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UCLA dominated its US rivals USC 34-27 on Saturday afternoon at the Rose Bowl to clinch the biggest win of the Chip Kelly era and put upward pressure on the seat of Trojans coach Clay Helton , even more than it was coming.
Bruins running back Joshua Kelly scored 40 times and 289 yards and two touchdowns. Theo Howard had five catches for 76 yards and one touchdown. Kelly's team. Trojans quarterback JT Daniels threw two touchdowns and two interceptions in a lost effort.
What did we learn about both teams?
1. Clay Helton's work is seriously compromised The third-year coach of the Trojans was targeted this year, while he had won six New Year's Cup games in each of his first two seasons as a coach in time full. This is for a good reason too. The loss to rival UCLA ensures the first regular season of the program with six losses since 2000 – the last season of Paul Hackett as a coach. Pete Carroll was 6-6 in his first season in 2001, but the final loss was at the Las Vegas Bowl.
USC should never be in this kind of situation. Of course, Daniels is a real quarterback and the team has been riddled with injuries. But the talent accumulated by Helton and his former coach Steve Sarkisian should, at the very least, be good enough to compete in the Pac-12 South.
The wheels of the silly coaches season are already in motion. With the start of the national signing period approaching 19 December, Helton may not have much work in football facilities. After all, UCLA is still in full reconstruction mode and Notre Dame, undefeated, is looming next week.
2. Kelly has things on the right track: This is not the season that UCLA fans have imagined when they did the best of last year by hiring Kelly, but it seems to end on a positive note. Slowly but surely, the players understood Kelly's style and system. Kelly figured out how to make it work and together they set the tone for the future of the program.
The resume is not really a beauty thing. But a dominant 37-7 victory at Cal is a big deal, the Arizona win was wild and serve as an addendum to your rival's downfall is an effective way to end the year on a high note.
It will still take time. The offensive line of UCLA has been a problem all year round, injuries were hard to overcome and Kelly needs several classes of recruitment to build it as he wishes. It did not seem possible during the first half of the season, but the future is promising.
3. Joshua Kelly is a star: The 5-foot-11, 204-pound junior coach was benched before his coach before the Fresno State match in the third week, but he came back with a vengeance. He has crossed the 100 yard mark in six of the last eight games and has scored 30 times or more three times during that period.
In his post-game interview, Chip Kelly mentioned that, instead of moping after the setback early in the season, he remained positive, worked harder than anyone in the team and realized the type of performance that he had on Saturday afternoon.
If he stays around, look out. Chip Kelly now knows that he has a work horse on which to build his offensive. The presence of Joshua Kelly, combined with the time allotted by the staff around him, will make UCLA dangerous in 2019.
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