Brian Kelly had a chance to sit down with ESPN’s Heather Dinich, and was given the opportunity to respond to Nick Saban’s comments last week about future SEC scheduling.

Kelly said on Monday that he’s in favor of facing 9 league games because he wants “to play the best,” including Alabama as a permanent opponent.

While still not official, there are projections that the SEC would move to a model without divisions, as teams would play 6 rotating SEC opponents and 3 permanent. Kelly said the model he was given for 9 SEC teams included Alabama, Ole Miss and Texas A&M as fixed opponents.

“I’ve been in this for 3 decades, and no disrespect to any of the other schools that we play outside of the SEC, but they just don’t excite me,” said Kelly, who is entering his second season at LSU. “I want to play the best. I came down here to the SEC because I wanted to play against Alabama. I want to play A&M. I want to play Auburn, the great teams, and in our new scheduling we get to play Alabama every year, Ole Miss every year and A&M, and that’s really why I came down here. I want to play those games, and I think playing nine SEC games is great for your schedule, and it prepares you for the opportunity to play for a championship but also play for the national championship.”

Kelly then reacted to Saban questioning the fairness of having to play Tennessee, Auburn and LSU every season.

“I think everybody has their take on the schedules,” he said. “Nick has never backed down from a challenge. I’m not too worried about whether Nick Saban is going to have his team ready when he plays LSU. He’ll be ready.”