Despite LSU capping one of the best seasons in the history of college football with a dominant win over defending national champion Clemson in Monday’s title game, there are several questions covering the future of the LSU program.

ESPN analyst Kirk Herbstreit, during his podcast this week, criticized the way LSU handled its postgame celebration.

Television cameras showed LSU players receiving money from Cleveland Browns receiver and former LSU star Odell Beckham Jr. on the field after their 42-25 defeat of Clemson.

Herbstreit took issue with how some of the players responded to winning, singling out LSU senior quarterback Joe Burrow.

“Burrow’s comment about ‘I’m not a student-athlete anymore, yeah it was real money.’ If you care about the program, do you really say that,” Herbstreit said. “Going into this game I was thinking with Tua leaving Alabama, I was like not only are they gonna win this thing, there’s a really good chance that Coach O’s got some mojo going right now. This thing’s gonna be around for a while.

“And after the dust settled I’m like let me get my Bama roster back out. I don’t see them coming back next year at all.”

LSU completed its first undefeated season since 1959, defeating seven teams that were ranked in the AP Top 10 at the time of the meetings. Burrow won the Heisman Trophy, set the record for most touchdown passes in a season with 60, passed for 5,671 yards and accounted for 14 touchdowns in his team’s two wins in the College Football Playoff.

“I will say this: as much as we’re celebrating this team, I wasn’t a real fan of the postgame stuff, the OBJ stuff with the money,” Herbstreit said. "The way they handled themselves at times. If it’s just about 2019, great. But this is about staying power, right? This isn’t the finish line of their program. Don’t they wanna win in 2020, don’t they wanna win in 2021? I almost feel like it’s all the chips in, we made it, that’s it and forget everything else.

“Part of what makes Clemson, Clemson is they’re gonna be back and be preseason No. 1 next year. Part of what makes Alabama, Alabama is they don’t do that. Sure they celebrate, sure they’re happy, but guess what: they have freshmen that are watching, they have sophomores that are watching, they care about the health of their program.”

In the days following LSU’s championship win, several underclassmen decided to leave school early for the NFL Draft, passing-game coordinator Joe Brady has become the new offensive coordinator for the Carolina Panthers in the NFL, and defensive coordinator Dave Aranda has reportedly reached a deal as the new head coach at Baylor.

“I thought (LSU) showed a little bit of immaturity and kinda not knowing how to handle it with the way they celebrated postgame,” Herbstreit said. “This thing is about 2020, this is about Coach O building a massive program and trying to become the new sheriff in town in the SEC West. And the way his team reacted, I almost feel like … everyone’s going to the NFL, everybody’s acting like this is the top of the mountain, which it is for this year, but it seems a little bizarre to me.”