Alexander: Bruins may have saved Chip Kelly’s job, for now

LOS ANGELES – We tin presume that UCLA’s shot Bruins saved Chip Kelly’s occupation Saturday, astatine slightest for a while.

That whitethorn person been the astir consequential happening to travel retired of Saturday’s 62-33 triumph implicit USC, which acceptable a scoring grounds for the Bruins successful this rivalry and showed a nationalist Fox assemblage … well, I’m inactive not affirmative what it showed beyond a rout. It wasn’t an attraction guaranteed to triumph implicit nationwide skeptics of the Pac-12, which goes backmost to what we’ve said before: If the L.A. schools are nationally relevant, the conference’s illustration from seashore to seashore is that overmuch higher.

If not? You’re seeing it successful existent time.

USC has already retrenched. The Trojans are astir definite to miss a bowl, with a 4-6 grounds and an assignment adjacent week against 9-2 BYU. They’d person to expanse BYU and Cal to suffice to get the indispensable six victories, but this was a mislaid play the infinitesimal diversion manager Mike Bohn chopped ties with Clay Helton aft 2 games and enactment the programme successful the hands of interim manager Donte Williams. A caller commencement is coming, and it’s necessary.

UCLA became vessel eligible a week ago, ran its grounds to 7-4 Saturday and could get its eighth triumph against Cal adjacent Saturday astatine the Rose Bowl. And they surely enactment up immoderate video crippled numbers against the Trojans – 609 yards full offense, 260 connected the ground, 349 passing yards and 4 touchdown passes for Dorian Thompson-Robinson and a 247.8 passer standing adjacent with 2 interceptions, and 115 receiving yards, a 100-yard kickoff instrumentality and 3 scores for Kazmeir Allen.

Yet for each of the bragging rights that travel with dominating their rival, this could person been fool’s gold.

For now, astatine least, Kelly has avoided the destiny of his 4 astir caller predecessors astatine UCLA: Lose the USC crippled and get fired. But the Bruins person inactive not beaten a squad with a winning grounds this season, and portion Kelly afterward pointed to past week’s comeback from a 20-7 shortage to a 44-20 triumph implicit Colorado arsenic a imaginable turning point, the world is that the Buffs are 4-7.

And let’s look it: This is simply a atrocious USC team, 1 that has seemed dispirited (and occasionally disinterested) astatine assorted points of this season. The profiles of these rivals this year, oregon astatine slightest the public’s cognition toward them, were evident successful the Coliseum Saturday: The announced tickets distributed fig was 68,152, but our rather unofficial guesstimate was possibly 48,000 to 50,000 really successful the house, with tons of reddish seats successful betwixt successful an unofficial spot of societal distancing. By the end, the lone radical inactive successful the stands were predominantly those wearing bluish and gold.

The representation of the Coliseum scoreboard astatine the extremity of the crippled volition apt beryllium connected a fewer Christmas cards sent by UCLA alumni implicit the adjacent month. But the information remains that Kelly is 17-25 successful his 4 seasons, that crowds astatine the Rose Bowl for UCLA location games person been good beneath what was expected erstwhile Kelly was hired successful November of 2017 to regenerate Jim Mora Jr., and that the buzz for this variation of the crosstown rivalry crippled was considerably beneath the mean modular erstwhile these teams play.

Timing whitethorn beryllium Kelly’s astir important asset. He enters the past twelvemonth of his five-year, $23.3 cardinal declaration successful 2022, and done January 15 it volition outgo $9 cardinal to bargain him out. To hold until aft the buyout deadline would beryllium tantamount to programme termination since the desirable names successful the coaching marketplace – the ones who USC, among others, volition beryllium looking astatine – volition beryllium snapped up by past due to the fact that of the necessities of the recruiting calendar.

Following Saturday’s game, Kelly characteristically deflected immoderate idiosyncratic restitution successful the triumph – “You ticker however hard these players enactment and what they enactment successful during the week and what it means for them … and past to spot it travel to fruition connected Saturday is conscionable an awesome deal,” helium said – and said that the communicative is for others to decide.

“We don’t constitute the story, nor bash we attraction astir it,” helium said. “I anticipation we proceed to turn and germinate arsenic a group, truthful we don’t person clip close present to beryllium backmost and wax nostalgic astir what this means successful the expansive strategy of things. We’re not arsenic originative arsenic you guys are. You guys are a batch amended astatine the prose portion of it. So you guys person astatine it and pen thing truly bully to work and I’ll work it to these guys aft the season’s over.”

Did helium consciousness similar this triumph saved his job, helium was asked.

“I’m not successful complaint of that,” helium said. “Sorry.”

The feline successful complaint is diversion manager Martin Jarmond, and whitethorn we punctual you that helium didn’t prosecute Kelly. And portion the caput coach’s banal is trending upward astatine the moment, his brag has to deliberation of the future, of each those seats to capable successful the Rose Bowl and each those recruitable athletes who volition beryllium paying adjacent attraction to what UCLA does.

Now that the Bruins person gotten past this week and their oldest, fiercest rival, for Chip Kelly’s involvement they’d amended not suffer to Cal adjacent Saturday night. Should that happen, Jarmond whitethorn find that $9 cardinal haircut indispensable aft all.

jalexander@scng.com

@Jim_Alexander connected Twitter