Chip Kelly’s potential ouster at UCLA could lead to major opportunity for Dan Lanning’s Ducks
A new report on Tuesday afternoon indicated the UCLA Bruins could be close to firing head coach Chip Kelly, potentially as soon as after this week’s game against the rival USC Trojans.
If you’ve been paying attention to college football this season, that shouldn’t come as a major surprise. The Bruins have had a rough 2023 after a solid start. They go into Week 12 6-4 overall and 3-4 in conference play. With losses to Utah, Oregon State, Arizona and an embarrassing loss to Arizona State this past week, it’s clear UCLA has subverted expectations this year.
For the Oregon Ducks, that could become a benefit, particularly when it comes to the players who transfer out of the program with a change in the coaching staff.
The most notable of those players is quarterback Dante Moore, a former five-star who was committed to the Ducks before offensive coordinator Kenny Dillingham left Eugene to take over as the head coach of the Arizona State Sun Devils. Moore was the No. 4 overall player in the class of 2023 and the No. 3 overall quarterback in the class. So far this season, he has played in eight games, completing 91 of his 175 passing attempts for 1,344 yards, 10 TDs and 7 INTs.
Whether you want to argue he was thrown into the fire too quickly as a true freshman or he is not living up to expectations is a conversation we can have. The more pertinent topic is whether Moore would choose to stick around in Los Angeles without the coaching staff that recruited him.
Should he choose to enter the transfer portal, you have to imagine the former five-star would give a serious look to Oregon, a team that has arguably the best offense in the nation under offensive coordinator Will Stein. Moore also has a previous relationship with head coach Dan Lanning.
After this year, Bo Nix will be headed off to the NFL. While former five-star recruit Ty Thompson is next in line to take over as the starting QB in 2024, the Ducks are expected to bring in a transfer portal player to compete for the job.
Could that transfer be Moore? We certainly will have to wait and see, but the report of Kelly potentially being out at UCLA makes it seem like more of a possibility.
