Oregon's OC search turns to Chip Kelly, who calls Northwestern's offense this Saturday

Oregon's search for a new offensive coordinator has turned up a familiar name. It's also the name of the man calling plays for this weekend's opponent. Dan Lanning fired Drew Mehringer in the middle of the season, and Chip Kelly, now Northwestern's offensive coordinator, has come up as a possible replacement. Roundtable Sports reported the link, citing a candidate hot board from Zachary Neel of Ducks Wire.

Nobody has reported talks between the two sides, and Roundtable Sports itself calls a reunion unlikely. Still, the idea carries weight in Eugene. As Oregon's head coach, Kelly went 46-7 and took the Ducks to the national championship game after the 2010 season. After that came the NFL, a head coaching run at UCLA, a national title as Ohio State's offensive coordinator in the 2024 season, a stint as offensive coordinator of the Las Vegas Raiders and now Northwestern. There are real obstacles. Kelly could be a candidate for a Power 4 head coaching job this cycle. A coordinator with his record would also likely want more control over the scheme and play-calling than Lanning has given before.

The vacancy goes back to the offseason. When Will Stein left to become Kentucky's head coach, Lanning promoted Mehringer from inside the program instead of hiring an established coordinator. Roundtable Sports reports that Lanning knew the offense was not right during training camp. Things got worse when quarterback Dante Moore went down after a hard hit in the Sept. 26 win at USC. The Ducks rank 42nd in FBS in total offense. In four Big Ten games they have scored 83 points, one fewer than they put up against Portland State in Week 3.

What it means for Northwestern

The search story now runs straight into the schedule. No. 20 Northwestern visits Oregon on Saturday, Oct. 31, on Peacock, so Kelly will scheme against the defense of the program reportedly weighing whether to hire him.

Oregon is 4-3 and 2-2 in Big Ten play, and the last month has been rough. The Ducks lost 21-10 at Illinois last week. Before that they beat Nebraska 17-14 and lost 17-15 at home to No. 21 UCLA. That's 42 points over three games, while the 84-0 rout of Portland State and the 41-27 win at USC are fading into the past. Two of the three losses came by a single score.

The market still leans toward the home team. On this site's Northwestern at Oregon board, which tracks 11 venues, Oregon is favored at -160 on Novig, which pays $62.50 per $100 and implies about a 62 percent chance of a Ducks win. Northwestern is +156. On the spread, Novig has Oregon favored by 3.5 at -102, with Northwestern +3.5 at even money. Novig's total is 47.5. The best over price anywhere is Pinnacle's -114, but at 47, a half point lower. Sportsbook hold runs from 3.0 to 6.3 percent on the moneyline and up to 7.0 percent on the spread and total. That gap shows how much the price of the same outcome can vary from venue to venue.

A total in the high 40s is a lot to ask of an Oregon offense that hasn't topped 17 points in three weeks. Whoever ends up running that offense next season, the Ducks need a better answer than they have had lately, and they need it Saturday against Kelly's group.