Brian Kelly Facing Intense Backlash for Postgame Comments About LSU Players

The No. 23 USC Trojans went into Sunday evening's game against the No. 13 LSU Tigers as underdogs who were expected to be overmatched, but left Las Vegas with a 27-20 victory.

For Brian Kelly, he is now 0-3 in Week 1 games as the head coach at LSU, but it doesn't appear he is taking the blame for this one. When talking to the media after the game, Kelly revealed he was upset with his team for their lack of "killer instinct" and penalty issues.

"It's the first time since I've been here (LSU) that I'm pretty angry at our football team," Kelly said . "First of all, from a big picture, we didn't play complimentary football. We did some good things on the offensive side of the ball we didn't complement that defensively and vice versa.

"But that thing that is most concerning for me are the personal fouls," Kelly said. The penalties that are selfish. Both of them led to scores and they're undisciplined penalties. Effectively, they fall back on me."

A stance that has led to fans going at Kelly on social media for not fully taking responsibility.

"They take on the persona of their coach," wrote one fan.

"BK has never been shy to throw his players or staff under the bus publicly ASAP," added another.

"Best coach in America at blaming everyone else," chimed in another.

"Look in the mirror, boss. You’re either coaching it or condoning it," commented one fan.

The most notable of the personal fouls has to be courtesy of Texas A&M safety transfer Jardin Gilbert. On a play that was already set to be devastating for the Tigers, USC quarterback Miller Moss converted on 2nd-and-15 by finding Kyron Hudson who made a great catch. Gilbert absolutely leveled Hudson after his catch, but the only problem was he got called for targeting, which led to him being ejected and the ball going from the LSU 27 to the LSU 13.

The very next play, USC's Woody Marks scurried into the end zone for the game-winner with under 10 seconds remaining in the game.

While it's unclear if the Tigers would have prevented a touchdown with the penalty, they did have a chance to force USC to rely on their kicker. The same kicker that missed a kick from within 30 yards earlier in the game.

It feels safe to assume that LSU's next practice will not be a fun one, as Kelly will certainly try to make some sort of adjustment to combat the penalties.

For USC, they host Utah State next week. As for LSU, they have a chance to bounce back against Nicholls.

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