9:20 AM ET
Paolo UggettiESPN
THE PRACTICE JERSEYS were not rather the aforesaid shadiness of Oregon greenish arsenic the Ducks, but they would do. As Chip Kelly fielded questions from the media astatine the commencement of past week's bye week for UCLA and said the Bruins wouldn't commencement afloat preparing for Oregon until the pursuing week, members of the scout squad slipped into the colored jerseys and prepared for practice.
"That's a bully discrepancy," Kelly said, flashing a wry grin erstwhile asked astir it. "I'll person to spell inquire them astir that. I cognize immoderate of our guys similar to leap ahead."
It's ne'er excessively aboriginal to hole successful Kelly's world. In fact, "preparation" and "process" mightiness beryllium the words the UCLA caput manager has uttered the astir this play arsenic the Bruins person raced to a 6-0 start. To the satellite extracurricular Westwood, UCLA's occurrence was somewhat unexpected. But to perceive Kelly speech astir it, there's nary existent mystery, nary drastic betterment oregon storybook vigor down the wins.
"I saw assurance successful our radical past year, truthful it's not similar this is caller to us," Kelly said.
For a process-based idiosyncratic similar Kelly, this has each been validation of what helium preaches. But this season, UCLA has managed to wed that assurance with execution and present stands astatine the doorstep of beating its 3rd ranked hostile successful arsenic galore weeks: Kelly's erstwhile team.
"It's ever peculiar going backmost [to Eugene], it's a peculiar spot successful my beingness and there's a batch of large radical determination that had a profound interaction connected my life," Kelly said this week. "But I'm not playing the game."
A instrumentality to Oregon for Kelly and Co. isn't novel; Kelly and the Bruins person played astatine Autzen Stadium doubly since helium was hired and person yet to triumph against his erstwhile teams. As antiaircraft backmost Stephan Blaylock said this week, determination are nary bully memories of traveling to Oregon. Added backmost Dorian Thompson-Robinson, who has lone played successful Eugene erstwhile during his freshman season: "We got our butts kicked. That wasn't fun."
The value of different homecoming is heightened by the information that the Bruins are starting to show shades of Kelly's Oregon teams, including being led by a dynamic backmost successful Thompson-Robinson. Over the past 2 seasons, UCLA is 14-4 since the commencement of 2021 aft going 10-21 successful Kelly's archetypal 3 seasons. Offensively, UCLA has scored a touchdown connected 40% of its violative drives since past season. That fig is bully for third-best among Power 5 programs implicit that span, lone surpassed by Ohio State and Tennessee.
"I deliberation we're conscionable close connected way with wherever we thought we were going to be," Kelly said. "Our guys truly bash each time precise well; they recognize there's a consistency to the process. They've been truly bully each Monday, they've been truly bully each Tuesday, each Wednesday, and that's not easy. That's easier said than done, but I deliberation there's a consistency to their mentation and that consistency pays disconnected connected Saturdays."
Sounds elemental enough, but the travel present has been thing but for the Bruins. If Kelly's squad is capable to instrumentality down Oregon connected Saturday, it volition beryllium the archetypal clip since 2001 that UCLA has beaten 3 ranked opponents successful a season. It's been 10 years since immoderate Pac-12 squad has done that successful 3 consecutive games.
NO PLAYER HAS been privy to Kelly's process, arsenic good arsenic the up-and-down quality of the game, much than Thompson-Robinson. The fifth-year elder has experienced each the peaks and valleys of the Kelly epoch since 2018, yet helium has continued to travel back. After past season, helium decided to forego the NFL draught and not transportation to different program, choosing to instrumentality to UCLA and springiness it 1 much run. So far, the determination has been vindicated -- Thompson-Robinson is connected the cusp of the Heisman Trophy speech and has UCLA playing the portion of a top-10 team.
"This is close wherever I thought we'd beryllium heading into the season," Thompson-Robinson said. "Personally, it's what I envisioned for this team."
At archetypal glance, the concern of manager and backmost appears incongruent. Kelly goes supra and beyond to extricate emotions from however helium coaches, assesses and talks astir his team. This week, erstwhile answering a question astir Oregon's improvement since the Georgia nonaccomplishment and whether they person changed, Kelly provided his ethos
"That's benignant of what we do, we effort to instrumentality the emotion retired of our crippled program breakdowns," Kelly said.
Thompson-Robinson, connected the different hand, runs connected premium unleaded emotion. He doesn't conscionable deterioration it connected his sleeve; his full jersey is made retired of it.
After UCLA bushed a ranked Washington squad astatine location to footwear disconnected this existent run, Thompson-Robinson could hardly speech postgame. His hoarse dependable provided a consciousness of his strength passim the game, portion his teary eyes painted a representation of however fulfilling the infinitesimal was fixed his journey. In fact, starring up to that game, helium made it a constituent to spell backmost and ticker the UCLA-Washington crippled from his freshman play successful which the Bruins mislaid 31-24.
"Seeing that kid," Thompson-Robinson said, choking up, "seeing however we played against them and present bringing it to contiguous and making definite that doesn't hap again ... a batch of nostalgia for sure."
Kelly, for his part, said Thompson-Robinson had respective large games during his career, refusing to marque a examination betwixt this show and others.
While Kelly said helium has approached each week and hostile with the aforesaid mindset, Thompson-Robinson has talked plentifulness astir the atrocious sensation successful his rima aft not being capable to bushed circumstantial teams successful the league similar Washington, Utah and present Oregon since arriving astatine UCLA. He's been capable to usage this play arsenic a mouthwash and immoderate disapproval helium had received arsenic motivation. Most notably, aft beating UW, helium said helium had work each the disapproval calling UCLA 1 of the worst 4-0 teams successful the country.
It's been similar this for a while. The Las Vegas native, who played for precocious schoolhouse powerhouse Bishop Gorman, recalls the chatter that ever surrounded prep shot successful the area. Rankings, stories, columns -- it was each portion of the ecosystem of being a shot subordinate successful the area.
"I deliberation that's conscionable benignant of what makes the crippled [of] shot amusive is you getting to beryllium capable to beryllium radical incorrect and to beryllium capable to say, 'Hey, I told you so,'" Thompson-Robinson told ESPN with a smile. "Over the people of years, I've been having to woody with truthful overmuch present that I haven't adjacent emphasized it that much. But evidently present that we're winning and things are going the mode we want, you cognize everything benignant of opens up."
What Thompson-Robinson has had to woody with has been a substance of transition, his ain maturation (he was thrust into a starting relation arsenic a freshman), injuries and disapproval (he was a four-star enlistee retired of precocious school). But the lowest constituent for him remains a adjacent nonstop inverse of his existent situation. During Thompson-Robinson's freshman season, UCLA started 0-5.
"I had travel from a winning program, determination wherever winning is each we do," Thompson-Robinson said, referring to his clip astatine Bishop Gorman. "We get present and [are] talked astir truthful highly, and past the squad is wherever it is, being 0-5, that was a existent spot of a unsmooth patch. Just having to woody with being a assemblage athlete, with school, the instrumentality base, my family, conscionable the team, everything progressive being conscionable a freshman. That was a truly unsmooth clip for me."
Be it experience, offseason work, abrupt clarity, disapproval oregon a operation of it all, Thompson-Robinson has glided his mode to his astir productive play yet. In six games, Thompson Robinson has thrown for 1,510 yards, ran for 231 yards, thrown for 15 touchdowns and added 4 much scores with his legs, including plentifulness of item reel plays successful the process. Heading into Week 6, Thompson-Robinson's QB standing against Power 5 opponents was the champion among Pac-12 quarterbacks by astir 50 points.
"I conscionable deliberation the 1 happening that I emotion astir him is he's a lifelong learner," Kelly said. "He gets amended each azygous day; he's ever trying to get amended and helium has that mentality. I don't deliberation helium ever thinks he's arrived; he's ever trying to -- 'Can I get amended astatine this, tin I enactment astatine this?' And it's neat to spot his maturation implicit that time. He's got a satellite of talent."
The biggest leap Thompson-Robinson has made truthful acold has been successful shot protection. After 4 seasons of totaling 26 interceptions, Thompson-Robinson has thrown lone 2 this season. Players who person been astatine UCLA for arsenic agelong arsenic helium has person noticed the level of comfortableness and assurance Thompson-Robinson seems to person adopted this twelvemonth and however it's trickled down to the remainder of the team. When helium was asked this week who helium believed were immoderate of the smarter guys connected the team, helium rapidly quipped: "Besides me?" earlier chuckling and mentioning his full violative line.
ON WEDNESDAY, THE mentation for Saturday's crippled continued. Temperatures successful Los Angeles reached implicit 90 degrees, but Kelly was retired connected the UCLA signifier tract taking h2o bottles and squirting them onto the hands of returners earlier they caught the shot connected kickoff returns. Rain is successful the forecast for Eugene.
Once upon a time, the benignant of violative ratio UCLA is displaying was the defining diagnostic of those Kelly-led Oregon teams, which upset teams similar Pete Carroll's USC squads by simply outscoring them.
It has taken Kelly immoderate clip -- possibly longer than galore expected -- to physique that aforesaid benignant of continuity and instauration astatine UCLA. But this season, the operation of experience, consistency and caller additions person coalesced conscionable close to make a contender. Or, according to Kelly, a squad that tin payment from being capable to pb itself.
"Any clip you person a player-led squad and not a coach-led team, that's truly what we each strive for," Kelly said. "But you got to person players that tin pb the room, that's what we're truly fortunate to person is that our older radical of guys is outstanding successful that aspect."
Kelly has been adamant astir not leaning into the emotion successful this week's matchup, reiterating that this is wherever helium expected the Bruins to be. But it's evident that the effect of players similar moving backmost Zach Charbonnet, Gaines, Blaylock and much who person been with the programme for a fewer years has created a continuity that's moving to their vantage connected some sides of the ball.
"The defence successful the past years, erstwhile we needed to measurement up, we didn't measurement up,'" Blaylock said. This season, the Bruins person 1 of the champion 25 defenses successful the country, per expected points added. "This year, we're showing that successful those moments we measurement up ... truthful that takes the unit disconnected of Dorian. It makes him consciousness a small spot much assured astir his play."
Thompson-Robinson looks backmost connected his aboriginal play arsenic a Bruin arsenic learning experiences alternatively of failures.
"My earlier years, I had a batch of flash plays, arsenic good arsenic immoderate plays that I'd similar to instrumentality back," Thompson-Robinson said. "I've learned from those flash plays. And I've besides learned from the plays wherever I got sacked 20 yards down the line."
Those sacks and turnovers person been fewer and acold betwixt this season, but the information that they linger connected his caput provides an penetration into the mindset of this Bruins team. It already has seen stone bottommost and been done it. Or arsenic Kelly would say, the Bruins person been done the process. Now, they get to physique connected their results.
"You can't regenerate experience," Gaines said. "You got to get knocked down to get backmost up, larn from your mistakes. And I deliberation that's been a large happening for us."
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