Tag: Chip Kelly

Oregon, UCLA move into the Top 10 ahead of GameDay arriving in Eugene

Oregon vs. UCLA is a top-10 matchup with “College GameDay” coming to Eugene.

It took five games and a bye for the Oregon Ducks football team to climb back into the top 10.

Thanks to USC’s 43-42 loss at Utah and Penn State getting smashed at Michigan, Oregon is now No. 9 in the nation, according to the most recent USA TODAY Sports AFCA Coaches Poll.

Coincidentally, the Ducks’ next opponent, a 6-0 UCLA team, also had a bye and is the beneficiary of the miseries of the Trojans and Nittany Lions. The Bruins are now ranked No. 10.

It’s perfect timing for both the Ducks and the Bruins: ESPN “College GameDay” will be at Autzen Stadium on Oct. 22. The matchup turns out to be a game of the Pac-12 two best teams and might be Game 1 between these two powerhouses.

Win or lose, both teams control their own paths to the Pac-12 title game in Vegas. Utah is coming to Eugene later in the season, and UCLA has to play the Trojans.

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USC and UCLA both decided to leave for the Big Ten; now they’re both leading the Pac-12

It has to be George Kliavkoff’s worst nightmare: a # USC- #UCLA #Pac12 Championship Game, presenting a trophy to one of the two LA schools in Las Vegas.

We aren’t predicting a USC-UCLA Pac-12 Championship Game. Too many games have to be played — and won — before we get to that point. But: We certainly are looking at the possibility of this clash. It’s out there as one of several possibilities for the Pac-12 Championship Game.

It could be UCLA-Oregon. It could be USC-Oregon. It could be USC-Utah. It could be Oregon-Utah.

It also could be USC-UCLA.

It’s really very simple: Utah loses one more game, Oregon loses two games. The USC-UCLA loser wins its other remaining Pac-12 games. George Kliavkoff would have to present the Pac-12 championship trophy to one of the two Los Angeles schools in Las Vegas this December.

Can you imagine?

Let’s discuss various aspects of the joint ascendancies of USC and UCLA, with quotes and insights from Pac-12 insider Jon Wilner, among others:

Nationwide and West Coast reactions pour in after UCLA throttles Utah, changes Pac-12 race

UCLA 42, Utah 32. The result turned a lot of heads in the #Pac12 and across the nation. See how the public, and the two fan bases, reacted to the eye-opening result.

Utah versus UCLA was one of the biggest games of the weekend and easily the most intriguing game on the Pac-12 slate.

Utah, the reigning Pac-12 champions, faced UCLA, which entered the weekend undefeated and playing at home — this had all the buzz.

Chip Kelly’s team answered the call in every way possible, defeating Utah 42-32. Dorian Thompson-Robinson was electric all game long, finishing with 299 yards and four touchdowns through the air with another score on the ground.

Zach Charbonnet gashed the Utah defense, running for 198 yards and a score, and the Bruins moved to 6-0 with their eyes on a massive matchup with Oregon in two weeks.

Here is how everybody reacted following UCLA’s huge victory over Utah on Saturday, and Utah defensive coordinator Morgan Scalley definitely got ripped apart by fans.

Photo Gallery: Oregon Ducks hold end zone party in the desert

Photo Gallery: Oregon Ducks hold end zone party in the desert

The Oregon Ducks football team went down to Arizona and faced a squad that is much better than once previously thought. In the past, that could have spelled upset, but the No. 12 Ducks quite literally ran over Arizona for 306 rushing yards and is coming home to Eugene with a 49-22 win.

Now at 5-1 and on a five-game winning streak, Oregon will now enjoy a much-deserved bye week. The Ducks will definitely need the extra time to prepare for a very good and undefeated UCLA team. The Bruins are 6-0 after their win over Utah.

But for now, we can all enjoy Oregon’s win over Arizona via these pictures taken inside a sold-out Arizona Stadium.

UCLA delivers statement win over Utah, changes Pac-12 race and sets Chip Kelly reunion at Oregon

UCLA looked like an elite team vs Utah. Chip Kelly and the Bruins go to Oregon Oct. 22 for a huge game. Let’s discuss what this means for USC and the #Pac12.

The Washington game was going to tell us if UCLA was a solid, decent team.

The Utah game was going to tell us if UCLA was for real, a legitimate Pac-12 contender with a chance to win the conference and make a big-time bowl game.

The Bruins answered the call on Saturday, beating Utah 42-32. They were faster than Utah. They were tougher than Utah. They drew up better plays than Utah. They had superior athletes. Chip Kelly outcoached Kyle Whittingham and Morgan Scalley. Dorian Thompson-Robinson outplayed Cam Rising by a considerable margin. Zach Charbonnet was tremendous. The UCLA defense made timely plays.

Now that UCLA has beaten Utah, what does this mean for USC and the Pac-12? Let’s go through some of the important aspects of this big story:

UCLA makes a statement against Washington, sets up huge showdown with Utah on Oct. 8

Full credit to UCLA, which bullied Washington and made the Huskies look slow. The Bruins will prepare for the biggest game of the Chip Kelly era against Utah next week.

Chip Kelly had his UCLA team ready to play. The Bruins struggled against South Alabama a few weeks ago. Their game against Pac-12 doormat Colorado offered no real indication into their evolution. Colorado is simply that bad. UCLA’s first big proving-ground moment was Friday night in the Rose Bowl against the Washington Huskies. U-Dub came into the game 4-0, having dominated each of its first four opponents and looking like a true Pac-12 contender.

“True” through four weeks is not the same as being true through eight or 10 weeks.

Washington, as good as it looked in its first four games, had not played a game outside of Seattle. The Huskies finally had to make a road trip against a talented opponent. We hadn’t seen UW get a stiff test.

The Huskies got more than they bargained for in Pasadena.

UCLA raced past Washington on Friday. The final score was 40-32, but UCLA led 40-16 entering the fourth quarter. The Bruins were up 26-10 at halftime and easily could have led by more. Two UCLA possessions ended in the Washington red zone without points due to fourth-down failures.

UCLA’s lines easily outclassed Washington’s lines. UCLA quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson feasted on a young U-Dub secondary. It was a comprehensive win for UCLA, which looked like the team all its advocates thought it could be this year.

The obvious question: Was this game more the product of UCLA’s excellence or U-Dub’s flaws? That question will probably be answered next week, when UCLA hosts Utah in a massive game, easily the biggest of the Chip Kelly era in Westwood. If UCLA wants to cross the threshold and become the favorite to make the Pac-12 Championship Game, it must beat the Utes, period.

We will see if the Bruins are up to the task.

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Nebraska fires former Oregon OC Scott Frost after horrendous start

Former Oregon offensive coordinator Scott Frost was fired by Nebraska after an embarring home loss to Georgia Southern.

Sometimes you can’t come home again.

After an embarrassing loss to Georgia Southern at home, Nebraska informed head coach and former Oregon Duck offensive coordinator Scott Frost that his services will no longer be required.

This was to be expected after the Cornhuskers dropped the opener to Northwestern after some questionable coaching decisions and then the Cornhuskers had to surge in the second half to defeat North Dakota.

But the straw that broke the camel’s back was a 45-42 loss to the Eagles last night in Lincoln. Frost’s five-year tenure ended with a 16-31 mark.

His career has been a rollercoaster to say the least. Frost was a contender to take the Oregon job after Chip Kelly left, but the Ducks turned to Mark Helfrich instead. Frost, who was the receivers coach, stayed on as offensive coordinator for two seasons before landing the Central Florida job where he flourished.

In his second season with the Knights, Frost led that team to a perfect 13-0 year which ended with a Peach Bowl win over Auburn. UCF finished No. 6 in the polls.

Moving on to his alma mater Nebraska seemed like the next logical step, but for one reason or another, it never clicked. Frost has proven is a brilliant offensive mind and will surely find another job as an offensive coordinator or a head coach job at a smaller institution.

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Know the Opponent: Georgia’s offense doesn’t want to be overlooked anymore

Georgia’s defense tends to garner the headlines, but Stetson Bennett and the Bulldog’s offense has something to prove in 2022.

Under Chip Kelly, the Oregon offense garnered most of the headlines with its innovations. That offense sent the Ducks to a couple of national title games. But Oregon had a pretty good defense too.

For the current Georgia Bulldogs, it’s just the opposite.

The offense in Athens was severely overshadowed by a historically great defense last season. They did average nearly 40 points a game. But with most of that defensive talent moving on to the NFL, it’s time for quarterback Stetson Bennett and the rest of the UGA offense to receive a share of the attention it so richly deserves.

Bennett, a senior, might have also moved on to the NFL after last season. He certainly has the talent and he already has a championship ring. Now as an upperclassman, Bennett hopes his familiarity with the offense and overall experience will guide him through the 2022 season.

“Just the reps with the guys, getting to know when they’re going to break, what they’re thinking on specific plays and on specific routes (has helped),” he said on SEC media day back in July.

While there are some minor areas for improvement, it’s hard to imagine Bennett can get markedly better after the numbers he put up last season. He completed 64.5 percent of his passes, 29 touchdowns, and just seven interceptions.

Bennett’s favorite target turned out to be a true freshman in tight end Brock Bowers. The 6-foot-4, 230-pounder from Napa, Calif. caught 56 passes, 13 of those receptions went for touchdowns. Bowers was a First-Team All-American and Georgia is hoping for more of the same.

They did lose running backs Zamir White and James Cook off of last year’s squad, but Kenny McIntosh (eight career touchdowns) and Kendell Milton (three career touchdowns) look to be UGA’s next 1-2 punch in the backfield.

UGA’s offensive line lost a few starters as well, but center Sedrick Van Pran (6-4, 310) is back and he’s one of the best centers in the country. Brodrick Jones (6-4, 310) and Tate Ratledge (6-6, 315) will help anchor a young line.

The one weakness the Bulldogs may have on offense could be the receivers. Their leading receiver in terms of yards, Jermaine Burton, transferred to Alabama of all places. But they will have Ladd McConkey (31 receptions, 447 yards and five scores) and Adonai Mitchell (29 receptions, 426 yards, four touchdowns) back from last season.

The fact of the matter is, when you have a team as talented as Georgia, even an unheralded offense will stand above much of the nation when it comes to production and ability. With blue-chip recruits flowing into Athens each and every year, you can rest assured — or lose sleep at night as an Oregon fan — knowing that the Bulldogs’ offense is going to present a major test for the Ducks. The Georgia defense tends to get a majority of the headlines, but after winning a ring on the back of a historic unit, Bennett and the offense have something to prove this season.

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Oregon’s dominant win over USC named one of most influential games of the 2000s

Oregon’s dominant victory over USC arguably changed the course of the Pac-12 and set Chip Kelly up to change college football.

Do you ever look into Oregon history and try to pinpoint when the new era really took shape?

Sure, there were the Joey Harrington years, and Dennis Dixon certainly put the Ducks on the map in the late 2000s, but ever after those two quarterbacks found success in Eugene, Oregon was still short of being called a national brand. They had Nike and the uniforms, but it was still a time before the Oregon O became a status symbol; NBA players weren’t wearing Ducks on their shoes yet.

So when did that happen? When did the Ducks catapult themselves into the zeitgeist to the point where they became your favorite team’s favorite team?

According to The Athletic, it might have taken place in 2009 against the USC Trojans in what has been named one of the most influential games of the 2000s.

USC owned the Pac-10 from Pete Carroll’s second season until this game, when first-year head coach Chip Kelly’s Ducks effectively ended the Trojans’ reign by whipping USC, 47-20, on Halloween at Autzen Stadium.

Each of the next three entries has highlighted a game that pushed a bigger chunk of teams to re-evaluate how they play offense. Kelly had taken advantage of a clock rule change prior to the 2008 season to create an offense that could move at warp speed. This win proved that Kelly’s blur offense could dominate even against a roster stacked with future NFL players. Both teams entered with 6-1 records, and the winner likely would win the conference.

It was close for most of the first half, but after the Trojans tied the score at 17 with 2:40 remaining in the second quarter, the Ducks blazed 80 yards in 88 seconds to retake the lead. USC would only muster one more field goal, and its exhausted defense would allow scores on all five of Oregon’s second-half possessions.

A little more than two months later, Carroll was headed to the Seattle Seahawks. Oregon would play for the national title the following season.

Kelly changed the game of college football with his blur offense, and the Ducks never looked back. I’m sure you can look at a number of different points in history that Oregon’s success can be traced to, but that Halloween night in 2009 is as fitting as any.

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Ranking Oregon’s most important non-conference games in recent Duck football history

The Ducks aren’t afraid to mix it up with the best of the best in early-season games. We ranked the most important non-conference games in Oregon history.

In a matter of weeks, the Oregon Ducks are going to be traveling down to Atlanta to take on the defending champion Georgia Bulldogs. It’s a game that holds more meaning this year than it would in other years, simply because Oregon’s new head coach Dan Lanning is less than a year removed from helping lead the Bulldogs to the promised land as their defensive coordinator.

If you take the drama away from the game, though, it is still a juicy matchup that will catch the attention of the college football world. That’s something that the Ducks have been able to do a number of times over the past few decades — schedule a big non-conference game at the start of the season to give the team a monster test before Pac-12 play begins.

We’ve seen Oregon on neutral sites in Dallas, in the belly of the beast in Columbus, or welcoming some top-ranked teams to Autzen Stadium. All of these matchups have been important, either getting the team off to a hot start on the season or derailing their potential championship hopes early on.

We decided to rank the best ones.

For this exercise, we looked at all of the non-conference games Oregon has played since 2000 — bowl games excluded, obviously — and put them in order of the ones where the result, either a win or a loss, meant the most for the team. Here’s what we came up with: