Chip and UCLA, Year 2

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StevensTechU
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Chip and UCLA, Year 2

Post by StevensTechU »

I find myself wondering how Chip Kelly will do in year 2 at UCLA. Given it's Chip, I want them to do well, but as a Pac-12 foe who we recruit against, I'd prefer they crash and burn. Either way, my rooting will have no effect, so lets get into predictions.

Breaking in a freshman quarterback, UCLA went 3-9 overall and 3-6 in Pac-12 play in 2018. At the end of the year, the team seemed to be figuring it out, losing to ASU 31-28, beating USC 34-27, and losing another tight one to Stanford 49-42. The improvement was very noticeable.

And then the offseason came, and the transfer portal was not kind to the Bruins. Based on an article from March, UCLA had 70 scholarship players (15 below the limit) on the roster. The departures weren't random - they came largely from highly recruited players and impact players. Former 5* Jaelan Phillips went to Miami. Four pass-catchers who were rated 4* recruits left. Three scholarship OL left. Former 5* Mique Juarez left (though he was out due to concussions most of the year, an issue Utah seemingly doesn't care about). This wasn't comparable to Demetri Burch, Billy Gibson, and Braxton Burmeister. This was a talent exodus. To replace them, UCLA recruited the 6th ranked class in the Pac-12, and #40 ranked class in the country. The one positive is you could say that the remaining players are "Chip Kelly's guys" and have bought in. The team returns QB Dorian Thompson-Robinson and RB Josh Kelly to anchor the offense, and LB Josh Woods and CB Darnay Holmes to anchor the defense.

The schedule, like last year, has a lot of programs who will be around UCLA's ability level, with just a few exceptions. Oklahoma is almost certainly a loss, as is a game at WSU. Those aside, the out-of-conference schedule has games at Cincinnati and at home versus SDSU, where 0-2 and 2-0 seem maybe equally likely. The Pac-12 South being what it is, UCLA will have a chance in almost any game where they 'put it all together.' Given the status of their talent level, though, there won't be much room for mistakes.

I think UCLA is going to run into issues with having some really poor position groups. QB and RB are good. OL and WR could be good. Defensively, the team only has sparse talent spread across the remaining positions (such as Darnay). Overall, I'll take them to win 5 games in year 2, while knowing that an injury or two could really be devastating.
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Re: Chip and UCLA, Year 2

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StevensTechU wrote:I find myself wondering how Chip Kelly will do in year 2 at UCLA. Given it's Chip, I want them to do well, but as a Pac-12 foe who we recruit against, I'd prefer they crash and burn. Either way, my rooting will have no effect, so lets get into predictions.

Breaking in a freshman quarterback, UCLA went 3-9 overall and 3-6 in Pac-12 play in 2018. At the end of the year, the team seemed to be figuring it out, losing to ASU 31-28, beating USC 34-27, and losing another tight one to Stanford 49-42. The improvement was very noticeable.

And then the offseason came, and the transfer portal was not kind to the Bruins. Based on an article from March, UCLA had 70 scholarship players (15 below the limit) on the roster. The departures weren't random - they came largely from highly recruited players and impact players. Former 5* Jaelan Phillips went to Miami. Four pass-catchers who were rated 4* recruits left. Three scholarship OL left. Former 5* Mique Juarez left (though he was out due to concussions most of the year, an issue Utah seemingly doesn't care about). This wasn't comparable to Demetri Burch, Billy Gibson, and Braxton Burmeister. This was a talent exodus. To replace them, UCLA recruited the 6th ranked class in the Pac-12, and #40 ranked class in the country. The one positive is you could say that the remaining players are "Chip Kelly's guys" and have bought in. The team returns QB Dorian Thompson-Robinson and RB Josh Kelly to anchor the offense, and LB Josh Woods and CB Darnay Holmes to anchor the defense.

The schedule, like last year, has a lot of programs who will be around UCLA's ability level, with just a few exceptions. Oklahoma is almost certainly a loss, as is a game at WSU. Those aside, the out-of-conference schedule has games at Cincinnati and at home versus SDSU, where 0-2 and 2-0 seem maybe equally likely. The Pac-12 South being what it is, UCLA will have a chance in almost any game where they 'put it all together.' Given the status of their talent level, though, there won't be much room for mistakes.

I think UCLA is going to run into issues with having some really poor position groups. QB and RB are good. OL and WR could be good. Defensively, the team only has sparse talent spread across the remaining positions (such as Darnay). Overall, I'll take them to win 5 games in year 2, while knowing that an injury or two could really be devastating.
I was gonna' predict 6 wins and a lesser Bowl game. He has a TON of talent right there in his back yard. He's got to get some solid recruiters to help him reel in some of that talent.

If he can't succeed there, I can see his reputation taking a hit. He obviously doesn't like recruiting. He needs to suck up his pride and start looking at what other programs are doing who are successfully recruiting. I think he should consistently bring in Top-20 classes at UCLA.

Just my opnion.
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Re: Chip and UCLA, Year 2

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I still think it’s far too difficult to judge what chip can do at UCLA off his first two years. They are so thin at UCLA and only have a handful of really good players. That, coupled with a really hard schedule with no guaranteed wins makes it really difficult to assess them
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Re: Chip and UCLA, Year 2

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lukeyrid13 wrote:I still think it’s far too difficult to judge what chip can do at UCLA off his first two years. They are so thin at UCLA and only have a handful of really good players. That, coupled with a really hard schedule with no guaranteed wins makes it really difficult to assess them
This. I think we should see some flashes of what they could do though. I could see a big win or two.

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Re: Chip and UCLA, Year 2

Post by buckmarkduck »

Chip has gotten lazy in recruiting. He had a big lead for Daniel's, and blew it. Now he's starting for ASU, but would have been a perfect fit for Chips O. The difference between Chip.and Dabo or Urban, is recruiting. Unfortunately I could see Chip having a tough time winning more than 10 games anyway at UCLA, because he hates recruiting so much.
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Re: Chip and UCLA, Year 2

Post by OregonFan4Life »

If Arroyo struggles again this year then I hope UCLA sucks so they’ll fire Chip and Cristobal can bring him in as offensive coordinator.
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Re: Chip and UCLA, Year 2

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It'll be something if it turns out that Chip is known for his four years at Oregon and absolutely nothing else.
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Re: Chip and UCLA, Year 2

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Greenblood wrote:It'll be something if it turns out that Chip is known for his four years at Oregon and absolutely nothing else.
Yes, Chip found a brilliant strategy for an offensive plan that took defenses a few years to figure out but now he seems to be just another coach. It will be very hard for him to pull another rabbit out of his ha.......visor.
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Re: Chip and UCLA, Year 2

Post by wepto »

DTR just isn't accurate enough to consistently execute an offense. It's hard to watch UCLA play. Unless he improves or they find somebody better, UCLA will struggle. Their D isn't any better.

I think UCLA falls to 12th in the Pac. I don't see any reason for them to be optimistic. Will probably lose to Cincinnati by 20.

Chip needs to go work for Saban as analyst for a couple years to rehab his image. It's been one ugly mess after another.

Frost and Helfrich have had some success in the meantime.

It's time to move on from that era.
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Re: Chip and UCLA, Year 2

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wepto wrote:DTR just isn't accurate enough to consistently execute an offense. It's hard to watch UCLA play. Unless he improves or they find somebody better, UCLA will struggle. Their D isn't any better.

I think UCLA falls to 12th in the Pac. I don't see any reason for them to be optimistic. Will probably lose to Cincinnati by 20.

Chip needs to go work for Saban as analyst for a couple years to rehab his image. It's been one ugly mess after another.

Frost and Helfrich have had some success in the meantime.

It's time to move on from that era.

So you think they'll be worse in year 2 than they were in the final stretch of year 1?
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Re: Chip and UCLA, Year 2

Post by wepto »

StevensTechU wrote:
wepto wrote:DTR just isn't accurate enough to consistently execute an offense. It's hard to watch UCLA play. Unless he improves or they find somebody better, UCLA will struggle. Their D isn't any better.

I think UCLA falls to 12th in the Pac. I don't see any reason for them to be optimistic. Will probably lose to Cincinnati by 20.

Chip needs to go work for Saban as analyst for a couple years to rehab his image. It's been one ugly mess after another.

Frost and Helfrich have had some success in the meantime.

It's time to move on from that era.

So you think they'll be worse in year 2 than they were in the final stretch of year 1?
Yes. They can't execute and look horrible (during spring, might have improved since--but I doubt it). Low 70s in terms of players on scholarship. Another brutal schedule, combined with lazy recruiting is not going to improve their future classes any. Weird pro style offense with no identity.

There isn't a cure for a lack of production from the QB spot. Missing bowl practices last year didn't help their development. Speight beat USC. DTR's best game was against Cal--and he only threw 15 passes. They split time in the UA win, but DTR only threw 8 passes, but Speight threw 27.

I had to look up Chip's last winning season--2014, in Philly. 11-32, combined college and nfl, since then. It's just a bad look for a guy whose job it is to sell the program.

If they make it to 6-6, he can sell it as a turn around. If they go 5-7 or worse, he's a dead man walking. I'd guess they make it to 2-3 wins. Season starts soon. I'm tired of speculating.
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Re: Chip and UCLA, Year 2

Post by Duck07 »

It's vital for him to show offensive success this year whether or not it correlates with Wins and Losses.
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Re: Chip and UCLA, Year 2

Post by StevensTechU »

wepto wrote:
Yes. They can't execute and look horrible (during spring, might have improved since--but I doubt it). Low 70s in terms of players on scholarship. Another brutal schedule, combined with lazy recruiting is not going to improve their future classes any. Weird pro style offense with no identity.

There isn't a cure for a lack of production from the QB spot. Missing bowl practices last year didn't help their development. Speight beat USC. DTR's best game was against Cal--and he only threw 15 passes. They split time in the UA win, but DTR only threw 8 passes, but Speight threw 27.

I had to look up Chip's last winning season--2014, in Philly. 11-32, combined college and nfl, since then. It's just a bad look for a guy whose job it is to sell the program.

If they make it to 6-6, he can sell it as a turn around. If they go 5-7 or worse, he's a dead man walking. I'd guess they make it to 2-3 wins. Season starts soon. I'm tired of speculating.
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Re: Chip and UCLA, Year 2

Post by GoDucksTroll »

UCLA looked so bad last night. DTR looked like he has no business being a college QB. 8-26 for 153 yards, 2 TD 2 INT and 2 fumbles.

UCLA can't be this awful, they seemed to be getting on track late last year - took Washington to the wire and beat USC. But it really looks like Chip either doesn't have it anymore or he's mailing it in.
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Re: Chip and UCLA, Year 2

Post by maxduck »

That’s one sentiment emerging from the westside of Los Angeles in the wake of an LA Times report into the concerning number of departures from the UCLA football program since the much ballyhooed arrival of head coach Chip Kelly. In what one outlet that covers the team described as a purge, some 63 players (!!) have left the team since November 2017 — a truly eye-opening number that is outside of the norm for most regime changes.

https://collegefootballtalk.nbcsports.c ... -westwood/
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