Chip Kelly dishes about how his tempo offense has evolved since high-powered Oregon attack

New Ohio State offensive coordinator Chip Kelly made a name for himself as an offensive mind at Oregon, where his teams were known for their up-tempo offenses. Since then, it’s a style that’s been adopted around the country but is still a piece of what Kelly is doing.

While speaking to the media as Ohio State’s spring practice is underway, Kelly shared his thoughts on how the offensive tempo has changed in the game, emphasizing that the game as a whole always changes and that temp isn’t the only thing his offenses do.

“I think the game is always evolving,” Chip Kelly said. “I think when I left in 2012 to go to the National Football League, Oregon was the only team playing really, really fast and had shiny helmets. When I came back in 2017, everyone had shiny helmets and everyone was playing fast. So, I think the game is always gonna go up and down. There’s always gonna be different cycles that it goes through.”

Today, no team is more known for its usage of tempo than Tennessee under Josh Heupel. However, just about every team does use it to some extent. Still, Chip Kelly emphasized that he’s not interested in relying on just one thing.

“I think tempo is part of an offense, but I don’t think it’s an offense in itself. I think it’s more, if you go to dinner, it’s a side order. It’s not the main course, but it’s always good to have it. So, I think there’s times when you’ll use it, but you’re going to use it extensively the entire game,” Kelly said.

“Just like you’re not going to throw the ball every single snap in a game, you’re not gonna run the ball every snap in a game. There’s not a game of absolutes anymore. The ability to be diverse and have it as a tool in your toolbox, so to speak, is really how we would look at using it here.”

When the up-tempo offense took over, defenses had to find a way to adjust to it. Chip Kelly even noted that Alabama head coach Nick Saban was so against it at the time that he wanted to put a rule in place against it. That is, until he flip-flopped and started using it on offense too.

“I think so, I think when you first started going tempo there were people in the NCAA that wanted to outlaw it. They wanted to make an NCAA rule that you couldn’t do it. I give Coach [Nick] Saban credit. Obviously, Nick was the first one to do it. He wanted to outlaw it and then all of a sudden, he adapted it and said, ‘We like this,'” Kelly said.

“So, we’ll keep it in, but it doesn’t matter what you do, there’s cycles to this game. Then, once people catch onto that cycle, it moves.”

Chip Kelly then remembered the New York Giants defenses under Bill Parcells and Bill Belichick that opponents tried to emulate. However, as Kelly pointed out, those teams lacked the talent that fit what New York was doing so well. It’s a lesson in making sure a good coach puts players in a scheme designed for them to succeed.

“It’s no different than 4-3 defenses and 3-4 defenses. One is the rage when the Giants won the Super Bowl, they were a 3-4 defense and everybody says we have to do that. What people didn’t understand is they had Carl Banks and Lawrence Taylor. It didn’t matter what defense they were running. I know Jim’s back there and Jim played against them. They could’ve been a four-down defense and those guys would’ve been great players,” Kelly said.

“It’s not the scheme. I think the coaches that do it the best way is they insert their players and put them in the best position to make plays. Now, will tempo be part of it? It’ll be part of it but it’s certainly not gonna be the main course.”