Chip Kelly pushes back on Michigan narrative ahead of national title game

Ohio State‘s postseason looked doomed for failure after the Buckeyes fell 13-10 to Michigan in their regular-season finale. Alas, Ohio State has looked like a new team in the College Football Playoffs, making a run all the way to the National Championship.

Some fans believes that Ohio State needed to lose to Michigan to find its identity and the focus to succeed in the CFP. On Tuesday, Ohio State offensive coordinator Chip Kelly weighed in on this narrative.

“I learned a long time ago as a coach that I’m not into narratives,” Kelly said. “I think we live in a week-to-week world, and that’s how we’ve always approached things.

“I think our week-to-week is just it’s the beginning of the week and what do we do on a Monday? What’s a Monday look like? What’s a Tuesday look like? What’s a Wednesday look like? How’s your preparation? And then you go play the game.”

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While Chip Kelly claims Ohio State’s recent success has nothing to do with its loss to Michigan, something is certainly different about the Buckeyes. Through three games of the CFP, no team has finished within two scores of OSU.

Most recently, the Buckeyes defeated Texas 28-14 in the Cotton Bowl Classic. It was a competitive game but Ohio State ultimately pulled away when defensive end Jack Sawyer stripped Texas QB Quinn Ewers and returned the fumble for a touchdown.

In the press conference on Tuesday, Kelly claimed he puts previous games in the rearview mirror less than 24 hours after they’re over.

“You’ve got about 20 hours to adjust to what happened, whether it was a win or whether it was a loss. And then you move on to the next game,” Kelly said.

“So the narrative part of it isn’t something I think coaches really talk about that this set up that, set up this. You guys are the experts at writing narratives. We’re just trying to get a first down. I don’t look at it from that perspective.”

Ohio State has had plenty of time to prepare for Notre Dame. When the Buckeyes face off against the Fighting Irish on Jan. 20, they will have had 10 days to prepare. Evidently, Chip Kelly and his fellow Buckeyes aren’t wasting any time.

The two teams will meet on Monday at 7:30 p.m. ET. The game will air live on ESPN.