Chip Kelly discusses impact of hosting College GameDay

College GameDay, ESPN’s flagship college football show, announced its Week 8 location on Sunday afternoon, and UCLA head coach Chip Kelly understands the impact GameDay can have on fans, recruit and players alike.

College Gameday tweeted Sunday that it will travel to Los Angeles, California for the UCLA Bruins’ home matchup with the Oregon Ducks, marking a first in quite some time — GameDay has not traveled out west for a single show this season, and the Pac-12 is the only remaining Power Five conference that has not yet hosted the live show. Kelly in Monday’s press conference explained why he’s excited for the show to come to Los Angeles.

“I think it’s cool. I think it’s great for our fans, I think it’s great for our student body, especially after last year, when nobody could go to games,” Kelly said. “And the fact that now we get to come back, everybody gets to attend — we’ve had some unbelievable settings there [at the Rose Bowl Stadium]. The win over LSU and the crowd that we had there was memorable, and you start to think about it — it’s an early kick, so I think we’re going to get a lot of people there, a lot of kids there. I think it should be fun. So, I think it’s a great opportunity for our fans and a great opportunity for our students.”

The last time College Gameday went to California was on Jan. 1, 2020 (the 2019 postseason), when it traveled to Pasadena for a Rose Bowl matchup between No. 6 Oregon and No. 8 Wisconsin; the last time it went out west for a regular-season Pac-12 game was Sept. 22, 2018 for No. 7 Stanford at No. 20 Oregon. Now, it returns to the west coast for Kelly’s matchup with Mario Cristobal’s Oregon Ducks.

Last week, College GameDay traveled to Athens for the Georgia Bulldogs’ top-15 showdown with the Kentucky Wildcats, a game that featured two undefeated SEC teams. It was the second time this season that GameDay made the trip to Georgia, and in Week 7, it was accompanied by its SEC Network counterpart, SEC Nation.

College GameDay goes west, Kelly and Cristobal fight for Pac-12 status

College GameDay’s matchup features Oregon and UCLA, two Pac-12 programs — and head coaches, in Kelly and Cristobal — whose seasons have gone in similar directions.

Oregon in Week 2 went on the road and defeated a then-No. 3 Ohio State team in Columbus, then went on to win two more against Stony Brook and Arizona. Thanks to a 4-0 record, Cristobal had brought the Ducks to a No. 3 ranking — but then, they were upset in shocking fashion. Oregon in Week 5 lost to Stanford, 31-24, in overtime, spoiling its perfect season, dropping the Ducks out of the top five and most likely ruining their College Football Playoff hopes.

UCLA, on the other hand, started its season with dominant wins against Hawaii and then-No. 16 ranked LSU, the latter being Kelly’s first-ever win over a conference opponent in his fourth year at the helm. After vaulting up to a No. 13 ranking, Kelly’s UCLA Bruins — like Oregon — were upset, only the Bruins’ loss wasn’t a conference game; rather, they lost 40-37 to unranked Fresno State in Week 3. UCLA’s pain didn’t stop there, though. After a win over Stanford, Kelly and the Bruins in Week 5 lost again to the underdog Arizona State Sun Devils at home.

Oregon, led by its defense and potential first-overall pick Kayvon Thibodeaux, will look to lay claim once again over the Pac-12, and UCLA could very well be one of the toughest obstacles standing in its way. The Ducks haven’t lost a Pac-12 game this season, and they appear poised to make another run at the Pac-12 Championship.