Notre Dame football coach Brian Kelly had an interesting choice of words after the Fighting Irish survived the Florida State Seminoles in overtime on Sunday night.
After the 41-38 win over Florida State in overtime, Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly had a soundbite that’s going to be talked about into the next day.
The Fighting Irish head coach borrowed a line from former Tampa Bay Buccaneers coach John McKay but his execution of the line didn’t come out as polished as Kelly would have liked.
And, well, it sounded like he’s in favor of his team being put to death.
Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly in favor of his team being executed
“I’m in favor of execution. Maybe our entire team should be executed tonight, Kelly said on ABC after the game.”
the entire team needs to executed after tonight??????? pic.twitter.com/vuFoheLxt8
— Tony X (@soIoucity) September 6, 2021
McKay, when asked about the execution of his Buccaneers team that was mired in a 26-game losing streak said, he was in favor of it.
In favor of executing. Not in favor of executing the team. To be clear.
Kelly’s word choice tried to carry out the same message but the way he said it is going to have his comments going viral. And it’s why I’m even writing this story.
Brian Kelly said he was just joking
Kelly was clearly at a heightened state after the Irish blew an 18-point second-half lead and needed overtime to beat Florida State. He tried to pass it off that he was joking and being light-hearted in his post-game press conference.
Brian Kelly, light-hearted when asked about postgame TV quote: “I was kidding. It was tongue in cheek. It wasn't funny? It's an old John McKay quote that he used after the game, so I was talking and making a joke about it. Why? It was taken serious? Are you people crazy?”
— Matt Fortuna (@Matt_Fortuna) September 6, 2021
Notre Dame should have put the Seminoles away in the third quarter but the return of McKenzie Milton in his first game action since a devastating leg injury at UCF in 2018 set the stage for the dramatic ending.
Milton led the comeback efforts in the fourth quarter and forced overtime. After Florida State missed a field goal on their opening possession in overtime, Notre Dame converted their field goal attempt for the win.
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