USC football: Lane Kiffin apologizes for player’s comments

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Apologies were flying across social networks and the phone lines Monday as USC linebacker Chris Galippo and Coach Lane Kiffin tried to ease any hurt feelings over comments made after the Trojans’ 31-17 victory over Notre Dame on Saturday.

Galippo, a fifth-year senior, and other players said Notre Dame ‘quit’ when the Fighting Irish did not use timeouts in the final minutes of their defeat.

‘If I offended anyone with my postgame comments Saturday, I do apologize,’ Galippo tweeted. ‘I have great respect for their players and their program. It was a great game by both sides. Time to focus on Stanford!!!’

Kiffin called Notre Dame Coach Brian Kelly to apologize.

‘On behalf of our football program, I apologize for Chris Galippo’s statements after the game. I’ve addressed this with Chris and he is remorseful,’ Kiffin said in a statement. ‘I also called Coach [Brian] Kelly to personally apologize. As I said to the media immediately after the game, I thought Notre Dame played extremely hard throughout the game. It was another classic rivalry game and we feel fortunate to have won.’

Kiffin, however, said Sunday that he was ‘shocked’ by Notre Dame’s inaction.

‘The game was far from over,’ he said. ‘Obviously, over two minutes left with three timeouts, there’s a lot of football left. But I’m not complaining.’

Neither was quarterback Matt Barkley, who in a radio interview Monday did not disagree with Galippo’s statement, according to this story.

‘I would agree with that,’ Barkley said in an interview with Max Kellerman and Marcellus Wiley on 710 ESPN. ‘I was shocked that they didn’t use the timeouts because we got on the field with … about seven minutes left, and I thought they were planning on stopping us and saving their timeouts for the end when they had the ball. …

‘It seemed from our sideline and our perspective that they did give up. It seemed uncharacteristic of Notre Dame. I wouldn’t have wanted to have been on that sideline.’

More later at latimes.com/sports

--Gary Klein