Paul Finebaum explains if he's writing LSU off as offense suffers through serious problems

The LSU Tigers have battled inconsistencies on the offensive side of the ball all season long. Now, those issues have seemingly come back to haunt them, costing them their first loss of the season on Saturday to Ole Miss.

In the wake of that loss, ESPN’s Paul Finebaum appeared on The Matt Barrie Show. There, he expressed some major concerns about the LSU offense as they prepare to face a daunting schedule.

“I think what Brian Kelly did was he loaded up on the defense,” Paul Finebaum said. “Because he knew he had to have it. I suppose knowing that [Caden] Durham was there and there was a couple other guys, they felt comfortable. I think they also felt comfortable with what we were told was going to be the Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback. Look what happened.”

LSU was able to score just 19 points in its loss to Ole Miss. With that, the Tigers moved to 80th nationally in scoring offense, putting up 27 points per game.

Garrett Nussmeier, who came into the season projected as a future first round pick, is the centerpiece of the offense. However, he’s been inconsistent at times. That includes having flashes of the turnover issues that haunted him in 2024. He hasn’t gotten much help from the running game, though. LSU is 121st nationally in rushing offense, averaging 104.8 yards per game on the ground. That comes amid the injury to Durham and a year after four offensive linemen moved on to the NFL.

“I think they’re in a really tough spot,” Finebaum said. “I’m thinking through their schedule in my head, and they have to go to Alabama. they have Oklahoma… I think they have Texas A&M… [South Carolina, at Vanderbilt, Texas A&M, at Alabama, Arkansas, Western Kentucky, at Oklahoma]… I think the Alabama game is perhaps going to be their Waterloo. A&M. This feels right now like that may be a lot.”

Ultimately, in the 12-team College Football Playoff era, a team can bounce back from a loss. It’s when a team suffers multiple losses that things can get more complicated. So, Brian Kelly and LSU do need to figure that out before moving forward against this difficult schedule. After all, the goal is still to play for a championship.

“The good news for them is it’s only one loss,” Finebaum added. “That’s why the Clemson game was so critical. I always looked at that Ole Miss game as being problematic for them. That was a game last year that they won in overtime. So, I’m hesitant to write them off because of what the schedule says, but I would be bullheaded to act like they don’t have serious problems offensively. Durham coming back will help, but he was there early on. Didn’t help that much.”

LSU will now have a bye week to hit the reset button. After that, the schedule that Finebaum was so anxious about continues in earnest with South Carolina visiting Baton Rouge.