UCLA Football: At what pace will Chip Kelly play?
Despite speculation about the pace of the play, the UCLA football team played slower than many expected. Is this the direction Chip Kelly is heading or just him easing the Bruins into his system?
Chip Kelly is known for having his teams play fast. He has been making the UCLA football team practice fast. But when it came time to put it together, it seemed as if the Bruins were fast… asleep.
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Ok, that is a stretch as the Bruins had a lot to adjust for (new coach, system, players, etc.), but things were a bit sluggish. If Kelly is to employ an up-tempo style of football, then it looks as though he is easing into it. Something I personally thought he wouldn’t do, but maybe this is what he needs for his team right now.
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On Saturday, the majority of UCLA football supporters were expecting to see Oregon 2.0. Fast. Relentless. Fast. The defense was, but the offense left much to be desired, at least from an expectation standpoint.
It was believed that Kelly would be running quickly between each play, just like at Oregon. During spring practice, I recorded the Bruins at 20 seconds between each snap. During fall camp, Thuc Nhi Nguyen of the L.A. Daily News had them at 15 seconds.
That is not exactly what we saw at the Rose Bowl on Saturday. When I went back and looked at the replay of the game, I recorded the majority of snaps at 25-30 seconds. That is clearly not what Kelly has done in the past.
There might have been some issues with switching quarterbacks and youth experience, but it just did not represent what we have been hearing. After almost every offensive play, both Wilton Speight and Dorian Thompson-Robinson looked to the sideline for instruction or talked with the team. There was no urgency to hurry up.
In Kelly’s last season at Oregon in 2012, the Ducks ran 82.3 plays per game. Against Cincinnati, the Bruins only ran 68 plays. That is a significant drop for a team that is expected to play fast.
The only reason I can see the need for this is that of the youth. Underclassmen dominate this roster and it showed, so if it takes a few weeks to go faster, then so be it. If that is still the plan.
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There is no word on the injury to Wilton Speight who started the Cincinnati game. DTR came on in relief and if Speight cannot go, it looks like the true freshman will get the nod. But who knows? Maybe Kelly goes with the experienced Devon Modster. Either way, the Bruins need to make a few signifivant tweaks because they might have a hard time against Oklahoma. if the Bruins want to make an impact, picking up the pace would be a reliable weapon for them.