Chip Kelly, UCLA preparing for a 'difficult place to play' at Oregon

Chip Kelly is heading back to his old stomping grounds this weekend when he takes No. 9 UCLA to face No. 10 Oregon. The latest homecoming will be short-lived, though, as Autzen Stadium will be on the Bruins from the jump. It’ll be a wild environment for more than one reason in what has become a massive conference matchup. For Kelly, he knows it’s just part of being a top-ranked team playing on the road.

Kelly spoke about playing at Oregon during his media availability on Monday. He said a return to Eugene is difficult but no more challenging than other road environments in the Pac-12. At this point of conference play, it comes with the territory of being one of the nation’s best.

CLICK HERE to subscribe for FREE to the On3 YouTube channel

“It’s a difficult place to play, just like (anywhere) in this league. You go to Washington? It’s hard. You go to Oregon? It’s hard,” said Kelly. “I think that’s part of it when you’re playing meaningful games in October is you’ve gotta be prepared for crowd noise. We’ll be prepared for it.”

Kelly has an 8-9 record in Pac-12 road games during his five seasons at the helm of UCLA. That includes an 0-2 mark back at Oregon after he spent four seasons there as head coach. With that said, this is easily the best team Kelly has taken up to Eugene although the Ducks are still the favorite heading in.

There’s a lot of pressure for everyone involved in this game. It’s a return for Kelly, but it also has major implications for the Pac-12 and potentially the conference’s chances to have a representative in the CFP. If UCLA wants to be that representative, Kelly knows he’ll have to have his team ready for what is guaranteed to be a hostile environment.