UCLA Football Preview: Jonathan Smith's Success at OSU Mirrors Chip Kelly's Path at UCLA
There are quite a few parallels between OSU's head coach and UCLA's.
Jonathan Smith is now in his sixth season at the helm for Oregon State. Despite having been there that long, having finished last season with a 10-3 record and having started this season 5-1, Smith is still one game under .500 as the head coach of the Beavers. As an aside, UCLA head coach Chip Kelly is just one game over .500 as the coach of the Bruins. So, an Oregon State win on Saturday would give both of the coaches a .500 record at their current school.
It also took both Smith and Kelly until their fourth season at OSU and UCLA, respectively, before each was able to post a winning record. And, even that doesn’t end the similarities between them.
Each coach lost their first conference road game this season. In the case of Smith, his Beavers lost a close game to Washington State while Kelly’s Bruins lost a close one to Utah. Smith’s Beavers bounced back in their next game by beating the Utes at home while Kelly’s Bruins defeated the Cougars at home.
That would seem to imply that, as the visiting team this Saturday, UCLA will have to play a very good game in order to win.
One other similarity between Kelly and Smith is that they are both known for being offensive coaches.
Both coaches have also had issues on the defensive side of the ball. Smith replaced Tim Tibesar, his first defensive coordinator, midway through the 2021 while Kelly finally dumped Jerry Azzinaro after the 2021 season. In Smith’s case, he replaced Tibesar with Trent Bray, first as the team’s interim defensive coordinator and, later, removing the interim tag.
Now, both teams seem to have gotten it together on defense. The Bruins are now ranked fifth in Total Defense while the Beavers are 30th. Both defenses are excelling at stopping the run. UCLA is second in the nation in rushing defense while the Beavers are 15th. Both teams are weaker on pass defense where OSU is ranked 71st in the country, allowing 229.5 passing yards per game and nine touchdowns total, and UCLA is ranked 23rd, averaging 189.5 passing yards per game and four touchdowns.
In Bray’s first full season as the Beavers’ DC, the OSU defense improved by 55 yards per game allowed in his first full season. The Beaver defense gave up almost 6 fewer points in 2022 than 2021 and they averaged 20 ppg allowed, which was first in the Pac-12 and 16th nationally. Last season, Oregon State led Pac-12 with 108.2 rushing yards allowed per game in 2022 which was down from 143.6 in 2022. The Beavs also led Pac-12 with 71 passes defended in 2022 and opponent red zone efficiency (66.7 pct.) and allowed fewest plays of 10-plus yards.Â
Offensively, Brian Lindgren is back as the team’s offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach. He has been with the team since Smith was hired for the 2018 season. Last year, the team averaged 32.2 points per game and, this year, they have increased that to an average of 38.5 points per game. To be sure, that’s likely got to do with the arrival of transfer quarterback DJ Uiagalelei, who transferred to OSU this year from Clemson.
Let’s look at the Beavers’ special teams.
Special Teams
Redshirt sophomore Atticus Sappington will handle most of OSU’s kicking duties. Sappington has made five of six field goal attempts this season. His longest came from 48 yards and his only miss came from between 40 to 49 yards. He has been a perfect 30-for-30 on PATs.
Sappington has also kicked off for all but one of the team’s 40 kickoffs. He is averaging 58.9 yards per kickoff with 21 of his kickoffs going for touchbacks.
Redshirt senior Josh Green is another punter from Australia. He is averaging 40.19 yards per punt this season and six of his 16 punts have been fair catches. Seven of his punts have landed inside the 20 and just two have gone for more than 50 yards. His season long went for 51 yards.
Seven different Beavers have returned kickoffs this season. Of those seven guys, Silas Bolden is the most dangerous returner. He is averaging 48.33 yards per return on three returns and his longest went for 59 yards. Akili Arnold has returned four of the team’s 12 returns this year. His longest return went for 31 yards and he is averaging 17.50 yards per return. The other five Beavers who have returned kicks have been unable to gain more than 11 yards on a return.
Four different Beavers have returned six punts for Oregon State this season. The most dangerous one is junior receiver Silas Bolden, who has two punt returns. One of Bolden’s returns was a 65-yarder for a touchdown. The other went for 20 yards. Both are better returns than any other punt returner has had. In fact, none of the other three guys have returned a punt for more than 13 yards. So, Bolden is definitely the returner the Bruins need to watch out for.
Go Bruins!!!
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