Paul Finebaum had nothing but praise for Alabama and that left LSU with nothing but criticism and questions from the ESPN college football analyst on Monday morning, as he picked apart the Tigers’ awful performance at home in a 42-13 thumping at the hands of the Crimson Tide.

In primetime, on national TV, at Death Valley, the only thing killed was LSU’s College Football Playoff hopes, as Brian Kelly and his team laid an egg against one of its fiercest rivals. Is that enough? Well, you can look at the final stats and see that the Tigers’ defense was gashed, allowing an astounding 311 yards rushing, including 185 yards rushing and 4 touchdowns by Alabama quarterback Jalen Milroe.

So, is Kelly now past the point of no return with a lot of the LSU fanbase?

“I think that description is accurate. And whether he’s past the point of no return with the fringe I don’t think matters. … This team does not look like a Playoff team. And I don’t really see how they’re going to come back from that,” said Finebaum during his weekly appearance on the McElroy & Cubelic In The Morning show.

The Tigers fell flat on their face, and their record fell to 6-3, so now the goals for 2024 dramatically change:

“What you’re going to hear Brian Kelly talk about now is winning 10 games (with a bowl win),” said Finebaum. “That is not enough to satisfy LSU fans, but it will be enough for him to get to next season and hope then to make a more serious run at the Playoff. There’s always going to be an overreaction, but he’s not going to get (some of) those fans back. And it really doesn’t matter.”

What mattered to a passionate fan base was Saturday night’s game, and it was awful in every way.

“I think he’s an elite coach whose game plan Saturday night did not work,” said Finebaum. “There’s nothing you can say to sugarcoat a simply embarrassing and ghastly performance. But in terms of running Kelly out of town, I think that’s a ridiculous conclusion.”

LSU will try to pick up the pieces on Saturday afternoon at Florida, with the teams kicking it off at 3:30 p.m. ET on ABC.