Oregon Ducks Quick-Hits: Chip Kelly and Shabazz Muhammad

Probably the strongest report of the fall on Chip Kelly leaving to the NFL, a source told Dennis Dodd that the Oregon Ducks beloved coach will almost certainly (“9 chances in 10”) leave the school if Oregon wins the National Championship this year. That’s a very real possibility, and the Ducks are likely the favorite to play against Alabama in the NC thus far.

Former head coach and current AD Mike Bellotti said, “It’s just inevitable that he will eventually be in the NFL. Chip is one of the ultimate competitors and he sees that. It actually surprised me he changed his mind [with the Bucs] last year. Whether they get to the national championship and whether they win the national championship, I don’t know. To think he’ll stay there when ultimately his idea of top jobs is to get to the Super Bowl, it won’t happen, unfortunately, at the college level.”

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This offseason, Chip Kelly turned down a deal to become the next head coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and the Glazers ended up pulling Greg Schiano from the college ranks. If Schiano can coach in the NFL, then Kelly can as well. There is no “gimmicky offense”, and most of the knocks on Kelly deal with his spread offense. Listen, a coach as great as CK isn’t going to run a college-style spread offense in the NFL, nor will he run things that don’t work. He is a better college coach than an NFL coach- at least that’s what it seems like- but he should be able to succeed in the pros as well.

The UCLA Bruins received the news that prized incoming freshman Shabazz Muhammad is ineligible after receiving travel and lodging paid for by a family friend on unofficial visits to Duke and UNC. Ben Howland called the ruling “very disappointing”, while Flea of the Chili Peppers was seen wearing a shirt that said “Free Shabazz Muhammad”.

The Bruins won their opener against Indiana State 86-59, and No. 13 UCLA received a 10-10-4 line from fellow prized frosh Kyle Anderson. UCLA has suffered the biggest blow of any team this season thus far, but they are still clearly the second best team in the Pac-12. This team is loaded and only the Arizona Wildcats are better as far as things go in the conference.

The Ducks play UCLA just once this year in January.

You can follow Joe Soriano on Twitter @SorianoJoe.