Paul Finebaum is certainly no stranger to criticizing Clemson and head coach Dabo Swinney, but this time, the ESPN personality took aim at the Tigers’ projected QB1.

During a SportsCenter segment on Monday, Finebaum blasted Clemson’s Christopher Vizzina, calling him a “barely serviceable backup.”

Finebaum’s comments during the segment came after a graphic was displayed highlighting Vizzina as Clemson’s expected starting quarterback.

“I would like to be nice to Christopher this morning, but he was a barely serviceable backup [against] SMU,” Finebaum said.

Of course, Vizzina’s only career start thus far came against SMU at Clemson’s Memorial Stadium on Oct. 18 of last year, as Cade Klubnik missed the contest after suffering a sprained ankle in the Tigers’ game at Boston College one week earlier.

 In the 35-24 loss to SMU, Vizzina completed 29-of-42 passes for 317 yards with three touchdowns and a pass efficiency rating of 156.0. He did not throw an interception, though he fumbled twice and lost one of them.

Swinney chose not to pursue a transfer portal quarterback for Clemson ahead of the 2026 season, instead placing his full confidence in Vizzina, a senior who served as Klubnik’s backup for multiple years, and true freshman Tait Reynolds.

Finebaum obviously disagrees with Swinney’s decision, saying he “needed” to get a proven quarterback out of the portal to replace the departed three-year starter in Klubnik.

“That is not the guy that big-time programs are supposed to go out and get,” Finebaum said of Vizzina. “[Josh] Hoover to Indiana. [Sam] Leavitt to LSU. That’s what Dabo needed.

“Now he had Klubnik a year ago, Heisman favorite. It took him nowhere.”

Heading into 2026 after his first three years at Clemson, Vizzina, a former highly touted four-star prospect, has completed 61 percent of his passes for 596 yards and four touchdowns with one interception in 238 career offensive snaps across 14 games, while also rushing for 109 yards and a touchdown on 38 carries.

Finebaum went on to express a lack of faith in the Tigers’ offense ahead of their huge season opener at LSU’s Death Valley in Baton Rouge against Lane Kiffin’s Tigers this Saturday (7:30 p.m., ABC).

“I feel like Clemson is going to struggle offensively, and that’s not a good mix going to Death Valley in Baton Rouge Saturday night, where the offense and the defense is loaded,” Finebaum said.

Back in June, Finebaum agreed with a caller on his show who stated that “LSU is going to clean [Swinney’s] clock” during the 2026 season opener.

“I don’t like this game at all,” Finebaum said Monday of the Clemson-LSU matchup. “If you go against me, you’ll probably be a millionaire. Go against whatever I say.”