A lot of things come to mind when you think of Chip Kelly and his Oregon Ducks teams. His innovative hurry-up-no-huddle offense, the intense practices with blaring music, his dry, sarcastic wit with reporters; all were big parts of what he brought to the table during his 4 years running the show in Eugene. However, what set him apart more than anything was his ability to get his players to buy in to his way of doing things.
His “Win the Day” mantra was more than just a nifty slogan for the team to rally around; it was a way of life. It was a way that Kelly could quickly and concisely get his point across: do the best you can at what you are doing right this moment, and if you do that, the rest will take care of itself.
Watching Kelly’s teams recite this mantra over and over, things started to feel almost cult-like around Autzen (but, in a good way!) While I’ll stop short of saying that his players deified him, the level of devotion they showed to the team, the system and their coach was far beyond that of a typical player-coach relationship.
It was this unwavering belief in their coach and their system that made the Ducks such a force to be reckoned with. While there have been countless numbers of coaches with innovative approaches to the game and engaging personalities, it all means nothing if you can’t get the 100 or so 18-22 year old college kids that make up a Division 1 football team all on the same page, busting their butts day in and day out towards a common goal.
Sure, Chip Kelly lost games while he was coaching the Ducks. However, what separated the Kelly coached Ducks from other great teams was that they brought their A game every single week. There were no let-down games. No baffling losses to 4 touchdown underdogs. The concept of a “trap game” was completely taken out of the lexicon.
Every player on their roster truly bought into Kelly’s “Win the Day” mantra, and the “nameless, faceless opponent” method of preparation. Never looking ahead on the schedule. Never underestimating an opponent. If Chip Kelly told them to run through a brick wall, no one would hesitate because they knew that if he asked them to do it, it could be done.
When Kelly eventually bolted for the NFL, it was understandable that the University of Oregon athletic department wanted to do everything they could to keep the culture of success that he built within the football program. So, with 4 years of experience as understudy, and Chip’s personal recommendation, the hiring of Mark Helfrich as the next head football coach was a no brainer.
Helfrich kept the innovative offense, the wild practices, the obsessive attention to detail, and he even had his own take on the Win the Day mantra, “You vs. Yesterday.” It may have been a new face and a new phrase, but the foundation and message was the exact same.
While Duck fans worried about Helfrich’s inexperience as a head coach, they, too, had faith in the system for which he was taking the reins. Even if Helfrich wasn’t the revolutionary thinker that Kelly was, he just may be the steady hand that could take Kelly’s ideas and keep them going for years to come.
Of course, these kinds of transitions rarely go as smoothly as planned, particularly when expectations are so astronomically high that a Rose Bowl berth is looked at as a consolation prize. That’s not to say these expectations were entirely reasonable, but they were there nonetheless.
So while the loss to Stanford took care of those expectations by all but knocking the Ducks out of the national championship picture, it was the subsequent loss to an unranked and thoroughly mediocre Arizona squad that caused alarms to go off around Eugene. Throw in the comments from some prominent players such as De’Anthony Thomas and Josh Huff that made many a Duck fan question if Helfrich was the guy for the job.
For the first time in five years, the Ducks lost to what was objectively an inferior opponent. On top of that, players openly talked about how the Rose Bowl was “not a big deal,” saying things like, “I don’t want to play in a Rose Bowl unless I’m playing for a national championship,” abandoning that singular focus that Chip Kelly made a tenant of his philosophy. You could almost see the player’s faith in the system and, ultimately, the coaches, start to dissipate right before your eyes.
Even more than the disappointing record, these were the things that worried Ducks fans. Even if Helfrich was up to the task of orchestrating the Ducks X’s and O’s, was he up to the considerable task of getting those 115 players to buy into what he was preaching?
That was the big question coming into this year. While the offensive numbers were better than ever in 2013, there was something missing. An edge. An attention to detail. That lethal precision that had been ever present, even in the losses, since Kelly took over.
It was missing during their dismal first three quarters versus Stanford last year. It was non-existent in the loss to Arizona. And it was clearly lacking in a way too close for comfort come from behind win against Oregon State. Even in a convincing Alamo Bowl victory over Texas, something was just … off.
Heading in to the first major test of this season, a home date with the defending Rose Bowl champion Michigan State Spartans, it wasn’t just a huge game for the Ducks playoff hopes, it was a huge game for Helfrich’s future as the Ducks head man. It was the first chance to see if Helfrich was able to learn from his mistakes and turn last year’s disappointing end to the season around, or if he simply wasn’t cut out for the job.
As the team went into halftime trailing 24-18, it looked like the “same old, same old” Helfrich Ducks. Talented, explosive, impressive at times, yet, ultimately, inconsistent and lacking that edge that dominant, national title contenders typically display. Physically strong, but mentally suspect. Prone to prolonged stretches of poor play, including yielding 17 straight points in the last 6:40 of the first half to surrender an early 11 point lead.
Had this been a Chip Kelly team, the atmosphere around Autzen Stadium at halftime would have been a lot more upbeat. There was a sense of inevitability to every Ducks win. No matter how much you were down at the half, it was just a matter of time before the Ducks got things going and their speed, skill, and conditioning took over. We had seen it time and again.
But this wasn’t a Chip Kelly team. Just walking around the concourse of Autzen Stadium on Saturday, there was a distinct sense of defeat permeating the atmosphere. The 6 point deficit might have well been 26, based on the mood of the crowd. That air of invincibility was gone.
Or was it? The Ducks came out in the 2nd half playing with a purpose. A sense of urgency. You could see that edge start to come back. The offensive line was finally creating some running room against one of the top defenses in the country. The defensive front was finally able to get that push into the backfield that had been missing all first half. Suddenly, each ball carrier was greeted by a flock of Ducks, furiously dragging them to the ground. The offense no longer looked afraid of contact, as they fought for extra yards, willed its way to first downs, and finally started to match the Spartan’s physicality.
For seemingly the first time in over a year, the Ducks weren’t simply running past an undermanned opponent; they were asserting their dominance over someone considered their equal. That aura of confidence that was missing had returned, seemingly out of nowhere.
This was a seminal moment for this group of young Ducks, the kind of moment that can have a galvanizing effect on the entire team. It was about proving to the players that the process still worked. All the hard work put in during the offseason and during practice was paying off in a big way when it mattered. That if you worked hard, did your part and didn’t worry about anything else, that the coaches would lead you to victory.
The Ducks 46-27 victory over Michigan State wasn’t simply a big win for the Ducks 2014 college football playoff hopes, it was a huge win for the program and, specifically, for Mark Helfrich. It was the kind of victory that the coaches can point to their players and say, “See! If you listen to us, trust us, believe in us, this is what can happen. We can beat ANYONE!”
It’s the kind of game that can get 115 18-22 year old kids to buy in to you as their fearless leader. The guy that can take you where you want to go. The guy who you’d run through a wall for, because you know that no matter how much you’re down at the half, he’s going to lead you to victory.
While this is only the first of what is sure to be many tests for the 2014 Oregon Ducks, it just might be the most important, because it could be the one that gets the entire team to buy in to Mark Helfrich. And as we already know, when you can get top end talent to fully buy in to a coach and his philosophy, special things can happen. It remains to be seen if that applies to this incarnation of the Ducks, but based on what they showed in the 2nd half this past Saturday, they just might have what it takes.
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