Chip Kelly is moving toward the hot seat at UCLA already

A season-opening loss to Cincinnati isn’t that bad in a certain light, but Chip Kelly is not that far away from hot seat talk in his second season at UCLA.

With a mediocre talent base Jim Mora Jr. left behind, Chip Kelly’s 3-9 first season at UCLA in 2018 can be excused. Even a second straight season opening loss to Cincinnati, an 11-2 team last season, on Thursday night doesn’t look that bad.

The Bruins were missing two key offensive players on Thursday night, as running back Joshua Kelley and wide receiver Theo Howard both missed the tame. Quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson had a particularly rough outing, going 8-for-25 for 156 yards with two interceptions and two fumbles. UCLA managed 218 yards of offense against the Bearcats

Sack yardage counts against team rushing  yardage in college football, so Thompson-Robinson 10 attempts for -20 yards has to be noted as the Bruins averaged just 1.7 yards per carry against Cincinnati (36 carries for 82 yards). Wide receiver Demetric Felton operated as the lead back in Kelley’s place, with 23 carries for 71 yards and two catches for 91 yards (including a 75-yard touchdown) but he and running back Martell Irby combined for 82 yards on 26 carries (3.2 yards per carry) on Thursday night.

During his run as offensive coordinator and then head coach at Oregon, Kelly became a noted innovator with a high-tempo system that drew athletes to Eugene. The significant backing of Nike and Phil Knight also helped, with cool uniforms and fantastic facilities to aid recruiting.

After a 46-7 record over four seasons as head coach at Oregon, Kelly took his system and scheme to the NFL. It worked to the tune of a division title with the Philadelphia Eagles in 2013 and a second 10-win season in 2014, but Kelly was fired with one game to go in the 2015 campaign. A one-year stint as head coach of the San Francisco 49ers followed in 2016, with a 2-14 record.

In 2018, Kelly’s first full recruiting cycle, UCLA had the 19th-ranked class in the country (according to 247 Sports) with one top-150 prospect. This year, UCLA dropped to the 40th-ranked recruiting class in the country with one player in the top 400 nationally.

In September, the Bruins will play San Diego State and Oklahoma at home before traveling to Washington State and Arizona in their first two games of Pac-12 play. So an 0-3 start feels certain, with an 0-4 or 0-5 start firmly in play. After Oregon State on Oct. 5, a road trip to Stanford is followed by a home game against Arizona State. So a 1-7 mark entering November would not be surprising, with Colorado, Utah, USC and Cal on the slate to end the regular season.

To no surprise, it would be very expensive for UCLA to part ways with Kelly two seasons into his five-year, $23.3 million contract. The Los Angeles Daily News initially reported Kelly would be due a $9 million flat reciprocal buyout if he’s fired without cause within the first four years of his deal.

With the $12 million buyout they had to pay Mora, that would be a lot of money for UCLA to pay two guys not to coach if Kelly were to be fired. So Kelly may get a mulligan for his second season, as he tries to rebuild, but the heat on his seat is going to turn up rather quickly if things go the way it seems they will.