Paul Finebaum pokes at 'credibility' of Clemson football after Week 1 loss

ESPN’s Paul Finebaum poked at the credibility of Clemson following the Tigers’ Week 1 loss to LSU at home. LSU came in and controlled the game in the end, winning 17-10, and shutting out Clemson in the second half.

The preseason rankings had Clemson No. 4 while LSU was near the bottom of the top 10 at No. 9. But they threw out the preseason hype and got it done on the road.

Meanwhile, Dabo Swinney and crew were left scratching their heads. Considering this was dubbed one of Swinney’s best Clemson teams in recent years, Week 1 was certainly eyebrow raising.

“I was all in on Clemson. This is the fourth straight loss to an SEC team, and that hurts the credibility of the program, which I thought had overcome all the doomsday dynasty talk by people like me,” Finebaum said on Get Up. “So it’s a shattering loss for them. But Heather is right, I mean, their path back is not that difficult because of the schedule, other than maybe South Carolina at the end of the season, at South Carolina, we’ll see.”

Swinney knew the Clemson defense showed up and played with authority. However, the offense was just a little behind.

Clemson disappoints Paul Finebaum after opening weekend

“We played well enough to win on defense,” Swinney said postgame. “I was proud of how they competed, especially in the fourth quarter where we got the ball back on three consecutive drives. We just didn’t capitalize on it. We looked like a Clemson defense was supposed to look. We held them to 17 points. They had 2.8 yards a carry in the last 58 minutes. That’s winning football. I’m pleased with those fourth quarter stops. They were 4-of-12 on third and fourth down. We just have to finish on the ball better.

“The difference in the game was that they made a couple more plays than we did. We had some critical penalties. I do think we tackled better. The penalties were a big factor for sure. They made a couple of one-on-one plays. The time of possession got out of hand, but that was more of a reflection of not sustaining drives on offense.”

That’s where he dove into the Clemson offense. While he praised some players, he made it clear that QB Cade Klubnik did not play well. The expectations were through the roof as he came off a career 2024.

“Offensively, we just didn’t play nearly as well as we’re capable of playing,” Swinney said. “No. 11, No. 87, Wesco, Moore, they all made some big plays. They competed and fought but nowhere near close to the ability that we can play at. We had too many missed opportunities. We had critical drops on some contested plays. We weren’t good on third down. We had critical penalties.

“Cade did not play well. It was a very average game for him. We all know he can play better. He didn’t do some of the basic things. He’ll get better from it. He also made some plays where we didn’t help him out on.”