ESPN’s Paul Finebaum Mocks LSU for Firing Brian Kelly After Lane Kiffin’s Humiliating Loss to Kentucky: “Paid $53 Million”

NFLESPN’s Paul Finebaum Mocks LSU for Firing Brian Kelly After Lane Kiffin’s Humiliating Loss to Kentucky: “Paid $53 Million”Add us on Google

NFLESPN’s Paul Finebaum Mocks LSU for Firing Brian Kelly After Lane Kiffin’s Humiliating Loss to Kentucky: “Paid $53 Million”Add us on Google

Paul Finebaum thinks LSU’s loss to Kentucky did more than hurt the Tigers’ record, and it brought back a bigger question about what the coaching change cost. No. 10 LSU fell 35-34 in overtime at Kroger Field on Saturday and dropped to 4-2.

“LSU paid $53 million to get rid of the coach who didn’t look this bad early on in his tenure. It’s worth remembering that,” Finebaum said on the latest episode of The Matt Barrie Show.

Though he said $53 million, the buyout was $54 million. Finebaum was talking about coach Brian Kelly, who LSU dismissed in October 2025 after a 49-25 loss to Texas A&M.

On the show, Barrie set up Finebaum’s answer with a look at the playoff picture.

“LSU is on the outside looking into the playoff, and they’ve got a long way to go,” Barrie said. “10-2 could probably still get you in, but I don’t know that I’ve seen anything out of this team that leads me to believe they can go 10-2.”

Kelly went 34-14 in four seasons at LSU, and the buyout was payable over six years. LSU then hired Lane Kiffin away from Ole Miss on a reported seven-year, $91 million contract. That is the money Finebaum had in mind when he brought up the amount with the buyout, of course.

The game itself came down to the last seconds. Kentucky had been outside the AP Top 25 and was missing several defenders, but Adam Zouagui hit a 33-yard field goal with 12 seconds left to force overtime, even after missing two kicks earlier in the fourth quarter.

Sam Leavitt ran in from 15 yards for LSU, and C.J. Baxter answered with a one-yard score, and Kenneth Minchey ran in untouched to win it.

“I’m in shock. We’ve got a really good football team. People count us out. I took a picture of (ESPN) College GameDay this morning; everyone picked LSU. Keep doing that. It gives us a lot of fuel,” Kentucky coach Will Stein said. “It wasn’t pretty. It wasn’t perfect. We just kept chopping. We kept fighting.”

But Finebaum did not pin it all on Kiffin.

“I still think Kiffin is a very good coach,” Finebaum added. “He’s also 13-13 on the road in the SEC as a head coach. Not exactly a winning percentage.”

LSU moved the ball, finishing with 410 yards to Kentucky’s 401. But Leavitt threw an interception and lost a fumble after a sack, and Kentucky’s Brock Coffman returned a punt 55 yards for a touchdown.

“Disappointing all three phases,” said Kiffin in the postgame presser. “If you don’t execute, you don’t execute.”

Finebaum said the Kentucky game mattered because of what comes next.

“That’s a game he absolutely had to win yesterday because of what’s ahead on the schedule, with Alabama, Texas and a road game at Tennessee,” Finebaum said. “So you have to wonder, if they drop another one pretty quickly here, and there are some tricky ones, do they just start thinking about next year?”

LSU hosts No. 17 Mississippi State next Saturday. Whether the coaching change expense Finebaum brought up looks like a good or bad investment may depend on how the Tigers answer.