Paul Finebaum predicts winner in LSU vs. Ole Miss Week 5 college football game

Amid a bustling Week 5 slate of games, LSU at Ole Miss has been somewhat overlooked by a national spotlight that's fixated more on the Alabama-Georgia and Oregon-Penn State matchups — justifiably so; however, the Rebels and Tigers are two of the hottest-starting SEC teams and the winner here gains an inside track at conference title contention.

Ahead of the momentous yet slightly under-the-radar showdown, SEC Network analyst Paul Finebaum joined the Get Up crew on Friday morning to diagnose the two programs and offer his lean in the matchup. He first addressed Ole Miss.

"The Ole Miss situation is interesting," Finebaum remarked. "Austin Simmons was the quarterback everyone thought was a good replacement for Jaxson Dart, but here comes Trinidad Chambliss after an injury. And Lane Kiffin is very difficult to beat at home.”

Chambliss came into the season as the senior backup QB to the younger Austin Simmons despite leading his former school, Ferris State, to a Division II national championship. Now that he's back in a starting role once more, Chambliss has only looked terrific yet again. Normally a QB injury would push pundits away from taking a certain team in a tight contest, but Finebaum likes what Chambliss is doing in Lane Kiffin's scheme.

“I like the home team Ole Miss," Finebaum added. "This is such a narrow game, and to me, that home field matters."

That's not a shot at LSU, though, who Paul Finebaum still respects as an SEC contender. However, the Tigers earned a bit of an aura around them by beating Clemson and Florida early on. But since those squads have been found out as, for lack of a better term, frauds, LSU's resume isn't quite as impressive, which is something head coach Brian Kelly is aware of, per Finebaum.

“I talked to (Brian Kelly) this week and he scoffed when I mentioned, ‘Hey, what about that Clemson game?’" Finebaum mentioned. "We all thought it was so great; now it’s not so great with Clemson having three losses. They beat Florida, but Florida has three losses. So that’s really the issue here."

The national college football audience believed LSU had proven themselves elite with two national spotlight victories early in the year, but now they have to prove themselves all over again now that their resume isn't quite as great as people believe.

"I still think they’re a very good team," Finebaum reiterated. "(Garrett) Nussmeier has been banged up a little bit, he has not been looking like the No. 1 pick. But Brian Kelly also needs to get to the Playoff this season. This loss would complicate it, it wouldn’t end it, though, because it would only be the first loss.”

Lots on the line in this September SEC showdown.

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