"Most significant win": Paul Finebaum explains why Brian Kelly's LSU sits atop his national rankings after victory over Clemson

The LSU Tigers have put themselves in contention for the national championship after beating Clemson in the season opener. According to college football analyst Paul Finebaum, the Tigers are the best team in the country for one specific reason.

Finebaum said the following on Sunday's edition of SportsCenter:

"As I was saying, I’m all in on LSU right now. They are the best team in the country because they have the most significant win. There have been some good wins in the SEC, like Mississippi State last night, but I’m not ready to move them up. I am ready to put LSU [at the top], for now.”

On Saturday, LSU defeated Louisiana Tech 23-7, continuing the momentum from last week's win against Clemson. Unlike Louisiana Tech, Clemson is another team that could win both the national championship and have a quarterback who could win the Heisman Trophy.

Come December, it is wins like these that the College Football Playoff committee will value. If either Clemson or LSU is in contention for the lower seeds in the playoffs, the result of this game could be the decider.

Furthermore, when compared to the likes of Ohio State and Penn State (the two other teams that could be seen as the best in the country), LSU has played two FBS schools, while Ohio State has only played one (Texas). This will help the Tigers in the rankings.

LSU coach Brian Kelly believes the Tigers need to improve

Despite winning the game, LSU coach Brian Kelly was not happy with his team's performance. He said the following:

"I don't know that there's one guy that you pull out and say, 'Well, that's the guy.' He (Nussmeier) knows he's got to play better, too. I've got to coach better."

Kelly believes that no one player was the sole reason for the performance. However, he singles out quarterback Garrett Nussmeier, who threw for 237 yards and a touchdown in the latest win. He was sacked three times and was intercepted once. These are things Nussmeier and LSU will need to improve on before facing the stronger SEC teams.

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About the author

Ben Tredinnick is a journalist who covers college football and college basketball at Sportskeeda who is currently studying for a masters in Data Science. His degree in Psychology has helped him gain an in-depth understanding of the minds of coaches.

Ben has been involved in sports writing since 2022 and covered the NFL previously. His strengths include providing in-depth profiles of athletes and coaches, with a particular focus on development, and looking at which teams could be in the hunt for today's college stars.

Ben enjoys following college sports more than the NBA or NFL because there is more variation in terms of playstyles. The tournaments are often more competitive than the major leagues, and due to the constant turnover of players, there are rarely any "superteams" in college sports.

He prioritizes research, looks at multiple sources and publications to make sure he gets the full picture of the story before writing. He tries not to write from a one-sided perspective to allow the reader to be able to make their mind up on their own.

A Texas Longhorns fan, as well as a massive New York Giants fan, some of his favorite college players of all time are Arch Manning, Tim Tebow and Reggie Bush.

When he is not working, Ben enjoys watching films (especially Godzilla) and spending time with his cat.

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Edited by Krutik Jain