"Notre Dame is not gonna give anything easy" - Chip Kelly gets candid about huge challenges from Marcus Freeman's team

Ohio State offensive coordinator Chip Kelly has built a rampaging offense for the Buckeyes headlined by explosive wide receiver Jeremiah Smith that has swatted away opposition teams in the college football playoffs leading to the national championship game. The Buckeyes will face the Notre Dame Fighting Irish in the national championship game.

On Friday during his weekly news conference, Kelly lavished praise on the Fighting Irish's stout defense led by experienced defensive coordinator Al Golden and revealed the key for the Buckeyes' offense to flourish in the game.

"Notre Dame's not gonna give anything easy so you have to execute," Chip Kelly said. "You're gonna have to make contested catches, quarterback's gonna have to be really accurate with the ball, we're gonna have to protect against a really good pass-rush, we're not gonna out-scheme Notre Dame. I don't think you can get into the college football tournament and out-scheme anybody anyway, it's about players making plays.

"And that's the big and most important thing, it's about who executes the best. Who makes the contested catches. Where's the location of the football, is it on the backend where he's gonna catch and fall down or on the front end where he can catch and run? We're gonna give the quarterback time when he gets a clean pocket where he can make those throws so it's really about execution."

Chip Kelly warns Notre Dame and takes shot at Oregon

During his weekly news conference, Chip Kelly warned Notre Dame Fighting Irish coach Marcus Freeman against using a man coverage defense in the national championship game. He referenced the Oregon Ducks using an extra man in their 32-31 regular season win against the Buckeyes and the subsequent 41-21 thrashing in the college football playoffs as proof of the concept.

"They can double anybody they want," Chip Kelly said. "But they can't double everybody. 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.

"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."

The national championship game on Jan. 20 will pit Chip Kelly's potent offense that has steamrolled opposition defenses against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish's mean defense that has puzzled opposition offenses.