Chip Kelly fires direct shot at Oregon ahead of National Championship: 'You can't stop us with 11'

Ohio State offensive coordinator and former Oregon head coach Chip Kelly still hasn’t forgotten about the Ducks intentionally putting 12 players on the field late in Oregon’s regular season win over the Buckeyes.

With Ohio State driving in the final minutes, Oregon was penalized for having 12 men on the field in a move head coach Dan Lanning later said was intentional. Yes, the Ducks were penalized, but it didn’t matter as Lanning was happy to trade seconds coming off the clock for a 5-yard penalty.

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Chip Kelly said ahead of Monday’s National Championship game that Ohio State used that play as motivation ahead of the Rose Bowl. The Buckeyes trounced the Ducks 41-21.

“I’ll tell you what, it was a unique message with our players, you can’t stop us with 11. You had to stop us with 12,” Chip Kelly said. “You saw the final results of 11 versus 11. So that was a message to our team for the week leading up to the Rose Bowl that I think resonated really well with our guys.”

Clearly that messaging worked as Ohio State threw for 319 yards and three touchdowns in its rematch with Oregon. Will Howard averaged 12.3 yards per attempt in the victory.

Jeremiah Smith had seven catches for 187 yards and two touchdowns in the second game against the Ducks, while Emeka Egbuka had five catches for 72 yards and a score.

As Chip Kelly said, it’s hard to stop Ohio State playing 11-on-11 due to all of its weapons.

“They can double anybody they want. But they can’t double everybody,” Kelly said. “If they do, it’s a penalty. They’ve got too many guys on the field. We saw that before against some teams sometime during the year.”

Chip Kelly is obviously confident in his passing attack, particularly with how well the Buckeyes have played in the postseason. But he is also impressed with the Notre Dame secondary and shared that Notre Dame’s DBs will provide a tough challenge.

“I’m impressed. Both corners are tall and long and they do a great job in single coverage. And then when you can add Watts in there as a safety over the top, he’s as good as a safety as there is in the country. I know Ryan Clark from — he played at ASU, so I faced him for three years before I got here,” Chip Kelly said.

“And when you have someone like Kiser, who is a six-year player that I’m sure he has every answer to every formation check, and it’s just innate for him because he’s been there so long. And he’s that truly coach on the field. So I think the veteran leadership with Cross up front and with Kiser and Watts is special, but I think that secondary is really well-coordinated.”