Daily briefing: On Drake Maye, Chip Kelly and tough luck for Jeff Scott
Ivan Maisel’s “Daily Briefing” for On3:
Drake Maye has produced – and produced when it matters
Drake Maye has been a revelation as a redshirt freshman quarterback at North Carolina. Maye ranks third in the nation in passing efficiency (184.8), behind Ohio State’s C.J. Stroud and Tennessee’s Hendon Hooker. He ranks sixth in QBR (88.1). Those are gaudy numbers, but they don’t fully reflect the job that Maye has done in leading the No. 22 Tar Heels to a 6-1 record. In six games against FBS competition, Maye has thrown 19 touchdown passes, including 10 when North Carolina trailed and five when the score was tied. He delivers when the Heels need him to deliver, and he’s halfway through his first season of leading the team.
Chip Kelly heads to Eugene
Chip Kelly returns to No. 10 Oregon for the third and last time with No. 9 UCLA (at least until the schools set up a non-conference home-and-home and, boy, is that weird to say). Given that the 2020 game was played in a pandemic-empty Autzen Stadium, Kelly’s former fans will see him for the first time since 2018, his first season with the Bruins. The Ducks won that one 42-21, thanks to a punt return and three UCLA turnovers that all resulted in Oregon touchdowns. That game isn’t characteristic of Kelly’s brand of football. This season, the Bruins are 6-0, averaging more than 200 yards rushing and nearly 300 yards passing, and rank 96th in time of possession (28:21). That is so characteristic of Kelly’s brand of football. “It’s a special place in my life,” Kelly said Monday about Eugene. “There are a lot of great people there that had a profound impact on my life.” By the way, UCLA has lost seven consecutive games in Eugene.
If it weren’t for bad luck, USF would have no luck at all
College Football Karma owes a debt to USF coach Jeff Scott. Midway through his third season, Scott is 4-24 with the Bulls. They are 1-6 this season, with three of the losses to ranked teams and two of those by narrow margins (31-28 to then-No. 18 Florida, 28-24 to then-No. 24 Cincinnati). So much for the flicker of growth – USF announced Tuesday that quarterback Gerry Bohanon is out for the year with a shoulder injury. That makes it 21 players on the USF two-deep who have gotten hurt this season. Find me a coach who can win when half of his best players are hurt. Scott, Tony Elliott of Virginia (2-4 overall, 0-3 in the ACC) and Brent Venables of Oklahoma (4-3, 1-3 in the Big 12) are former Clemson coordinators who parlayed national championship rings into good head-coaching gigs. To say they have gotten off to a slow start is kind.