Ohio State's Chip Kelly cracks joke about noon kickoff ‘controversy’

Ohio State will end the regular season with six straight noon games, five of which have been or will be featured as FOX’s top matchup of the week, otherwise known as “Big Noon Saturday.”

Buckeyes fans are upset, especially after their potential top-five showdown with Indiana was tucked into the Week 13 noon slot.

Offensive coordinator Chip Kelly, however, came to the podium with a humorous silver lining Tuesday in the Woody Hayes Athletic Center.

When asked about the surging completion percentage of his quarterback Will Howard, Kelly responded with an answer that drew laughter from the assembly of media.

“Yeah, actually, Will said if he gets to play at noon, he can complete 80% of his passes,” Kelly said jokingly. “So I think the controversy is over.

“You get a noon kickoff, he’ll complete 80. I know a lot of people have problems with what we’re doing, but if it means the quarterback can complete 80% of his passes, we’ll take it.”

Howard has posted a completion percentage of 80% or higher in five games this season. Three of those five games — a Week 4 matchup versus Marshall, a Week 9 matchup against Nebraska and a Week 11 matchup versus Purdue — have kicked off at noon.

Howard, who has repeatedly gotten off to fast starts in games this season, prefers an early kickoff over a later one.

“I kind of like getting up and rolling, man,” Howard said Tuesday. “There’s no thought. … I have no control over that. I don’t really mind. I’m gonna play whenever they tell us to play.

“But there’s something I kind of like about just getting up and going. There’s less thinking involved. You kind of just get up. Sometimes when you’re sitting around for those night games, you get a little — you’re sitting in the in the hotel, and, for me, it’s more I just get antsy. I’m like, ‘Man, I just want to go. I just want to go play this game.'”

Howard added: “I don’t like sitting around all day, just waiting. Obviously, the fans — would it be cool to have a night game, sure, but, man, I’m not worried about it. I’ll play whenever they tell me to play. It’s all good.”

The Buckeyes have been stuck with noon kickoffs the last three games, and they have three more up ahead. Only one of those six games isn’t on FOX, and that’s this week’s matchup against Northwestern at Wrigley Field, which will air on the Big Ten Network and kick off at 11 a.m. local time in Chicago.

“Listen, I’ve got to deal with a lot of fan backlash or other things other than the times of games,” Ohio State head coach Ryan Day said with a smile. “So I am going to leave that for other people to deal with. I’ve got other things I have to deal with. Whenever they tell us to play, we’re going to play. It doesn’t matter where it is.

“It could be at a baseball field, it could be 11 a.m., it could be at night. Whatever it is, we’re going to put the football down and go play. And I’ll worry about the team.”