Brian Kelly criticizes Notre Dame execution following win over Florida State

Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly was critical of his team’s performance following a narrow victory against Florida State in overtime.

“Maybe our entire team needs to be executed after tonight,” Kelly said to Katie George when asked about the win in his post-game interview.

Brian Kelly on Notre Dame’s performance

Following Notre Dame’s 41-38 win over Florida State, Kelly had strong words for his team’s effort in the fourth quarter.

“Yeah, I’m in favor of execution,” Kelly said. “Maybe our entire team needs to be executed after tonight. We just didn’t execute well and I will say this Florida State played extremely well.”

Kelly was proud of his team’s efforts overall though, fourth-quarter issues aside. He went on to detail that Florida State gave them trouble with their offense, but he was proud of the result Notre Dame fought hard for.

“The two-quarterback system they have. They created all kinds of problems. We’ve got some work to do. I like our team. I like our players. I love their commitment and the way they fought. We’re gritty but we got a lot of work to do. It’s nice to go back and do the work after a win. It was hard.”

“We hung in there. And we made the play we needed to in overtime,” Kelly stated.

When Kelly detailed exactly what problems they had during the game, big plays were a major concern as Notre Dame gave up too many for his liking. Overall, Kelly said he will walk away from the game glad for the win but with lots more work to do.

“Clearly, the big plays have to be eliminated on defense and we’ve got to execute a little better on third-down. We had too many third-down situations and we had that lull there in the fourth quarter. Look it’s the first game. We’re happy we got the victory but if we want to be a playoff team and compete for a championship. We gotta get a lot better and we gotta get a lot better soon.”