Mike Bellotti is known to be a calm, patient coach with the media, measured in his tone and carefully thinking about what he says. He is also well known to break open opposing team’s football helmets with an axe during halftime speeches to inspire his team. Either way, he’s the most successful football coach in Oregon history with a record of 115-55 since he took over as head coach in 1995. Bellotti, in fact, is the third-winningest coach in Pacific-10 Conference history. Now that he has announced Chip Kelly will become his the head coach-in-waiting at UO, he said on Friday he wants to make sure when he leaves the program, the cupboards are not bare of talent. If Oregon can win this game, it will prove the Ducks are as potent as ever.
Mike Gundy is known to be a 41-year-old man who isn’t afraid to tell the media that fact. He is most remembered for his outburst on the media during a post-game press conference last season. This season, however, he has brought the Cowboys to only their sixth nine-win season in school history, for which he was rewarded with a seven-year contract extension last week worth $2.2 million per year until 2015.
This season is the first time the team has been ranked in the top 10 since 1988 – when Gundy was the quarterback. At 27-22 overall and 9-3 on the season, there’s little doubt Gundy wouldn’t scream over a 10-win season.