Chip Kelly has always been a bit of a jokester, and the Ohio State offensive coordinator was true to form even 2 days from one of the biggest football games of his life.

Kelly, speaking during his Media Day session in Atlanta in the leadup to Monday night’s national title game against Notre Dame, was talking about his unit’s explosiveness this season. Ohio State hung 42 points in its first-round Playoff victory over Tennessee, then exploded for 41 more points in its quarterfinal victory over Oregon before managing 28 against a really good Texas defense in the semifinals.

But back to Oregon, where Kelly was the head coach from 2009-12 and went 46-7. He’s beloved in Eugene, but maybe a little less now after Kelly poked fun at the Ducks for having 12 men on the field during that controversial play late in their 32-31 victory over the Buckeyes back in October.

“They can double anybody they want, but they can’t double everybody. If they do, it’s a penalty — they have too many guys on the field. And we saw that before against some team, sometime before in a game,” said Kelly, with obviously his tongue firmly in cheek.

Then Kelly got serious and spoke about how Ohio State’s coaching staff used that play to motivate its players.

“It was a unique message to our players, that you can’t stop us with 11 (players). You had to stop us with 12. And then you saw the final result of 11 vs. 11,” said Kelly, whose Buckeyes got that payback over the Ducks when it mattered most in the Playoff.