Ducks thrive under Kelly from lessons learned in past

For those of us who were there that night in Tucson two years ago, the immediate emotion was pity.

Pity that those plucky Ducks had once again been shot down. Pity that Mike Bellotti, an everyman who deserved better, was going to miss out on a championship. Pity that a Heisman Trophy campaign ended in a crumpled heap.

As the OC in 2007, Chip Kelly had a lot to do with Dennis Dixon's success. (US Presswire)

You see, Oregon's for-the-ages win over USC on Saturday really began Nov. 16, 2007. If you think things are great for the Ducks now, try to remember how good they were on that night heading into a game against Arizona. Quarterback Dennis Dixon was soaring toward a Heisman Trophy. The Ducks were 8-1, No. 2 in the BCS and possibly headed for the Rose Bowl.

Then Dixon scrambled left in the first quarter and went down with no one around him. An already injured knee blew out. End of season for the Dixon and the Ducks.

Chip Kelly, in his first year as Oregon's offensive coordinator, was the guy who had made Dixon. Bellotti had hired Kelly on reputation, word of mouth, not a personal relationship. The guy was good, but he was good at the I-AA level. Turns out the only thing quicker than Kelly's offense was his mouth. The fast-talking OC from New Hampshire turned Oregon's offense into something to be feared. Under Kelly, Dixon was all but guaranteed a trip to New York.

Those kinds of rides come along rarely. Sometimes never. While Kelly's star has steadily risen, I wondered what he was thinking on Sept. 3 of this year. What seemed like the bottom for Oregon football the night of The Punch was merely another transition.

Oregon picked up its shattered football psyche in 2007 and finished 9-4. The Ducks have done the same over the past two months. The changing of the Pac-10 guard after Oregon's victory over USC was Story No. 1 in Eugene on Saturday. Now it becomes LeGarrette Blount.

In the middle of the best of times for the Ducks, it's obvious Oregon's once-disgraced tailback is going to be back this week for the Stanford game. Pac-10 commissioner Larry Scott made a point of making himself available to every outlet on campus Saturday. You don't talk loftily of evaluating "behavioral" and "academic" ladders without knowing what you're going to do. Scott was to meet with Oregon officials Sunday. Expect Blount to be reinstated early this week.

Trying to compare The Punch with Dixon's disintegration is a study in frustration. None of us like to go back and relive our darkest moments. But there is something about this Kelly guy. He has been in the middle of both meltdowns. This makes twice now that he has been part of a football resurrection from the absolute pits.

"Kelly is a big part of it, he keeps everybody loose," Dixon told the Portland Oregonian while on the sidelines Saturday. "Honestly, he is an offensive guru."

Maybe in 2007. Now he is in charge of an entire program. His head coaching career is eight games old, and there have been enough pitfalls to make Kelly a grizzled veteran. Just like in Arizona, you had to have been there that Thursday night when Blount punched a Boise State player, his own teammate and almost sparked a riot by going after mouthy Boise fans.

When he addressed reporters, Kelly had that Thousand Yard Stare in his eyes like, "What just happened?" With the world crashing around him, Kelly began to rebuild Oregon football right there. Whether it was his idea or not, Blount came out of the locker room and spoke to reporters and apologized.

Had this been Ohio State, Penn State or most any other major program, we still wouldn't have heard from the offender. Kelly, though, believed in transparency. The next day Blount was suspended for the season. Oregon began to heal.

Healing is one thing. Going to the Rose Bowl is another. This is almost exactly where Oregon stood two years ago. The difference is that back then, it lost a player, then lost a game. This time, it won one of the biggest games in its history and is adding a huge asset.

The hurdles now seem psychological, not athletic. In Blount's absence, 5-foot-9, 180-pound LaMichael James has become the go-to back. If Blount returns, does James become the backup again?

Or does Kelly just fit everything together like the 500-piece puzzle he has been dealing with since Day 1? It's hard to tell who is more amazed after Saturday, the Ducks or Trojans? Pete Carroll seemed stupefied after his team gave up its second-most yards ever, and its most points in a non-overtime game in 18 years.

"We got run out of here," Carroll said after a trap game that turned into a bottomless pit for USC.

We bid a fond farewell, then, to USC's dominance of the Pac-10. It's over until further notice. On the first day of November, only Oregon and Arizona control their own destiny for the Rose Bowl.

It's a different world we're waking up to on the Left Coast. While the SEC wrung its hands about its officials, Kelly wore the mascot Duck head in Saturday's predawn hours, surprising fans when he ripped it off. While the stiff-lipped Big Ten was trying to figure out Iowa and Terrelle Pryor, Kelly was apologizing to a sideline reporter for the bum rush off the field that kept her from finding him for her postgame interview.

The discussion now is beyond whether Blount deserves a second chance. The season has gone so well without him, you wonder if the Ducks would be better with him? Kelly's history and common sense say yes. A thunder-and-lightning combination of Blount and James would be lethal.

That's Coach Crisis' next challenge. Instead of dodging The Punch, the coach has absorbed it. USC suffered a body blow.

Texas closing in; Oregon must jump Boise

This is not so much to remind you that Texas has all but punched its ticket to the BCS Championship Game. Gary Parrish did a fine job of that Saturday night. This is to put the nation on notice that Texas is No. 1 for the first time this season. This week. In my Power Poll. That's three different teams in three weeks (Alabama, followed by Florida.) This is also to remind you that it doesn't matter. While it's nice that the 'Horns are getting No. 1 love, this thing is going to work itself out.

Alabama and Florida are on track to meet in the SEC Championship Game. May the best superpower win. The schedule says Texas has to play Baylor, Central Florida, Kansas and Texas A&M before catching a breather in the Big 12 title game. Ho hum.

If you want to disagree with Texas, that's fine, but there are more important things to worry about on Nov. 1.

• Wonder if Houston's Case Keenum can win the Heisman.
• Decide if an entire unit (Iowa's defense) can take home some kind of trophy.
• Feel sorry, for Boise State which is going to be jumped by TCU in the end, and should be jumped by Oregon this week.

No arguments, Boise. This is about who is playing the best right now. Sure, you beat the Ducks on opening night. That team, though, was just a reasonable facsimile of the one that torched USC on Saturday. Yes, Oregon has one loss and Boise is undefeated. Doesn't matter. Oregon has played a stronger schedule and is simply better at this point.