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Kelly fires back at Swinney: "Maybe he didn't see the second half."

On3 imageby: Matthew Brune09/02/25MatthewBrune_
LSU has hired Ohio State's Director of Player Personnel (Photo: (Scott Kinser-Imagn Images)
LSU has hired Ohio State's Director of Player Personnel (Photo: (Scott Kinser-Imagn Images)

LSU went on the road and won a hard-fought game against Clemson to start the season 1-0, but the jawing has continued into week two of the season. On Tuesday, both Dabo Swinney and Brian Kelly held their weekly press conferences, with Swinney going a bit earlier.

In that press conference, Swinney reflected on the game and took it a step further, saying neither team played well and indicating it was a tightly contested game.

“After that first run, they ran for just 2.8 [yards per carry] and that’s a physical group,” Swinney said. “That’s a very smart quarterback and that is a back. They’re going to be a problem and they’ve got some explosive dudes. It was a hell of a game, down to the last play. Right out of the gate. It’s like getting the final exam day one of class, they made a 65 and we made a 58. Neither one of us was great.”

While the scoreboard indicated that it was a close contest, those who watched the game saw LSU’s dominance i the second half — particularly on defense. Kelly was asked about Swinney’s comments in his press conference and wasted no time taking a shot back at Clemson’s head coach.

“I thought we dominated them in the second half, so he’s either a really nice grader for giving himself a 58 or he’s a hard grader on us, or he didn’t see the second half which may have been the case. Maybe he didn’t want to see the second half.

This is all in the past. We’re much more focused on Louisiana Tech to be quite honest with you and Clemson is a darn good football team. That’s a top-notch team and they’re going to be in the hunt for the playoffs and we hope we are too, but it was only one game. I don’t know if he’s a hard grader or an easy grader, but I like the way we played in the second half.”

LSU now moves on to Week 2, with Louisiana Tech on deck in the home-opener of Tiger Stadium. The Tigers have taken the nation by storm and now are being talked about as one of the top teams in the country. Kelly has the full attention of his team and now looks ahead to another game this Saturday.

“What we have to be focused on is what we can control on a day to day basis and what we can control is how we prepare. Our preparation allowed us to play with great composure on the road in a hostile environment. We competed on every play, but most importantly we believed we were going to win the game, regardless of the situation. That’s what we’re about and that’s what we have to do again if we want to get to 1-0 this week.”

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