Paul Finebaum rips Lane Kiffin for saying pressure is on Ole Miss, not LSU: ‘Completely bogus’
By Ethan Stone
Published:
Earlier this week, LSU Tigers head coach Lane Kiffin commented that all the pressure is on Ole Miss or himself — not LSU — ahead of Kiffin’s highly-anticipated return to Oxford on Saturday.
Here’s Kiffin’s quote:
“I told the players today, man, you don’t have anything to worry about as far as attention on you all week, there’s going to be so much attention, hatred, everything on me, you just get to go play,” he said. “I said, really, the pressure is on (Ole Miss). They’re the team that, we won 7 games last year, they won 13. They return two Heisman candidates. How often does that ever happen in the same backfield? … You guys just get to go play. The pressure’s not on you.”
While making an appearance on Unsportsmanlike Thursday morning, Paul Finebaum responded to a question from ESPN’s Michelle Smallmon, who asked if he agreed with Kiffin’s assessment that all the pressure is on Ole Miss.
It’s safe to say Finebaum disagrees. Here’s what he had to say:
“That is completely bogus, you know that and I know that, there’s not a person in America watching or listening to this who doesn’t know that. There is simply no way that is true,” Finebaum said. “What is true is he was complementing himself, that was his team he was talking about with the 2 Heisman candidates, that was his team that won 11 games last year and the team that he inherited was terrible… but that is the narcissistic way that Lane Kiffin operates… it is pretty sad we’re 2 days away from the biggest game of the year in college football, somebody may really be injured but we don’t believe it because it’s Lane Kiffin who put out the injury report.”
Finebaum’s full comments start around the 2:50 mark of the video below:
Finebaum makes a good point near the end of his quote when describing how Kiffin operates.
As the SEC injury report revealed Wednesday night, LSU quarterback Sam Leavitt is currently listed as doubtful for Saturday’s game against the Rebels, despite no prior reports that he was dealing with an injury. Given Kiffin’s past shenanigans in the name of winning, can you really blame fans or even Ole Miss’ staff for casting doubt upon the legitimacy of Leavitt’s injury?
No matter how you look at it or who will be under center for the Tigers, we’re in for a good one Saturday. LSU at Ole Miss is set to kick off at 7:30 p.m. ET on ABC.
Ethan Stone is a Saturday Down South News Editor and an advocate for the return of the Seattle Supersonics.
