Stanford’s Shaw says he, Kelly can relate
Chip Kelly became a college head coach in 2009, two years before David Shaw did. Both had been offensive coordinators. Many would say that’s where the similarities end.
Kelly took Oregon to major bowl games in each of his four seasons in Eugene, including the national championship game in the 2010 season. His high-tempo spread offense unleashed speedsters like LaMichael James and quarterback Marcus Mariota on the football world before he left for the NFL.
Kelly led his team to a division title in his first year in the NFL, with Philadelphia in 2013, but lasted just three years with the Eagles and one brutal season with the 49ers.
Shaw, meanwhile, has stuck with Stanford for eight mostly successful years, winning
three Pac-12 titles. His offensive philosophy would seem to be the opposite of Kelly’s with a concentration on a bruising ground game, time-consuming drives and play-action passes.
But when Shaw’s Cardinal and Kelly’s UCLA Bruins meet at noon Saturday at the Rose Bowl, Shaw said it will be a matchup of head coaches who are a lot more alike in their philosophies than people think.
“We believe in running the ball, being physical up front,” Shaw said of he and Kelly. “We believe in using the running game to set up the passing game. We believe in taking advantage of what you’re doing to make big plays, being aggressive on the defensive side.” He added the two coaches “don’t take ourselves all that seriously.”
On the other hand, Kelly’s idea of an ideal touchdown “drive” in his Oregon heyday lasted about two minutes or less. Shaw’s would plod on for about seven minutes. His teams regularly are among the national leaders in time of possession, although this year’s team is just 64th entering Friday.
Asked about that difference, Shaw seemed to distort his own history by saying, “It’s one of the things we agree on: Time of possession is not important. It’s what you do with the time that you have.”
But he quickly noted that he indeed treasures possession. “To me, the more time we take takes possessions away from the other team. If we get a touchdown on top of that, now we get the best of both worlds. Whereas (in) Chip’s world, it’s let’s score, get the ball back and score again, put the pressure on the defense that way. We both believe in putting pressure on the other side; we may do it in different ways.”
When UCLA hired Kelly a year ago, Shaw said he was “ecstatic.” He said, “I think this conference has missed Chip, his personality, his offense. I was glad to have him back. … He’s got a chance to build something special down there.”
The Bruins, who lost their first five games but have gone 3-3 since, often have their quarterbacks, graduate transfer Wilton Speight and freshman Dorian Thompson-Robinson, take the snap under center rather than in the shotgun Kelly preferred at Oregon.
“Chip’s smart enough to change his scheme based on who he has in order to put those guys in position to be successful,” Shaw said.
Shaw has changed his own scheme radically this year, leaning on the passing game as never before as a result of the failures of the ground game.
In sharp contrast to Stanford’s smash-mouth tradition, the Cardinal have had just one 100yard rushing performance — Bryce Love’s 136 against USC. Meanwhile, six opposing backs have surpassed 100 yards against Stanford.
The Cardinal, looking for their 11th straight win in the series with UCLA, have leading receiver JJ ArcegaWhiteside back after he missed the Oregon State game Nov. 10 because of an ankle injury.
Quarterback K.J. Costello is delighted. “He’s got an unbelievable presence,” he said. “There’s an insane amount of confidence there. Every opportunity with him, I’m grateful for.”