The Bruins lost Saturday to San Diego State for the first time in program history. The crowd for the game was the smallest since 1994, and the school even went as far as to offer complimentary tickets to this Saturday’s game against Oklahoma to season ticket holders who attended the defeat.
UCLA giving away 4 tickets for Oklahoma game to season ticket holders who endured last weekend’s loss to San Diego State pic.twitter.com/Xt23MwqKsD
— Larry Brown (@LBSports) September 10, 2019
Kelly on Monday defended his slow start, saying he was trying to grow a program and being reactionary would only prove detrimental.
Chip Kelly on his team: “You don’t tear up the root of the tree to see if it’s growing, you just keep watering it, you keep growing it and doing what you’re supposed to do and that’s what happens over the course of time.”
— Ben Bolch (@latbbolch) September 9, 2019
Chip Kelly: “I think we all live in a society where we want a quick fix and an instant pill, but it doesn’t exist … so you just can’t say right now, ‘Hey, let’s run an entirely new defense and an entirely new offense.’ You do that and you’d probably lose by 1,000.”
— Ben Bolch (@latbbolch) September 9, 2019
Nobody was expecting Kelly to have UCLA playing like his old Oregon Ducks teams this quickly. What they were probably hoping to see was some tangible progress, and an 0-2 start after going 3-9 last season isn’t it. His decision-making has been criticized, and he isn’t showing signs of building a team like he had at Oregon any time soon. It may be that his best years are behind him and the rest of the sport has had time to catch up to the tactics that once made him great.
