Paul Finebaum says LSU is a national title contender after beating ‘middling’ Clemson
By Adam Spencer
Published:
The LSU Tigers got the Lane Kiffin era off to a great start on Saturday night in Baton Rouge, decimating Dabo Swinney and the Clemson Tigers to the tune of a 51-10 final score.
Everything LSU dialed up after the first few minutes of the game seemed to work. Meanwhile, Clemson simply didn’t have any answers.
On SportsCenter on Sunday morning, SEC Network host Paul Finebaum said he’s all-in on the Kiffin era in Baton Rouge and added that the Tigers look like national-title contenders now:
“It was nice to see real action on a football field instead of TROs and subpoenas and all sorts of machinations of the legal system,” he said. “But one thing I do take away really, I came away thinking LSU is now a national championship contender, because they looked every bit the part. We were debating before the season if they were 8-4 or 9-3, can Lane get them to the Playoff at 10-2? There’s no question now. This was not a difficult task. Clemson is a middling team. But they will see Ole Miss in a couple of weeks. Texas A&M, Alabama — all the usual suspects.
“They were almost perfect. They played around with their food in the first couple of minutes, but I came away really sad about the future for Dabo Swinney and Clemson.”
LSU made a statement on Saturday night. We’ll see how far Kiffin can take the Tigers in 2026.
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Adam is a daily fantasy sports (DFS) and sports betting expert. A 2012 graduate of the University of Missouri, Adam now covers all 16 SEC football teams. He is the director of DFS, evergreen and newsletter content across all Saturday Football brands.
