Brian Kelly is no longer blaming his LSU Tigers roster, or the media, for his viral outburst following the team’s 27-20 loss to USC in Las Vegas on September 1. Instead, it’s the results of the game itself that made him so angry.
“There was the emotion of the game coming out,” Kelly said on September 3 to Paul Finebaum. “The frustration and the anger that these kids can’t get a break because they’re working so hard to break through, and they weren’t able to break through. That was really, in a nutshell, what that was about.
“I’m not strong enough to create enough momentum to break a pane of glass.”
Kelly slammed the table at the LSU-USC postgame presser and exclaimed that he was tired of talking about the same thing after every loss. He also professed anger towards his football team.
“It’s the first time since I’ve been here (at LSU) that I’m angry at my football team,” Kelly said Sunday night. “I’m not doing a good enough job as a coach … it’s unacceptable for us not to have found a way to win this football game. We’re sitting here AGAIN and talking about the same things.”
Kelly went as far as claiming USC QB Miller Moss outplayed his own starting signal-caller, Garrett Nussmeier – and would do damage control on that statement.
“My comments after the game were, ‘How do you think Nussmeier player?’ I said, ‘He played pretty good, but the other kid played pretty good too and they won the game,’” Kelly said. “So this had nothing to do with Garrett Nussmeier not playing well, I think his numbers spoke for themselves.
“There’s a couple of plays that he left out there that he’d like back, and I’m sure there were a couple of plays that Moss left out there that he’d like back… I thought the kid played well, but our guy played really well either. So whatever my comments were, they were not intended in any way to disparage a guy who went 30 of 39 for 308 yards.”
LSU follows their Week 1 loss with a Nicholls State team under the lights in Death Valley; a game that the Tigers are favored by over 50 at the spread.
