Brian Kelly explained the origin of his bizarre 'execution' joke about Notre Dame and it's still awkward

He was joking, but it didn't land at all.

Notre Dame escaped on Sunday night with a 41-38 win over Florida State, a game that featured the incredible comeback of FSU’s McKenzie Milton.

But it’s what the Fighting Irish’s Brian Kelly said after the contest that had everyone buzzing.

While speaking to ABC’s Katie George, who asked about Notre Dame’s “ability to withstand Florida State’s impressive comeback,” he had this to say: “I’m in favor of execution, maybe our entire team needs to be executed after tonight.”

… What?

Obviously, everyone on Twitter went wild (we’ll get to that), but Kelly explained that he was trying to crack a joke based on an old football coach quote. That still didn’t make the moment land like he wanted it to, but let’s break it all down.