When Oregon needed to stop Ohio State with the game on the line in the regular season, the Ducks used 12 players on defense, whether it was on purpose or by accident.
It stalled Ohio State's offense, helped secure a win for Oregon and the penalty for too many players on the field by the Ducks forced the NCAA to change a rule about the specifics of the penalty during the middle of the season.
While discussing Notre Dame's defense, a dominant group led by Marcus Freeman and Al Golden that leans on its dominance in man coverage, Oregon and Dan Lanning caught a stray from Chip Kelly during Ohio State’s College Football Playoff national championship media day Saturday morning. To be more specific, Kelly brought up when the Ducks had to use 12 players on defense to stop the Buckeyes and win the game in Eugene but were unable to stop Ohio State with only 11 players on defense in the Rose Bowl.
"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.
"But I don't know, I'll tell you what, it was a unique message with our players, you can't stop us with 11," he continued. "You had to stop us with 12. 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."
Ohio State accepted that challenge, beating Oregon 41-21 in a game that was much more of a blowout than the final score might have shown considering the Buckeyes led 34-0 in the second quarter.
“You had to stop us with 12. You saw the final results of 11 vs. 11.”– Chip Kelly on Oregon's defense
With Notre Dame boasting the second-best pass defense in the country behind only Ohio State, Kelly is prepared for a tough game Monday night. Either way, he's prepared for everything Notre Dame will throw at the Buckeye offense.
"I think how well-coordinated they are. You've just got to be impressed," Kelly said. "As a football guy, you've got to sit back and say, wow, that's pretty good. They do some really good things. It's going to be a heck of a matchup on Monday night."
