Chip Kelly: How He Can Lead the Oregon Ducks to Rose Bowl Victory

Chip Kelly, Nacho Chip, the Mad Visor or even Big Balls Kelly—no matter what he's called, affectionate or otherwise, everyone knows he is the architect of the Oregon Ducks' resurgence to national prominence over the past five years.

Each of his teams have led the Pac-10, and now the Pac-12, in scoring. His powerful blur offense racks up points and stymies defensive lines with speed and more than a little confusion. And Chip Kelly's win-loss ratio is telling: 33-6.

However, of those six losses, four came in games where the opponent had a month or more of preparation. Two of those losses were BCS games: the Rose Bowl in 2009 and the BCS Championship Game in 2010. Each time Chip Kelly's vaunted offense was held to less than half its usual point output.

In each of those losses, Oregon was corralled into playing the other team's game of straightforward, bruising football. The tricky speed of the Ducks was grounded early. But Chip Kelly can, and must, set the tempo in the up-coming battle with the Wisconsin Badgers if he wants to walk away with his first BCS win on January 2nd.

How could he do this?

First, Oregon needs to set Wisconsin's defense back on its heels. To do this, Chip needs to own up to a couple of his nicknames above. He needs to take early, and generally insane, risks. The November 12th game against fourth-ranked Stanford illustrates this "Mad Visor" attitude.

The Wisconsin defense is larger, faster and stronger than the majority of defenses in the Pac-12, but very similar to Stanford's. If Chip constructs plays like two-point conversions and going for touchdowns on a 4th and 7 at the 41-yard line, then the Ducks' athleticism will take care of the rest. 

Second, the Oregon defense needs to ravage the usually superb play of Wisconsin's star quarterback, Russel Wilson. To do this, Oregon needs to take advantage of the Badgers' slower edge defense to tackle Wilson. While much of this task will fall on Duck Defensive Coordinator Nick Aliotti, Chip Kelly needs to push the pace and gamble with reaching the quarterback as he has all year.

Oregon sacked Stanford's Andrew Luck three times and pressured the Heisman-favorite quarterback throughout the game. A similar feat will have to occur if Oregon hopes to out-pace Wisconsin's balanced offense.

In the past few games—and most notably against USC—Chip Kelly has not pushed the Ducks' pace or constructed any unbalancing offensive tricks. This allowed opponents to get in early points and bolstered their confidence.

If the Oregon Ducks are to succeed this postseason, their stars LaMichael James, De'Anthony Thomas, and Darron Thomas will all have to be at the top of their game. But everyone knows Chip Kelly will be the one to get them there, through tricks and pacing.