Ohio State’s Chip Kelly shoots Oregon: ‘You can’t stop us by 11′

On By Littum

Former Oregon Ducks coach Chip Kelly took a shot at his former football program on Saturday.

Ahead of Monday’s national championship game against Notre Dame, the current Ohio State offensive coordinator was asked what motivated the Buckeyes going into their Rose Bowl matchup with Oregon — a 41-21 blowout victory.

Kelly pointed to the 12 men on the field that were taken intentionally by Dan Lanning and company during the two teams’ regular season matchup, which Oregon won 32-31.

“I’ll tell you what, it was a unique message to our players: You can’t stop us by 11. You had to stop us by 12,” Kelly told reporters. “You saw the final scores at 11 on 11. So that was a message to our team for the week leading up to the Rose Bowl that I think really resonated with our guys.”

Ohio State led 34-0 at one point in the first half against the Ducks, and superstar freshman wideout Jeremiah Smith was a big reason why. He finished with seven catches for 187 yards and two touchdowns vs. Oregon.

It was Kelly’s first win over the Ducks as an opposing coach: he was previously 0-5 against Oregon between his time as head coach at UCLA and offensive coordinator at Ohio State.

The Buckeyes went on to beat Texas, 28-14, in the College Football Playoff semifinals in the Cotton Bowl. They are 8.5-point favorites over the Fighting Irish in the national championship game.

— Ryan Clarke covers Oregon ducks and the Big Ten Conference. Listen to Ducks Confidential podcast or subscribe to Ducks Roundup Newsletter.