Even though it doesn’t look like it now, Chip Kelly and UCLA are going to be fine once the dust settles.
When Chip Kelly was hired by UCLA and returned to college football, it was a homecoming. He experimented with the hallucinogenic temptation of a career in the NFL but Chip belongs in college. It’s easy to look at Saturday’s blowout loss to Oklahoma and Kelly’s 0-2 record and write him off.
That would be a foolish thing to do.
Don’t read too far into the outcome of the Bruins shellacking against Oklahoma on Saturday. Read between the lines and decode the secret message of a bright future.
Dorian Thompson-Robinson is going to be legit
There’s a lot to love about true freshman quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson. He went up against an aggressive Oklahoma defense and threw for almost 300 yards without turning the ball over once. Absorb that while considering the fact that UCLA’s offensive line isn’t anything to write home about. Thompson-Robinson might not be a household name now, but having Kelly there to develop the talent he’s already flashed is an exciting prospect for Bruins fans.
Keep An Eye On The Bruins Defense
Defensively UCLA showed a lot of promise. For most of the first half, a defensive front consisting mostly of freshman managed to hold an explosive Sooners offense to 21-points. The unit’s pass rush evetually ran out of gas but Oklahoma’s rushing attack wasn’t much of a factor. Part of that was Rodney Anderson leaving with a leg injury early on in the contest, but nearly 40 percent of the Sooners 179 rushing yards came from Murray.
Look At The Big Picture
The light of UCLA’s hope is being fueled by small moments that will burn brighter and brighter as the season continues. Take, for instance, a fourth-and-one stand that the Bruins defense had coming out of halftime. It didn’t end up changing the momentum of the game, but it’s a minor victory that serves as a confidence boost for a young team. Thompson-Robinson threw the first touchdown of his career late in the fourth quarter, completing a rather impressive drive that featured a couple of pretty great throws.
It’s easy to look at the final score or point to Chip Kelly’s 0-2 record, but that’s not the big picture. UCLA did a lot right on Saturday, despite the final score. The present is going to be a bumpy ride, but the future is very bright for Chip Kelly’s squad.