UCLA's Chip Kelly, Illinois' Bret Bielema among coaches thriving in 2nd act

By Bryan Fischer
FOX Sports College Football Writer

College football loves alliterative labels and when it comes to making sense of all that unfolded during Week 6 of the season, there is one that rolls off the tongue: Second Act Saturday.

Everywhere you looked, transfers on their second school were making plays, programs deemed dead (but now reborn) were making waves and, particularly, numerous coaches were making the most of second chances or fresh opportunities.

Chip Kelly, UCLA

You can begin with the biggest statement being made out in Los Angeles, where Chip Kelly seemed to finally convince those remaining holdouts surrounding his rebuild at UCLA by beating preseason Pac-12 favorite Utah, 42-32.

The Bruins knocked off their highest-rated opponent in Kelly’s tenure and have now posted back-to-back wins over ranked opponents for the first time since 2015. Their current nine-game win streak is remarkably second in the country and their longest since the late '90s. It was also made thanks to their first victory over the Utes at the Rose Bowl in a decade.

It was a signature conference victory at the most opportune time. Despite what the oddsmakers said coming in, there wasn’t even a hint of it being an upset either, as UCLA was the far more physical and opportunistic of the two sides, controlling the game through all four quarters. 

That’s a testament to what Kelly has been able to do in Westwood despite progress taking a little longer than expected. His hire in late 2017 was initially viewed as a statement of intent for a school whose overall interest in big-time football was generally regarded as tepid. Plucking the guy who went 46-7 at Oregon and led the Ducks to the BCS Championship Game was out of character — but equally eye-opening in trying to realize the potential that’s obvious to anybody who ever steps on campus.

Nonetheless, the results didn’t follow right away and frustrations ran high as the team never sniffed a bowl game nor won more than four games in Kelly’s first three seasons. Losses were repetitive in terms of root causes. Coaching turnover, to the chagrin of many, was almost non-existent.

Yet this was a gradual cultural and on-field shift for UCLA that went fully against the grain in a sport that demands everything in an instant. Kelly’s first major recruit from his very first signing day was quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson, whom he threw into the fire as a true freshman and guided through all the ups and downs since. Now, the fifth-year senior is a legitimate Heisman Trophy contender who is setting school records with each passing contest.

Kelly’s critics in and around L.A. frequently lamented his efforts on the recruiting trail (and still do), with many four- and five-stars from Southern California expressing lukewarm interest. That will simply generate a chuckle and a head shake from the singularly focused head coach, who is far more concerned with fit in his system than stars next to names. 

The offensive line has been notably revamped and grown from one of the worst in the Pac-12 into a group of road graders holding its own against anybody. Recruits on both sides of the ball that fit the mold were supplemented further with superb transfer portal identification.

Tailback Zach Charbonnet went from surplus at Michigan to Pac-12 Newcomer of the Year. Against Utah, he notched a career-high 198 yards and a touchdown. Fellow transfer Jake Bobo had just three touchdown catches over four years at Duke but has been a dependable target downfield for Thompson-Robinson and has made five trips to the end zone in 2022. 

Each was a good player before arriving at UCLA, but the marriage of talent and scheme has been a sight to behold for even the most skeptical of tailgaters in the Rose Bowl parking lots.

The key for Kelly is that this second act with UCLA becomes simply the latest high note for the powder blues and not a crescendo. The team is off during the coming week before traveling to face the coach’s old program in Eugene. Given the conference’s elimination of divisions, that one could be what amounts to a late October semifinal to get to the Pac-12 Championship Game.

Lincoln Riley, USC

Get past that one, and Kelly could be firmly on a collision course to face a guy across town who is just starting out on his second chapter — Riley. The USC head coach is operating with a much different timeline for turning around the cardinal and gold, and even higher aspirations. The Trojans continue to win in different ways, pushing past a pesky Washington State side at the Coliseum on Saturday with a second-half shutout and timely plays down the field out of elusive signal-caller Caleb Williams.

Riley, addressing the biggest deficiency from his teams at Oklahoma, also might have a College Football Playoff contender on his hands, thanks to growth on the defensive side of the ball. Notably, the Trojans lead the country in sacks and turnover margin despite coming into the year with just three returning starters.

Now the pair of USC and UCLA are both 6-0 to start the season for the first time since 2005. In a potential parallel, they met that year with a conference ring up for grabs.

Bret Bielema, Illinois

Title game aspirations might still be a little premature for another coach thriving in his second act after a few years off the radar, but Illinois' Bielema will still revel in it nonetheless. Coming off a 5-7 debut campaign in Champaign that featured four one-score losses, the Illini were expected to be improved in 2022 … but not quite to this level. 

The Illini are now 5-1 and on the verge of the program’s second bowl berth since 2015. Illinois has the top-scoring defense in the country and has allowed just three touchdowns of any sort across its first six games. Just as important to the kind of program Bielema wants to run, the Illini are also a top-30 rushing offense and seventh in time of possession. 

It’s a textbook Bielema has used to great success before and is now in full effect with Illinois — haunting a few programs he knows all too well in the process. The week prior, he returned to the site of his first head coaching job at Wisconsin and left with a 34-10 win that was the Illini’s first in Madison in two decades. The result was so emphatic, that the Badgers fired Paul Chryst the next day.

Iowa fans will not be granted a similar wish after Saturday’s 9-6 loss to the former Hawkeyes defensive lineman, but can at least give polite applause to Bielema's squad using the outcome to push into the No. 24 spot in the AP Top 25. That put an end to the longest active drought by a Power 5 school from either the AP or Coaches Poll.

Lance Leipold, Kansas; Sonny Dykes, TCU

At the opposite end of Illinois-Iowa from a watchability standpoint was the marquee Big 12 game of the weekend that also featured a few others on their second act — and likewise making the most of it.

Leipold, in his second FBS gig, proved once again how good he and his Kansas staff are despite falling 38-31 to TCU. This wasn’t a case of moral victories in the wake of keeping it close against a top-20 opponent either but rather highlighted how to make adjustments in-game after the Jayhawks lost superstar QB Jalon Daniels to a shoulder injury and were held to just a field goal in the first half.

KU’s offensive improvement on the fly came by playing to the strengths of backup Jason Bean. The North Texas transfer, who started for Kansas last season, threw four touchdown passes in the second half and was close to unleashing pandemonium upon Lawrence with a rare win over a ranked opponent. 

Riding out of town with a win was arguably more significant to the bigger picture in the Big 12 for Dykes, who has shaken off any criticism of his move across Dallas-Fort Worth battle lines and found instant success with the Horned Frogs. They’re the third-highest scoring program in FBS and lead the nation in yards per play — two areas where TCU was all over the map during the latter stages of Gary Patterson’s tenure. 

Now, TCU is explosive and threatening in a way it hasn’t been since 2017. Quarterback Max Duggan and receiver Quentin Johnston are particularly emblematic of the night-and-day difference for those in purple. Both have been labeled as the next big thing, capable of lifting the program with tremendous physical talent that was never quite on full display.

Well, now it is. Duggan is second in the country in passing efficiency and yards per attempt, trailing only Ohio State’s C.J. Stroud. He’s thrown just one interception and has used his legs to great effect, too (14 carries, 171 yards and three scores in just the past two games). Johnston has been catching everything thrown his way and broke out against Kansas, notching 206 yards and a touchdown. He’s now on pace for career highs in catches and yards. 

Both players have TCU well-positioned for a berth in the conference title game going into Saturday's matchup against the league’s only other undefeated team, Oklahoma State.

Josh Heupel, Tennessee

Elsewhere down South, Heupel knows all too well how one slight detour can help lead to success at another stop. After ascending to become offensive coordinator and playcaller at Oklahoma, he was pushed out the door back in 2014 following a disappointing season. He rebuilt his career at stops with Utah State and Missouri before getting the top job at UCF. A strong start in Orlando his first season, however, gave way to diminishing returns — he was winning, but not nearly enough or in as flashy a manner as the Knights fan base had become accustomed.

Heupel instead reset his clock, confident in knowing how to get the most out of his players. He took over a Tennessee program that was two games under .500 since Phillip Fulmer was axed in 2008, facing an NCAA investigation and possessing a roster full of holes. He promptly led the Vols to a 7-6 mark in Year 1. 

That set the foundation for the run the team is currently on, out to its best start since 2016 and already sitting on three wins over ranked opponents. The Vols lead the nation in yards per game and are second in scoring after trouncing LSU in Death Valley, 40-13.

Underscoring it all has been Heupel’s work with his quarterback. Hendon Hooker has been in the running for the best signal-caller in the SEC this season — posting a perfect 10/0 touchdown-to-interception ratio — and has only thrown three picks total since arriving on Rocky Top (all against top-15 teams who won a championship). In doing so, Hooker has gone from an inconsistent player at Virginia Tech who likely needed a second career after college, to using his second stop to morph himself into a Heisman candidate with growing NFL Draft buzz.

If you had told somebody in 2020 that it would be Heupel who would have Tennessee as the top threat to break up the Alabama-Georgia duopoly in the conference, you’d be laughed off. Now, the Vols have a shot to make that a reality at Neyland with a top-10 ranking in hand and a team more than capable of changing the ongoing narrative about the Third Saturday in October.

There was a lot of that going on this weekend in places like Los Angeles, Champaign and Fort Worth. As if to underscore the theme, even interim head coaches went 5-0 in Week 6.

Who knows if it will continue as the calendar advances, but for once, the second time around was just fine for a number of programs on a Saturday full of fun.

Make It Make Sense

Saturday Superlatives

Heisman Five: 1. Bryce Young (Alabama), 2. C.J. Stroud (Ohio State), 3. Hendon Hooker (Tennessee), 4. Dorian Thompson-Robinson (UCLA), 5. Blake Corum (Michigan)

Projected Playoff: 1. Ohio State, 2. Georgia, 3. Alabama, 4. USC

Tweet of the Week:

Super 16

Here’s how I voted in the FWAA/NFF Super 16 Poll this week.

1. Ohio State
2. Georgia
3. Alabama
4. USC
5. Clemson
6. TCU
7. Tennessee
8. Penn State
9. Oklahoma State
10. Ole Miss
11. UCLA
12. Michigan
13. Oregon
14. Mississippi State
15. Wake Forest
16. N.C. State

Just missed the cut: Kansas 

Best of the rest: Kansas State, Texas, North Carolina, Syracuse, Cincinnati, James Madison, Illinois, Tulane.

Pre-Snap Reads

No. 10 Penn State at No. 5 Michigan (Saturday, Noon ET; FOX and the FOX Sports app) 

The Nittany Lions are well rested after a week off and go into the Big House for what seems like the first real mile-marker in the Big Ten race. The Wolverines have been largely unimpressive in wins the past three weeks and will have to lean heavily on RB Blake Corum to open things up for a somewhat stagnant offense. This has all the makings of a nail-biter that comes down to one play here or there, but the early lean is with James Franklin notching his first big win in a few years to shake up the CFP picture.

No. 3 Alabama at No. 6 Tennessee (3:30 p.m. ET)

Will Bryce Young play? All indications are yes, and he seems to have been held out against Texas A&M largely on the basis of preserving his shoulder for this one. The Neyland Stadium atmosphere should be the most electric it’s been in two decades, and the Vols have a team capable of hitting the over themselves. Still, bet against Nick Saban at your peril and especially so when he can give them plenty of motivation after a so-so outing against the Aggies.

No. 8 Oklahoma State at No. 13 TCU (3:30 p.m. ET)

OSU has only left Stillwater once this season but ended up taking care of business down in Waco. This Horned Frogs attack presents a much bigger challenge than the Bears did, though, with the number of weapons you have to defend, while also keeping another man in the box to spy on Max Duggan. That points to this one being a shootout, and for as good and mistake-free as Spencer Sanders has been in 2022, something gives us just a bit of pause for him being the guy to emerge victorious on such an occasion.

No. 7 USC at No. 20 Utah (8 p.m. ET on FOX and the FOX Sports app)

Even early in the year when the Trojans were rolling and looking impressive, this was a game circled as their biggest chance for a loss. It’s on the road in a hostile environment, against a team that can run the football and play tight defense. Yet, the Utes haven’t quite been as advertised this season, and the loss of Brant Kuithe has severely limited the offense. This still could be a tight one, but you simply trust Lincoln Riley and Caleb Williams that much more in their biggest challenge yet in cardinal and gold.

Read more:

- College football rankings: Ohio State tightens grip on No. 1

- Heisman Watch: C.J. Stroud dominates with six-TD outing

- Even at 6-0, No. 4 Michigan is hard to pin down

- Red River Showdown: With Quinn Ewers back, Texas routs Oklahoma

- College football top plays: All the best from a wild Week 6

Bryan Fischer is a college football writer for FOX Sports. He has been covering college athletics for nearly two decades at outlets such as NBC Sports, CBS Sports, Yahoo! Sports and NFL.com among others. Follow him on Twitter at @BryanDFischer.