Paul Finebaum Takes a Jab at LSU Football's Brian Kelly Following Notre Dame Win

LSU head coach Brian Kelly remains in headlines after his former program, Notre Dame, punched its ticket to the National Championship on Thursday night.

Third-year head coach Marcus Freeman and the Fighting Irish took down the Penn State Nittany Lions to secure a spot in the title game with a matchup against Ohio State or Texas on the horizon.

Now, the national media buzz has been bringing back old quotes from Kelly on his reasoning behind departing South Bend and making his way to Baton Rouge.

SEC Network's Paul Finebaum hopped on ESPN's "Get Up!" on Friday morning where he discussed Kelly and the Fighting Irish's College Football Playoff Semifinal victory.

The first point of emphasis was congratulating Freeman and Co. for knocking off a pair of talented teams throughout their College Football Playoff run.

“Well, I’m going to talk about coach here as well and that’s Marcus Freeman. Just an extraordinary job of bringing them back,” Finebaum said. “I sat here, I was the first one to write them off and say that they’re done. So let me compliment Marcus Freeman.”

But focus quickly shifted to Kelly and his reasoning behind leaving Notre Dame in 2022. Finebaum dove into his thoughts on the past.

“Let me also go back three years to another point in time. Notre Dame hasn’t been in a national championship game since the ’12 season. That’s when Brian Kelly – yes, Brian Kelly – lost by 28 points to Alabama in Miami,” Finebaum said.

“I just couldn’t help but think that Brian Kelly, three years ago, said, ‘I’m leaving Notre Dame because I want to win a national championship and the only place I can do that is LSU!’. And here is Marcus Freeman, who was his assistant briefly, and he’s now brought this team back and so much credit to him and amazing staff. I’ll let my friends here talk about the players that made the difference but it was an amazing thing to watch.”

Freeman has now punched his ticket to the National Championship Game, as did Kelly during his tenure with the Fighting Irish.

For Finebaum, he also dove into the Notre Dame fanbase and how the program is now becoming a "likable" program.

“Throughout the course of history, Notre Dame has been the most hated team in America. They’re not anymore,” said Finebaum.

“Marcus Freeman has made them likable. I mean, I was with them last week in New Orleans and fans are cheering. They’re the underdog. I just didn’t think I would live long enough to watch Notre Dame in this likable, underdog role.”

Notre Dame will face the winner of the Texas Longhorns versus Ohio State Buckeyes matchup that will take place on Friday. Kickoff is set for 6:30 p.m. CT.

Finebaum stated how the Fighting Irish will be the underdog no matter the foe, with a challenging opponent next, but how Freeman is evolving quickly as a head coach.

“They will be the underdog either against Texas or Ohio State. It’s a little hard to calculate. Right now, it doesn’t seem like a great matchup for Notre Dame against either team but I don’t think that matters,” said Finebaum. “To me, the fact that they are there so quickly under Marcus Freeman is the story of the year in college football.”

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