Chip Kelly sought the right words to express his enjoyment of the moment in his press conference with the media on Thursday morning. Perhaps unsurprisingly, those words led him back to his collegiate coaching roots – specifically, his tenure as offensive coordinator at New Hampshire.
“I actually had no idea three years ago that I would be sitting in front of the press conference at the Rose Bowl as the head coach of the University of Oregon when we had lost in a playoff game at the University of New Hampshire when I was the offensive coordinator,” Kelly said. “I enjoy it. I have a lot of friends that are still there. A lot of them are coming out for the game and we’ll enjoy it together, and that’s about all it is.”
“But coaching at Oregon is no different than coaching at New Hampshire. I know they’ve got 11, we got 11, we’re going to go kick it off and go see who can win.”
Kelly was, of course, referring to playing Ohio State in Friday’s Rose Bowl game, not New Hampshire. Oregon’s first-year head coach would likely not have changed his tone for his former Football Championship Subdivision school.
“If you watch us play, we have fun, our staff has fun, and this is what it’s all about,” Kelly said. “It’s not worrying about what’s next. And the good thing for us right now, there is no next. This is it; our season ends tomorrow.”
Wearing a gray suit with a white shirt and gold tie – and looking slightly uncomfortable in formal attire – Kelly spoke with media members for 12 minutes. He expressed his appreciation for the Rose Bowl and the opportunities presented to the Ducks – “It truly is a special game” – and admiration of the Buckeyes.
“I think it’s the best defense we’re going to face, and we’re excited about that challenge,” he said.
Kelly mentioned that he won’t know what to expect from the Buckeyes until the first quarter is under way. All the tape in the world won’t prepare you for what it’s like to actually line up against the opponent, he says.
“Most of the time in league play, because of what we do offensively, what we see on tape isn’t what we get in the game, so there will be that first kind of feeling-out process (early in the game), them for us, us for them, and then just kind of setting down and getting into a rhythm. If we can get into a rhythm offensively, we feel like we’re pretty good.”
Asked about his biggest concern entering the game, Kelly’s response – “the sun” – drew initial laughter.
“We haven’t seen a lot of that in a little bit,” he said. “We’ll get used to it. We’ll get a chance to practice in it a little bit today and actually how will the sun affect the ball, especially depending on where we kick off and where the sun is in the sky about two o’clock.”
Running back LeGarrette Blount became a topic of discussion after the Register-Guard reported that Blount was held out of Wednesday’s full-team media day. The senior was the only absent member of the Ducks in an event that included walk-ons and redshirting scholarship athletes.
“You’ll see L.G. tomorrow,” Kelly promised. “He’ll start off as our third running back behind LaMichael James and Kenjon Barner. We’ll just see how the game plays itself out. But we don’t have anything scripted for him to get in at a certain time.”
Kelly spoke before Ohio State head coach Jim Tressel, and both coaches spared five minutes for a photo opportunity with the Rose Bowl trophy and assembled photographers. As the crowd waited for Tressel, Kelly spent time talking – and laughing – with ESPN broadcasters Mike Tirico and Jon Gruden (Gruden, who won a Super Bowl as the head coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, is a friend of Kelly’s who was considered for Oregon’s offensive coordinator position, currently occupied by Mark Helfrich).
Upwards of two dozen photographers huddled around a display of the Rose Bowl trophy and Oregon and Ohio State helmets to snap a photo of the two coaches together. Kelly became the center of attention in a crowd of three. Whatever anxiety Kelly feels as game time approaches was mitigated by his ability to enjoy the moment.
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