LSU coach Brian Kelly backtracks after exploding at reporter in press conference

LSU head coach Brian Kelly apologized on Monday for blowing up at a reporter following his team's win over the weekend.

The Tigers defeated Florida 20-10 on Saturday, though Kelly became incensed when WBRZ 2's Michael Cauble asked for his assessment of the team's offense.

'Stop. Really? Is that the first question?,' Kelly scolded him. 'We won the game 20-10. Try another question. What do you want me to tell you? I just laid it out for you. We played the game to win the game.'

Asked by Cauble about the team's third down execution, he continued: 'You're looking at this from the wrong perspective. LSU won the football game, won the game. I don't know what you want from me. What do you want? You want us to win 70-0 against Florida to keep you happy?'

Cauble then brought up the team's rushing struggles, after the team posted just 96 rushing yards in the win. 

'We can run the ball! Did you see the last play of the game?... Those are ridiculous questions and I'm getting tired of it,' Kelly fired back. 'That football team just worked their tail off to get an SEC win and you want to know what's wrong. You know what? You're spoiled, you're spoiled.'

Two days, later Kelly struck a more regretful tone as he apologized to Cauble. 

'I've texted with Mike and offered my apology to him for the way I handled the questioning,' he said during a press conference. 

'I think it's important to understand that , my standards relative to how we work with the media on a day-to-day basis, need to be higher, and I take responsibility for that, and I'll be better in the future.'

However, he caveated his mea culpa: 'The way I'm thinking after a game, and we've mentioned this a couple of times in here - the emotions of the game, right after it, I haven't watched any film, it's difficult to make those assessments of specifics. And I'm gonna defend my team.'

LSU is 3-0 to open the season but has yet to put together a big offensive performance, as they've averaged 20 points per contest in wins against Clemson, Louisiana Tech and Florida.

And Cauble stood by his questioning following his clash with Kelly, as he called the team's offense 'pedestrian at best.'

'This LSU offense, we should expect more,' Cauble said. 'I think it's unfair of him to just pass it off as just a 'stupid question.' This is a championship team, or they expect to be. He told us to keep the receipts. Well, we're keeping the receipts.'

Kelly has a 32-11 record at the school since taking over in 2022, though he's failed to lead the team to the College Football Playoff so far.

However, he'll hope to lead the Tigers there this season after the Playoff expanded to 12 teams in 2024.

Following what should be a comfortable matchup against Southeastern Louisiana this weekend, Kelly and Co. will face the likes of Ole Miss, Texas A&M and Alabama in the coming weeks.