On Sunday night, Notre Dame beat Florida State 41-38 in an overtime thriller, in which the Irish blew an 18-point lead in the fourth quarter but were able to get a stop in overtime and kick a game-winning field goal on their first possession.
It was certainly not the best played game for the No. 9 team in the country, but escaping a true road game against a Power 5 opponent (even one that’s been down like FSU in recent years) with a win had to be the main goal, even if they have plenty to work on and clean up in practice coming up. Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly was relieved to get the win but, as is always the case with a coach, he couldn’t help but think about all the things that went wrong late in the game for the Irish despite the win.
In his walkoff interview, Kelly decided to pay homage to former Tampa Bay Buccaneers coach John McKay, who once got asked what he thought of his team’s execution after a game and joked that he was “all for it.” It’s a legendary football coach joke, but Kelly didn’t get asked a question that set him up for the punchline, so instead he forced it and somewhat fumbled his way through it, leading to a lot of confusion and people that were not thrilled with the quote.
Brian Kelly was attempting to quote the late John McKay…1976 was a different time, man pic.twitter.com/b7bWYlWLpK
— JennaLaineESPN (@JennaLaineESPN) September 6, 2021
After the game, Kelly was asked about his comment because there were a lot of people on social media that weren’t exactly pleased with his quote, and he tried to make it clear that it was just him trying to make the John McKay quote.
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
“I was stealing one of his old quotes and being funny. I guess nobody likes to be funny anymore. So yeah, if you want to take me to town on that, please do.” (I will stress that Kelly was as loose/lighthearted as possible while saying all of this at the podium.)
— Matt Fortuna (@Matt_Fortuna) September 6, 2021
The issue here isn’t that he was trying to be funny, but that he tried to force the joke in to a spot where it didn’t really make sense. That’s not to say some would still react poorly to it had he been asked about Notre Dame’s execution and landed the punchline, but it would’ve been an easier explanation rather than him trying to set himself up for it.
