went beyond personnel.
Kelly pointed to the coaching and scheme after LSU’s 17-10 win at Death Valley last season.
“Well, I’ve played them [six] times,” Kelly said on the Early Read with Danny Kanell and Roy Philpott, via On3. “Obviously the national championship team, played them ‘18, ‘20…‘25. They’re not the same football team and nobody is, right? Everybody transitions, everybody moves. They’ve moved on some great players, but they’re certainly not at the talent level that some of the teams that I have seen. Now, that doesn’t mean you can’t win college football games.”
Kelly has plenty of history with Clemson. His Notre Dame team lost a rain-soaked 24-22 game in Death Valley in 2015 before Clemson crushed the undefeated Irish 30-3 in the 2018 College Football Playoff.
Notre Dame got Clemson at home during the 2020 regular season, but the Tigers responded with a 34-10 victory in the ACC Championship Game.
Kelly believes Clemson’s more recent problems require a closer examination of how its talent is being used.
“And in this instance, I think it’s important that on both sides of the ball, the offense and defense, you evaluate your coaching.
“Taking a step back, I see how important football is. In other words, let me drill down on this. The Xs and the Os and the scheme and utilizing your players the right way. How do you play with tempo and without tempo? All those things matter. And it looked like LSU had, and I hate to say this, but it looked like they had a schematic advantage over Clemson. And that shouldn’t be. That shouldn’t be. So we’ll chalk it up to not having a great game and then Clemson plays much better moving forward.”
Kelly also weighed in on Swinney’s tense exchange this week with The State reporter Chapel Fowler, whose question centered on Clemson’s roster construction.
Kelly wasn’t a fan of either side of the exchange.
Clemson vs. Georgia Southern weather forecast could impact Week 2 game
📸 BART BOATWRIGHT/Staff, USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect — Clemson Wire (@Clemson_Wire)
“I didn’t like the question because I thought it was shortsighted and emotional from a fan base that was let down and disappointed. I think he needs a deeper season to figure that out. And then I was disappointed that Dabo didn’t walk into that press conference going, ‘I need to take every one of these on the chin.’ So that’s my take,” Kelly said.
Kelly’s perspective carries some added weight because of how many versions of Clemson he has faced. His larger point wasn’t that the Tigers suddenly lack enough talent to win. It was that Clemson has to make better use of what it currently has, particularly from a schematic standpoint.
Dabo Swinney went viral this week for his press conference after getting blown out by LSU. says those are the toughest pressers to be a part of and told & how he would've handled that situation. — College Sports on SiriusXM (@SXMCollege)
Contact us at on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page on for ongoing coverage of news, notes and opinions.
This article originally appeared on Clemson Wire:
