Paul Finebaum was just answering the question, he said.

“At some point, it’s time for (Ole Miss coach) Lane Kiffin to put up or shut up,” the SEC Network analyst told me Thursday on “The Opening Kickoff” on WNSP-FM 105.5.

“He talks a good game. We all love his Twitter game, even though I never thought it was that creative. I just think he’s got this mystique with fans, and he lives off of that.”

How will Kiffin and the Rebels be viewed if they don’t make the 12-team College Football Playoff this season? That’s the question Finebaum was asked during an appearance this week on “McElroy and Cubelic in The Morning.”

He said it would be a failure.

“This is what (Kiffin) has been building toward,” Finebaum told Cubelic. “This is what he has been talking about. A couple of years ago, things did not look great from an NIL standpoint. He was able to reverse that. He aced the portal — everyone knows what he got this year. He’s got one of the more experienced quarterbacks in the league and around the country.”

He took it a step further on Thursday.

“I’m not hating here,” Finebaum explained. “I’m simply making a statement. I think this is a very big season. Lane got a tremendous break. No. 1, (Former Alabama coach) Nick Saban leaving. He was never going to beat Nick Saban. Secondly, by not having Alabama on the schedule.”

He admits there are other hurdles on the schedule, but that’s life in the SEC.

“In the playoff era, you have to get there if you are considered legit.”

Mark Heim is a reporter for The Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @Mark_Heim. He can be heard on “The Opening Kickoff” on WNSP-FM 105.5 FM in Mobile or on the free Sound of Mobile App from 6 to 9 a.m. daily.