Paul Finebaum Discredits Clemson QB Christopher Vizzina Once Again Ahead of LSU

College football’s toughest critic is a difficult question to answer, but most people would have ESPN’s Paul Finebaum towards the top. When it comes to the Clemson Tigers, perhaps he wrote them off already.

On SportsCenter on Monday morning, Finebaum was asked about a variety of college football-related topics ahead of Week 1, which opens this weekend. The crew mentioned Clemson quarterback Christopher Vizzina being the favorite to be the starter entering Baton Rouge this weekend.

Finebaum is not impressed with the sample size that he comes into the game with, though.

“I’d like to be nice to Christopher this morning, but he was a barely serviceable backup against SMU last year,” he said. “That is not the guy big-time programs are supposed to go out and get.”

317 yards and three touchdowns with no interceptions is quite the contrary statement that the ESPN radio host said on Monday, but many discredit the fourth-year Clemson quarterback due to the team he played allowing the second-most passing yards per game at 283.2.

But Finebaum believes that the Tigers should’ve gotten a quarterback that other top programs got to put them back on the map. Clemson’s opponent, LSU, did that with Sam Leavitt from Arizona State. He also mentioned Indiana transfer quarterback Josh Hoover, who went to the reigning national champion from TCU.

If Vizzina doesn’t end up working out, Finebaum believes that Swinney will end up paying for it in a tough way. He looks at what happened with previous quarterback, Cade Klubnik, coming into last year.

“It took him nowhere, but 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 defense is loaded,” he said.

Most of the general public is out in Clemson, hoping to win this game, and Finebaum is a part of that majority. He’s also been out on Vizzina since the summer, seeing the benefits of getting a transfer quarterback, with the last two national champions being from the previous portal cycle.

Of course, college football is chaotic, and if the Tigers can get revenge for last season's loss at Memorial Stadium last season, Finebaum doesn’t count it out. He jokes at the end of his segment that if he were a betting man, he wouldn’t be up all-time.

“I don’t like this game at all,” he said. “If you go against me, you’ll probably be a millionaire.”

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