Of all the things Chip Kelly is looking forward to in his return trip to Southern California, there is one that rises above everything else.
“Gotta get more sunscreen looking at the weather report, because we haven’t seen the sun for a little while in Columbus,” said Kelly with a wry smile.
The eighth-seeded Buckeyes will face top-seeded Oregon on Wednesday in the Rose Bowl in a College Football Playoff quarterfinal matchup. The game in the venerable stadium is a homecoming for Kelly, who resigned from UCLA in February after six seasons to become Ohio State’s offensive coordinator.
Kelly had a 35-34 record with the Bruins, including 25-13 in his final three seasons. UCLA though appeared to reach its ceiling under Kelly after going 8-5 last season when it was expected to contend for a title in its final season in the Pac-12.
Kelly was on the hot seat a year ago going into the Southern California game, but a 38-20 victory appeared to give him another season. But Kelly said coaching quarterbacks leading up to the LA Bowl after staff departures made him realize that he enjoyed being in the position meeting rooms more than overseeing an entire program.
After pursuing a couple NFL assistant openings, Kelly decided to reunite with longtime friend Ryan Day.
“I had a great time when I was at UCLA. I had a great staff and an unbelievable group of players there, too. I think as a head coach, you wear a lot of different hats. Obviously, as a coordinator and just coaching the quarterbacks, it’s a little bit different,” Kelly said. “It’s been fun. I’ve enjoyed being back in the meeting room with the players on a day-to-day basis. As a head coach, you bounced around to different meeting rooms, but as the coordinator, you’re with the quarterbacks all the time, so I really enjoyed that aspect of it.”
With Kelly calling the plays, Ohio State is 11th in the nation in scoring offense, averaging 36 points, and 32nd in total offense at 427.3 yards a game.
