Paul Finebaum throws shade at ESPN decision to have ‘College GameDay’ in Columbia

The SEC’s most prominent talking head isn’t feeling ESPN’s decision to send “College GameDay” to Columbia for the South Carolina-LSU football game in Week 3.

In fact, Paul Finebaum said of the beloved college football pregame show’s first trip to Columbia since 2014: It’s “one of the more bizarre ‘GameDay’ choices in its history.”

Finebaum, the longtime host of “The Paul Finebaum Show” on ESPN/SEC Network, joined ESPN colleague Matt Barrie on Barrie’s weekly Sunday show and had plenty to say about coach Shane Beamer and the Gamecocks while discussing college football’s Week 2 results.

Barrie and Finebaum were talking about how a number of unexpected losses altered the potential “GameDay” locations for Week 3 when the USC-Kentucky game came up.

A week after struggling at home vs. Old Dominion, the Gamecocks closed as a 9.5-point underdog to the Wildcats in Lexington ... then routed Kentucky 31-6 behind two touchdown passes from quarterback LaNorris Sellers in his first SEC road start.

Finebaum was in Lexington pregame Saturday for the “SEC Nation” pregame show.

“In Lexington, all the students were asking me yesterday, because Georgia comes there next week, ‘You think ‘GameDay’ will be here?’ ” Finebaum said. “ ‘GameDay ‘was going to Lexington” until Kentucky lost to South Carolina.

Barrie grinned as his colleague let some inside information slip.

“Whoops,” Barrie said.

Soon after, Barrie asked Finebaum how Beamer and South Carolina were able struggle and “damn near spit the bit” in a close home win over Group of Five school Old Dominion last week and follow that with a resounding 25-point SEC road win.

“I had callers this week from Columbia saying — seriously — ‘When do you think we’re going to get rid of Shane Beamer?’ ” Finebaum said. “They were as down on him as they could be. Now they have ‘College GameDay,’ which, I don’t know where that bus was going. And listen, ‘GameDay’ is great.”

“But the idea that ‘GameDay’ would go to LSU at South Carolina? I mean, that’s one of the more bizarre game day choices in its history.”

“Which, by the way, good for Beamer and good for South Carolina, because the spotlight is going to be on Columbia,” Barrie said.

“He stole ‘GameDay’ from Lexington,” Finebaum said.

“Right, he went there and got the win,” Barrie said. “Mark Stoops is puzzled. (Beamer) got the ‘GameDay’ bus to reroute its way to Columbia.”