Chip Kelly, the National Stage and Why Oregon Still Has a Long Way to Go.

Five days after the giant flop by Oregon in the Cowboy Classic, the Oregon Ducks sit in a familiar position. They've lost to another top-five SEC team, and are also 0-1 for the second time in the Chip Kelly era. As bad as opening weekend was for Oregon, it's in the past now. There's still an entire season left, the team still has loads of talent and Oregon is still the odds on favorite to win the Pac-12.

But Oregon isn't just 0-1. Oregon is 0-1 with a coach that showed he learned nothing from the BCS National Championship game last season. Against Auburn, Chip Kelly managed to keep Oregon in the game with trick plays, fake punts and gutsy play calls that tied the game up late.

However, the option reads with Lamichael James and Darron Thomas, which had worked all season and propelled Oregon into the BCS title game, stopped working against a tough Auburn defense.

Now, it's hard to blame Chip Kelly for this happening once. He had no idea a top flight SEC defense would have the speed and discipline to slow down his offense's patented option-reads. But that was eight months ago. This past weekend Chip Kelly stubbornly attempted to run the exact same option-reads against an LSU defense that is arguably better than Auburn's was last year.

The result? Not pretty. Lamichael James had just 54 yards on 18 carries and Oregon was held to under 100 yards on the ground. Darron Thomas was forced to pass 54 times, with a depleted receiver corps and against perhaps the best secondary in the nation.

Who's to blame for this mess? I'm going to say Chip Kelly who, don't get me wrong, is still an amazing head coach. He's 22-5 at Oregon. However, there's beginning to be a clear difference between Oregon and, well, Oregon. 

Oregon in the Pac-12 is a dominant force that marches up and down the field scoring at will, posting a sparkling 17-1 conference record the past two years. 

But, Oregon in big games on a national stage is an entirely different story. Oregon fans may not like it, but when teams are given an extended period of time to prepare for Chip Kelly's offense, they shut it down. 

In 2009, Oregon averaged 36.1 points per game. But, when Boise State and Ohio State had extra time to prepare for Oregon, they gave up 8 points and 17 points respectively. 

In 2010, Oregon averaged 46.8 points per game. Auburn, which had a month to prepare, held Oregon to 19 points. 

This year, LSU had all offseason to prepare, and Oregon lost yet again on a national stage.

In addition to these teams having extra time to prepare, these games were also all huge games away from home which were being broadcast nationally. You can say Oregon can't focus when it travels into big time venues and gets caught up in all the hype. You can say that Oregon is too predictable, and that when given more time to prepare, teams can shut down the Oregon offense.

Whatever the reason, Oregon simply isn't there yet. Chip Kelly has led the Ducks to new heights, and they could still be headed back to the Rose Bowl. But, until he figures out how to perform on a national stage, Oregon will have to settle for good, but not great.