Notre Dame football coach Brian Kelly didn't literally mean what he said immediately after the Irish's 41-38 overtime victory over Florida State on Sunday night.
"I'm in favor of execution," Kelly said in his postgame on-field interview. "Maybe our entire team needs to be executed after tonight."
Shortly thereafter, Kelly told local reporters in a press conference that comment was a joke alluding to late football coach John McKay's similar infamous remark while he was with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
McKay was asked about his offense's execution. "I'm in favor of it," he responded.
Asked about his own use of the word, Kelly responded:
"I was kidding," Kelly said. "It was tongue in cheek. It wasn't funny? It's an old John McKay quote that he used after the game. I was talking, making a joke about it. It was taken serious? Are you people crazy? It's a John McKay quote that he used after a game. I was stealing one of his old quotes and being funny. I guess nobody likes to be funny anymore. So if you want to take me to town on that, please do."
Notre Dame let a 38-20 lead slip away in the fourth quarter at Doak Campbell Stadium. Florida State ran right through the Irish defense for 264 yards on 5.5 yards per carry.
Safe to say, Notre Dame didn't have excellent execution defensively in Marcus Freeman's first game as the Irish defensive coordinator. Kelly said he expects his team to vastly improve in the immediate future, though.
"We know we got work to do, but I like this team," Kelly said. "We'll get better."
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