'Maybe He Didn't See the Second Half': Brian Kelly Fires Back at Dabo Swinney After Comments About Neither Team Playing Well in Season Opener

In what may very well have been a matchup featuring the two most insufferable and least likable coaches in college football, we have some fireworks between Dabo Swinney and Brian Kelly spilling over into Week 2.

Swinney made a ridiculous comment on Tuesday comparing the season opener between the two Tigers to a final exam on the first day of class in which Clemson got a 58 and LSU got a 65. I don't know what game he was watching, because LSU played pretty phenomenally, all things considered. Clemson didn't score a point in the second half, Garrett Nussmeier was fantastic — he even had a beautiful touchdown pass taken off the board by a terrible review that would have made this game a blowout on the road — and LSU won in one of the toughest stadiums in America while only putting up 17 points. Depending on how bad Alabama actually ends up being, it was probably the most impressive performance of Week 1.

So Kelly got up in his media availability and took one of the few chances he may ever have to be on the right side of public opinion and fired right back at Dabo. Good. To give an opposing team that just handled you on your home field a failing grade on some mythical exam you conjured up is insane behavior and I'm glad Kelly called Swinney out publicly for it.

Also, does it not seem like a worse reflection on yourself as a coach if you played a team that got a 65 on your fake test and you still lost? You should be talking up how great LSU is for being able to beat a team you thought you had adequately prepared.

There may not be a game in which America's rooting interest is more aligned this year than when Clemson travels to Atlanta to take on Georgia Tech in Week 3. And I'd love to hear what Dabo comes up with if Brent Key and Co. take down the Tigers to put them in a hole just three weeks into the season.