Brian Kelly explains emotions behind postgame table smash after USC loss
Brian Kelly was visibly frustrated on Sunday night after LSU’s 27-20 loss to USC in Las Vegas.
In his postgame press conference with reporters, Kelly pounded the table in front of him as he expressed his anger over how the game ended.
“We’re sitting here again talking about the same things,” Kelly said Sunday while smashing the table with his fist. “About not finishing when you have an opponent in a position to put them away. But what we’re doing on the sideline is feeling like the game is over. And I am so angry about it that I’ve got to do something about it. I’m not doing a good enough job as a coach.”
A couple days later, after having some time to cool down, Kelly talked about that moment in an interview with Paul Finebaum.
“It was the emotion of the game coming out,” Kelly said of his table smash moment. “And 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.”
Kelly added that he also wants to avoid the perception that his players “don’t care” about the outcome of these games.
“I want these kids to win,” Kelly said. “We put our heart and soul into it. I know how hard they’re working. I don’t want them to be perceived as kids who don’t care. They care so much.”
Here’s the full clip from the Paul Finebaum Show:
Brian Kelly's postgame table smash went viral after the loss to Southern Cal…a few days later he's able to joke about it while offering some more context pic.twitter.com/emUeJOrVtD
— Paul Finebaum (@finebaum) September 3, 2024
LSU will face Nicholls State in Week 2.
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With 1 table slam, he said our players don’t listen to me and look how serious I am.
Soyjak.
Probably won’t happen, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Kelly takes another job after this season.
Not happening
Bad temper by Kelly, his boys came through for him a lot in 2023. The PAC 12 was no pushover of a football conference last year! You can’t act this way about a close game where your roster played well and the margin was narrow. This will haunt him in 2024 somewhat!