Brian Kelly wasn’t in a celebratory mood after LSU’s 20-10 victory over Florida on Saturday night.
After a defensive slugfest where both quarterbacks struggled, the first question at Kelly’s postgame press conference was about the offensive struggles of the Tigers and quarterback Garrett Nussmeier. At least he had a better game than Gators QB D.J. Lagway, who threw five interceptions and nuked any hopes of a Heisman campaign.
Kelly thought the question was out of bounds after the victory, calling reporter Michael Cauble “spoiled” for trying to follow up about inconsistent play with the LSU offense. Once cooler heads prevailed, Kelly apologized to Cauble for the outburst.
Brian Kelly may have thought his response crossed a line, but former Ohio State Buckeyes head coach and current Fox college football analyst Urban Meyer applauded him for it.
Meyer was never known as the kindest and gentlest personality as a head coach. And on his Triple Option podcast that he hosts with Fox colleagues Rob Stone and Mark Ingram, Meyer was supportive of the LSU head coach and totally understood where he was coming from.
“I love it, I love it,” Meyer said. “I kind of snapped a few times, but he is saying what every coach probably wants to say and then everybody’s got to listen to context. He’ll be much different today in his press conference. That was 15 minutes ago from walking out of the locker room where he’s got a group of players that he spends more time with than his own family and they just found a way to go win a big-time ball game. And then you get peppered right away.”
“So, yeah, I love it. Was that a bad question? I don’t know that. Sometimes you look and you go, ‘are you kidding me?’ But you just got to take it. I think it’s great,” he added.
Brian Kelly is no stranger to pressure. And as Rob Stone reminded listeners, the LSU coach has no playoff appearances in three years on the sidelines in Baton Rouge. If this is what it’s like with the Tigers at 3-0 on the season with victories over Clemson and Florida, just imagine what might happen if and when things go sideways once again.
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