BLUE CHIP: Oregon coach Chip Kelly may be in line for some intriguing NFL openings next season, writes The Post’s Lenn Robbins. (Getty Images)
When Andrew Luck opted to return for his senior season at Stanford, Oregon coach Chip Kelly got sick to his stomach. When Matt Barkley followed suit at USC, Kelly retched.
This is only fair because since Kelly brought his offense to Oregon, he has been making coaches in the Pac-12 reach for the Dramamine.
The Ducks (10-0 overall, 7-0 in the Pac-12) host Stanford tonight in a game that will determine the conference’s North Division title and keep Oregon on track for a chance to play in the BCS National Championship game. The Ducks are favored by 21 and there’s no reason to believe they won’t cover by halftime.
Oregon is the first team in NCAA history to open the season by scoring 40 or more points in its first 10 games. The Ducks also are the first to score 40 or more in 13 straight games, and are averaging 54.8 points per game. Stanford is averaging 29.1 points.
No wonder that 21-point line seems more than reasonable.
“I think the entire conference has an Oregon problem,” said Stanford coach David Shaw.
Actually, the entire country has an Oregon problem — and a fascination with what Kelly has done. Some opposing coaches want Kelly to pack his bag of quick tricks in a football bag and haul butt out of town to the NFL.
Other coaches, however, want Kelly to make the transition from college to the NFL out of professional curiosity: They want to see if Kelly’s offense can succeed at the highest level. The answer could alter the course of the NFL.
“If he can do at the next level what he’s done in college, it could impact football on all levels,’’ said one successful college coach. “The old guard laughs that it won’t work, but how many times have we heard that? The West Coast offense wasn’t supposed to work. The Wildcat wasn’t supposed to work.
“Nothing is supposed to work until it works. The game will always change.’’
Kelly is going to be an NFL coach one day, probably soon after the Ducks season ends. Last year he came thisclose to taking the Buccaneers job that ultimately went to former Rutgers coach Greg Schiano.
There figures to be some very attractive NFL jobs open after this season. If the Cowboys don’t make the playoffs you know Jerry Jones wouldn’t hesitate to make the sexy hire. Andy Reid remains the head coach in Philadelphia even though Eagles fans fired him multiple times. If the Jets really cave …
The questions about Kelly succeeding at the next level aren’t the usual ones. Successful college coaches such as Steve Spurrier and Nick Saban flopped because they couldn’t get pros to drink their Kool-Aid or they couldn’t have the kind of control they crave.
Kelly is a guy’s guy. He should fit fine with pros. And working at Oregon means having to work with Nike and bossman Phil Knight, a great supporter of the university. Knight sometimes suggest plays, although the joke is he doesn’t get them in quickly enough.
The question Kelly will face is whether his system can work in the pros. In the NFL teams have 40 seconds to run a play or 25 if the clock has been stopped for a procedural issue, such as a penalty enforcement. Colleges have the same rules so Kelly doesn’t have to adjust.
The question is, will he make NFL coaches nauseous, or will they have him reaching for the stomach meds?
* Three coaches in tough spots have done an impressive job of getting their teams to play hard. Urban Meyer is 10-0 at Ohio State. Larry Fedora is 7-4 at North Carolina. And Bill O’Brien is 6-4 at Penn State. None is eligible for postseason play.