In a season filled with high-octane off-the-field commotion and more national coverage than the University of Oregon has gotten in several years, rookie head coach Chip Kelly has shown an unbending strength and confidence at the helm of the No. 7 Oregon Duck football team.
He has handled everything from senior running back LeGarrette Blount’s suspension following his postgame actions on Sept. 3 after the Ducks 19-8 loss to Boise State, and was even seen as “Puddles the Duck” when ESPN’s College GameDay — the premier college football pregame show in America — came to Eugene on Halloween. But come Jan. 1, Kelly will have a whole different animal to tackle when his team travels to Pasadena Calif., to play in “The Granddaddy of Them All” against head coach Jim Tressel and the No. 8 Ohio State Buckeyes for the 2010 Rose Bowl.
Last Thursday the Ducks punched their own ticket to Pasadena and their first Pac-10 title since 2001 when they defeated in-state rival Oregon State 37-33 in front of a record-setting Autzen Stadium crowd of 59,597 fans. Led by Pacific-10 Conference Freshman of the Year LaMichael James, who rushed for 166 yards and three touchdowns on the night, Oregon ran wild against the top-ranked run defense in the Pac-10 as they tallied 288 yards on the ground before the game was over.
And as the clock finally dwindled down to zero, the Autzen faithful enthusiastically made their way onto the field as the celebration began. Every player had one or several red roses in their hands as they made their way to the locker room tunnel, including junior quarterback Jeremiah Masoli. He was greeted with a two-armed bear hug from first-year offensive coordinator Mark Helfrich as the two finally got their chance to celebrate. Gatorade-covered Kelly, only seconds behind Masoli, was greeted with that same hug and the three made their way to the Moshofsky Center for post-game interviews.
The tandem of Kelly, Helfrich and Masoli has been the rock at the forefront of one of the nations most explosive offensive units this year. Oregon has surpassed the 30-point mark on 10 of its 12 games in 2009, and will face a huge test against the Ohio State defense in the eight overall meeting of the two programs. OSU leads the all-time series 7-0.
But for the Ducks and their fans alike, this year’s trip to the Rose Bowl represents something far bigger than the game of football. It shows the college football world that the Pac-10 is no longer a conference that will annually be represented by the University of Southern California year after year. Oregon — as well as Stanford and Arizona — proved that the Trojans are actually human, and, despite reloading their roster with future NFL draft pick each offseason, they can be beaten.
Throughout all the ups and downs Kelly has taken a levelheaded approach to each task he’s come up against. His response of “We’ll go,” to the media after being presented with the official Rose Bowl invitation following the Civil War victory basically summed up what he as a coach is all about. Constantly taking things as they come and never questioning his players or staff’s ability to rise to the occasion.
For the first time since the 1994 season, the Oregon Ducks will be on the national pedestal for all of America to see. They will have a chance to make their recovery from where they were as a team after the season-opener finally come full circle, and show the remarkable progress the program has made over the past several years. The atmosphere around Pasadena leading up to the game will not be one that the team soon forgets. In addition to the traditional Rose Parade, ESPN’s College GameDay pregame show — starring Chris Fowler, Kirk Herbstreit, Lee Corso and Desmond Howard — will be on sight for the New Years matchup. This will mark the fifth time in three years that Oregon has played following the early morning show, which includes the Ducks 47-20 throttling win over USC this season.
There’s no denying that it would be a storybook ending for Kelly and the Ducks to come out victorious in the Rose Bowl for the first time since 1917. But when they enter every game expecting to come out on top, anything less than a win would be wasted. Kelly has repeatedly said that the team isn’t satisfied with just making the postseason — they want to go out on top. But like the old cliché goes, in order to be the best you’ve got to beat the best, and that’s exactly what Oregon will have to do to end the season on its version of a positive note.Follow ESPN College GameDay at: gamedayfootball
 
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