Mike Belotti’s coaching career was going fairly smoothly at Oregon in 2006, but the offense was growing a bit stagnant. The Ducks were welcoming one of the more mobile quarterbacks that contained an absolute gun for an arm in Dennis Dixon.
In order to take advantage of his unique skillset, Bellotti hired a no-name offensive coordinator from New Hampshire and unknowingly changed the history of not only Duck football history, but college football history.
That coach of course is Chip Kelly.
His unique style of offense propelled Oregon to a 9-4 record and the Ducks were No. 2 in the nation before Dixon got hurt. But the style of offense was there and it took a few years for opposing defenses to catch up.
All of this made ESPN name the 2007 team as the No. 15 most influential team ($) in college football history. According to writer Bill Connelly, the Ducks gave the entire sport a jolt of energy.
There might not have been a more symbolic moment for the spread offense revolution than watching Oregon gain 624 yards and score 39 points, including a Dixon touchdown on a fake Statue of Liberty play on Michigan and its old-school defense early that season. — Bill Connelly
There have been many other influential Oregon teams, such as the Marcus Mariota teams or the Bo Nix teams, but there’s no debate that Chip Kelly, Dennis Dixon, and Jonathan Stewart changed the game.
Story originally appeared on Ducks Wire
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/oregon-ducks-named-one-most-185343941.html
Author : Ducks Wire
Publish date : 2024-06-15 18:53:43
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