The showdown in Death Valley turned out to be a crushing defeat for the LSU Tigers, putting an end to their hopes. Their embarrassing 42-13 loss against the Alabama Crimson Tide has left the team in a difficult position. The Tigers and their head coach, Brian Kelly, were already grappling with shattered playoff aspirations. The team now faces yet another dilemma, which is not coming off as a good sign for them.

On November 11th, Sidelines Bama took to X to share a concerning update: “LSU has been fined $250,000 by the SEC league office for fans throwing trash on the field in Death Valley on Saturday night.” Well, the fans’ actions of throwing trash onto the field have resulted in this significant penalty for the entire team. It looks like they couldn’t see their team getting dominated by Bama but then landed them in a much bigger misery.

Now the Tigers not only have to cope with the loss but also pay this hefty amount. However, the reason behind the fans’ sudden outburst was mainly because of their frustration over the facemask penalty, which gave Bama an edge of 28-6 against the Tigers. During the third quarter, defensive end Sai’vion Jones sacked Tide’s star quarterback, Jalen Milroe, but the referees penalized him for grabbing his facemask. After this call, the Tigers’ fans fumed in rage and filled the field with trash.

The facemask penalty even disappointed LSU’s head coach, Brian Kelly, as after the game, he mentioned that the penalty was a big deal-breaker for their game, which not only gave a big advantage to Bama against them but almost shattered their chance to come back. “The face mask penalty was a momentum killer for us tonight,” Kelly said. In fact, this is exactly what some people were predicting! Crazy, isn’t it?

Was Brian Kelly’s Tigers’ downfall already destined?

Well, it looks like the LSU Tigers’ position in the game was not a shocking thing for Paul Finebaum. Yes, you heard that right. ESPN analyst Paul Finebaum already saw it coming. Before the start of the game in August, while discussing LSU’s playoff position in this year’s season, Finebaum expressed his doubts about the team.

During an episode of “Gojo and Golic,” Paul predicted that this year Brian Kelly would not be able to succeed in getting their desired outcome, saying, “I don’t see any reason why they should be that great this year; I mean, I think they’re good. That defense last year was just patently embarrassing. I admire Brian a great deal, but I blame him. I mean, he’s the one that chose their coordinator.”

After witnessing their performance against the Crimson Tide, it’s hard to disagree with Paul Finebaum’s opinion on LSU’s defense. In Saturday’s game, the Tiger’s defense has been struggling since the start. Just a few minutes into the game, Bama’s Jalen Milroe made his way through their defense and reached the end-zone for 39 yards. Now you can understand what went wrong with the team. Despite their current standing, the team still has the opportunity to improve their position in the regular season, finish strong, and make a remarkable comeback next year.