Brian Kelly Attempts To Walk Back Comments He Made Prior To Blowout Loss Against Florida State
There was a lot of talk going around leading up to the top-10 matchup between Florida State and LSU last week. That included comments from Tigers' head coach Brian Kelly that could've added more fuel to the fire prior to the two teams going to battle.
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While speaking on The Brian Kelly Show last Thursday, the man that the show is named after began to answer a question from co-host Chris Blair about the efficiency of LSU's practices. During the course of his response, Kelly brought up the number of freshmen and transfers that the program is implementing, while noting it wasn't an excuse for what was going to happen against the Seminoles.
"There are still areas that are going to need to be improved. We're going to take 15 freshmen on this trip and 14 transfers so nearly 40% of this travel roster are going to go overnight for the first time with LSU. And that's not a disclaimer of any kind, we're going to go beat the heck out of Florida State," Kelly said starting around the 13:30 mark of the show.
"I guess what I'm saying is we're still developing our football team with new players, freshman players, transfer players. We're still in that process of developing and it's only going to get better as we continue to develop the program," Kelly continued. "It's pretty exciting from my perspective that where we sit here, going into year two, the future is pretty bright. If I was buying a stock, I would buy some LSU Football stock."
The Tigers came out swinging and took a 17-14 advantage into halftime. However, the Seminoles stormed back with a 31-0 run late into the fourth quarter en route to a dominating 45-24 victory. That placed LSU in a tie for the most points allowed by a top-five team in a season-opener in the AP Poll Era.
Kelly addressed the media in Baton Rouge on Tuesday as the team looks to bounce back against Grambling State. He was asked about his comments leading up to facing the Seminoles last week. Somewhat bizarrely, Kelly chose to deflect, ending his answer by matter-of-factly stating, "that's not something that I would ever say."
Listen to Kelly for yourself and decide what he said.
"I think you all know me. I'm pretty careful with what I say and how I say it. Never have I been cavalier or disrespectful to an opponent in my 33 years," Kelly said on Tuesday. "So if somebody wants to prop up a comment like that and inflate it into something that it is not, that's what social media is about today but I have nothing but the utmost respect for coach Norvell. I know who the opponent was. It's just not in my background or nature to make those kinds of comments."
"The position of head coach or any leadership position, you're going to get things thrown out there that are absolutely untrue and you have no way to combat them," Kelly continued. "You can just sometimes throw stuff out there and hope it sticks but that's not something that I would ever say."
There's no doubt that the longtime head coach wasn't trying to disrespect Florida State with his original comments. With that being said, Kelly didn't necessarily need to add that blurb about the Seminoles to begin with. Going into a game of that magnitude, personnel on both sides are looking for anything they can find for extra motivation.
FSU got the best of Kelly for the second straight year on Sunday night and now sits at No. 4 in the country.
Stick with NoleGameday for more coverage of Florida State football throughout the 2023 season.
