Paul Finebaum, ESPN’s favorite SEC mouthpiece and a guy who’s never missed a chance to take a swipe at Clemson, is at it again. With the 2026 season on the horizon, Finebaum is doubling down on his tired old doubts about Dabo Swinney and the Tigers. Sure, last year’s 7-6 finish stung, and the national media has been circling like vultures ever since. But Finebaum isn’t just skeptical—he’s flat-out dismissing any chance of a Clemson comeback, especially with that monster opener on the road staring us down.
Finebaum’s latest hot take? He’s zeroed in on Clemson’s Week 1 trip to Baton Rouge, where the Tigers will battle LSU under the lights on September 5. Never one to hold back, Finebaum declared, “I don’t have any faith or belief in Dabo Swinney anymore.”
He’s harping on the challenge of breaking in a new starting quarterback in Death Valley—LSU’s version, not ours—and acting like Clemson has never stared down adversity before. Finebaum doubled down, saying, “It’s hard for me to believe that Clemson, with a new quarterback, is going to go into Baton Rouge and win that game.” When a caller predicted LSU would roll over the Tigers, Finebaum couldn’t agree fast enough: “Oh yeah. Oh yeah!”
Finebaum isn’t calling for a total meltdown, but he’s not giving Clemson much credit either. When asked what he expects from the Tigers this fall, he set the bar embarrassingly low: “I think he’ll have a winning season. I think another good 8-4 season for Dabo.”
Let’s be real: eight wins might keep the lights on, but it’s nowhere near the championship standard Dabo has built in Tigertown. The Tigers have only made the Playoff once in the last five years, so the pressure is on. But here’s the good news—Clemson gets a golden chance to flip the script right away, with ESPN’s College GameDay rolling into Louisiana for a Week 1 showdown that could silence the doubters in a hurry.
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