going to get a lot better. This season looks like it’s lost,” he said. “And I kind of thought maybe the first week was an aberration, maybe K.J. Costello and Mike Leach being so superior, and so smart, but that was not the case. By the way, it’s systemic across the league. The SEC is looking more like the Big 12 every day.”
A former newspaper veteran, Keith Farner is a news manager for Saturday Down South.
