Brian Kelly on controversial calls on South Carolina interceptions: 'They looked like fouls to me'

There has been a lot of talk about calls that were made and not made in the South Carolina vs. LSU game over the weekend, in particular two calls that took defensive touchdowns off the board for the Gamecocks.

In the first half and second half South Carolina had pick sixes wiped out due to penalties, with one being called a horse collar tackle and the other an unnecessary roughness.

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Gamecocks coach Shane Beamer expressed his frustration with the officiating in general over the weekend, sharing that he turned in several calls to the SEC office that he believes were wrong. LSU coach Brian Kelly was asked for his take on the officiating during the game at his weekly press conference and was questioned in particular about the two touchdowns for South Carolina that were called back.

“They looked like fouls to me,” Kelly said.

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He added that there are calls every game that officials get right and wrong, but he’s not going to ever blame officiating for a loss.

“You know, I saw a push off in the USC game that was never called late in the game against USC. So you get my point, right? I mean there’s calls in every game,” Brian Kelly said. “I didn’t stand here in front of you guys and complain about that call, right? I mean we could take every game that we play, and we could micromanage every call that wasn’t call or was called.”

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Kelly also said that players and coaches decide games, not officials. He didn’t directly call out Shane Beamer for questioning the officiating but he did say that it’s not a method he uses or ever will.

“I’m not here each and every week to complain about calls or not complain about calls. Games are won by the players and lost by the players. If it gets down to that, you know, call me out on it,” Kelly said. “You win and lose, at the end of the day, based upon coaches and players. And the other things, I haven’t seen in my years coaching that officiating decides a game.”

In addition to the two touchdowns being wiped out, Beamer was also upset that a penalty wasn’t called on LSU for taunting at the end of the game following South Carolina’s missed field goal.

“This isn’t sour grapes or Shane’s complaining, but I’ve been told that this year in the SEC that celebrations are going to be allowed,” the coach said. “I watched games the first weekend and I see some guys doing celebrations in the end zone. That’s great, let these guys have fun. But I was told celebrations were going to be allowed a little bit. But there’s going to be a very clear emphasis on taunting.

“For that crew yesterday to throw 22 flags, and on the last play of the game, I think there’s two very clear instances of taunting that happened after the kick. And after throwing 22 flags, no one decided to throw a flag on that one.”