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Brian Kelly dunks on Dabo Swinney, just like Clemson coach wanted | Toppmeyer
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- Brian Kelly dunks on Dabo Swinney, just like Clemson coach wanted | Toppmeyer
Dabo Swinney begged for it. Downright pleaded.
He wanted someone, anyone — even Tyler from Spartanburg would do — to mock Clemson after Swinney's Tigers faceplanted in a season-opening loss to LSU .
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Brian Kelly obliged. LSU's coach dunked on Swinney at his weekly news conference , three days after his team cooked Clemson on its home field.
When Kelly heard that Swinney offered report-card grades for the teams' performances — Swinney graded Clemson a 58 and gave LSU a 65, presumably out of 100 — Kelly fired back.
"We dominated them in the second half," he said.
He was just getting warmed up.
"He's either a really good grader for giving himself a 58," Kelly continued, "or he's a really hard grader on us."
Then he delivered the mic drop.
"Or he didn't see the second half, which that might be the case," Kelly said, sealing the coffin shut. "He might not have wanted to see the second half."
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Yowza! There's the mockery Swinney requested.
Louisiana State University Head Coach Brian Kelly during the fourth quarter at Memorial Stadium in Clemson, S.C. Saturday, August 30, 2025.
You say Kelly doesn't fit LSU. I say this swagger suits LSU.
Better than swagger, LSU showed a defensive mean streak that's been missing for years. Kelly's team played smart, too. It showed a spine and delivered a stop when Clemson threatened to tie the game in the fourth quarter.
Kelly's peacocking isn't new. Throughout the preseason, he told anyone who'd listen that this would be the best LSU team of his four-year tenure, after he went hard in the portal and acquired A-list transfers to supplement star quarterback Garrett Nussmeier .
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By the looks of the early returns, Kelly told the truth. This team is legit.
I get the sense Kelly maybe had heard just about enough of the fact that he'd lost three straight season openers at LSU. (Credit to LSU for not scheduling Week 1 cupcakes, at least.) He absorbed a truckload of criticism for a coach who won 29 games in three LSU seasons, and he became the butt of numerous internet memes and wisecracks on X.
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So, yeah, he's earned a victory lap.
When I first saw video of Kelly's spicy remarks, I thought this must be one of those AI fakes in which someone with too much time on their hands creates a bogus video of a coach seemingly saying zesty things he didn't really say.
Nope, this was real. Kelly really said it, and Swinney can't complain. He asked for it.
[ This column first published in our SEC Unfiltered newsletter , emailed free to your inbox. Want more commentary like this? Sign up here for our newsletter on SEC sports. ]
Swinney thoroughly criticized his offensive players at his news conference, then begged the media to make fun of his team.
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"Everybody can just start throwing mud now," he said. "Bring it on. Say we suck again. Tell everybody we suck."
Never mind the media. Kelly had this one covered. He didn't say Clemson sucked, calling it "a darn good football team," but he couldn't resist roasting Swinney after the Clemson coach downplayed LSU's performance by grading it a 65.
Kelly warmed up his zingers on "The Paul Finebaum Show." Finebaum had predicted Clemson would make life "very miserable" for Kelly.
By the time Kelly made his regularly scheduled Monday appearance on "Finebaum," Clemson was in misery, and Kelly had found his happy place, trolling naysayers.
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"You had a tough loss this weekend," Kelly told Finebaum, "and you came on the show, so I appreciate that. I think you and I both understand, in this business, you've got good days and you've got bad days."
Saturday counts as a bad day for Swinney. His team got sorely outplayed. Clemson was fortunate to lose by just seven points. Despite what Swinney might desire from the media, I'm not ready to erase Clemson from the playoff picture.
I'm old enough to remember Clemson getting smacked by Georgia in last season's opener, then recovering to win the ACC and advance to the College Football Playoff.
Clemson will benefit from not facing Miami in the regular season, and Swinney remains in possession of a talented roster, a veteran quarterback and a strong defensive line. His team doesn't "suck," even if it looked that way at times against LSU.
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If LSU keeps playing like it did against Clemson, this won't be Kelly's last news conference victory lap.
Blake Toppmeyer is the USA TODAY Network's senior national college football columnist. Email him at BToppmeyer@gannett.com and follow him on X @btoppmeyer .
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Clemson: Brian Kelly dunks on Dabo Swinney, just like he wanted
