On The Matt Barrie Show, ESPN college football studio host and commentator Matt Barrie recapped Saturday’s Week 1 action with fellow ESPN personality Paul Finebaum.

Finebaum and Barrie gave their reactions to fourth-ranked Clemson’s 17-10 loss to No. 9 LSU on Saturday night at Clemson’s Death Valley.

Finebaum says he was caused to have the wrong impression about Clemson, based on what he had heard about Dabo Swinney’s team going into Saturday’s season opener. Of course, Clemson had been showered with love and praise all offseason long before LSU derailed the Clemson hype train.

“I was led to believe, by people who had seen Clemson practice, that they were something that they were not,” Finebaum said. “They’re a good team, but you don’t have to be elite to win that league, where you do in the SEC.”

On the other side, Finebaum says LSU head coach Brian Kelly “called his shot” by leading his team to a Week 1 victory after putting so much emphasis on beating Clemson and embracing the pressure for LSU to win an opener.

Prior to Saturday, Kelly was 0-3 in season openers since taking over as LSU’s head coach in 2022. Overall, it marked LSU’s first season-opening win since 2019, when the Bayou Bengals went on to win the national championship over Clemson.

“You wondered, was he putting too much pressure?” Finebaum said of Kelly. “He knew he had to do something different and he did, and you’re right – it was a sloppy win, because it felt like some of the other openers. … But in the end, they were so much more physical on the line of scrimmage that we thought was going to be Clemson’s calling card. And all of a sudden, that game against Florida in two weeks doesn’t seem like a referendum anymore on Brian Kelly.”

Finebaum agreed with Barrie that LSU looks like the best team in the SEC right now.

“I’ve been so bullish on LSU in the offseason because I love Garrett Nussmeier as a quarterback,” Barrie said. “I believe in Brian Kelly as a head coach. They did well in the transfer portal, and I think [defensive coordinator] Blake Baker, Year 2, was going to get that system right with the return of [linebacker] Harold Perkins.

“And other than a quarter and a half, it was clear, start to finish, that LSU was the better team last night. They left so many points on the board, and now, I would look at it and say, based on what I saw with Texas, based on what I saw with Alabama – Georgia looked pretty good against Marshall, but it’s Marshall – I would wake up this morning and say, Week 1, prisoner of the moment, for me is that LSU is probably the best team in the SEC this morning.”

–Photo courtesy of Brett Davis-Imagn Images