Brian Kelly has baffling response to his pregame quote about Florida State

Dec 3, 2022; Atlanta, GA, USA; LSU Tigers head coach Brian Kelly prepares for the SEC Championship against the Georgia Bulldogs at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports

LSU coach Brian Kelly is not exactly having a great week.

LSU lost 45-24 to Florida State on Sunday in an Orlando just days after pledging to “beat the heck out of” the Seminoles in his weekly coach’s show. Confronted with that quote on Tuesday, Kelly seemingly tried to claim that he never actually said it.

“I think you all know me. I’m pretty careful with what I say and how I said it. Never have I been cavalier or disrespectful to an opponent in my 33 years,” Kelly said, via Koki Riley of the Lafayette Daily Advertiser. “So if somebody wants to prop up a comment and inflate it into something that it is not, that’s what social media is about today.

“I have nothing but the utmost respect for coach (Mike) Norvell. I know who the opponent was. It’s just not in my background or nature to make those kinds of comments.”

Asked directly about the aforementioned quote, Kelly doubled down and seemingly tried to argue that he would never say something like that.

“Like I said, 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 because you can just sometimes throw stuff out there and hope it sticks,” Kelly said, via Nick Bromberg of Yahoo Sports. “But that’s not something I would ever say.”

There is just one problem: Kelly did say it. There is even audio evidence of him saying it on LSU’s website, which can be heard roughly 13:55 into the show.

Kelly was playing to the crowd with his original comment. That is fine. Perhaps he forgot that he said it, but he probably should not have. Plenty of people taunted him about it after the game. Instead of acting like he did not say it at all, he could simply say he was firing up the crowd and meant no disrespect. His actual response just makes him look more ridiculous.