Chip Kelly’s reset in college football has gone far better than the ending he got in Las Vegas.
A year ago, Kelly was staring at the lowest point of his coaching career with the Raiders. He had been brought in on a reported three-year, $18 million coordinator deal, but the partnership never took off. By November 23, 2025, he was out the door after less than a year, and the damage to his reputation was obvious.
Then came the quick pivot. Kelly was hired by Northwestern University on December 30 to be its next offensive coordinator, a move that looked like a step down on paper. Instead, it has started to look like the kind of fresh start that changes the conversation.
Northwestern is 3-1 through four games and nearly knocked off defending champion Indiana two weeks ago. On Friday, the Wildcats handled Penn State 34-13 and piled up 413 rushing yards, good for 7.5 yards per carry.
So what went wrong in Las Vegas? There was plenty to sort through, but the biggest issue appears to have been the way Pete Carroll’s staff was assembled.
Reports said Carroll did not get the offensive coordinator he wanted, and a Saturday report added that Kelly would not have chosen Carroll’s son as his offensive line coach. Ted Nguyen on X (formerly Twitter): “Chip Kelly wanted to bring Tim Drevno (his OL coach at Northwestern) with him to the Raiders and thought he’d have more control of the offensive staff / X”
Chip Kelly wanted to bring Tim Drevno (his OL coach at Northwestern) with him to the Raiders and thought he’d have more control of the offensive staff
That mismatch mattered. Kelly and Carroll were not a natural fit, and Brennan Carroll’s hire drew plenty of skepticism as the season went on.
Richie Incognito recently echoed what he had heard from inside the building and made the case that the Raiders are getting a real upgrade with Rick Dennison coaching the offensive line now. On Raider Nation Radio’s Unnecessary Roughness with Q Myers last month, he said:
“We’ve got a lot of youth up front, so for a coach like Rick Dennison to come in with his pedigree and all his coaching, we were together in Buffalo in 2017. He was the offensive coordinator the year we broke the playoff drought, and I know he is a highly detailed guy. He can teach these guys technique and that’s the one thing that was missing last year was the teaching component,” Incognito said on Raider Nation Radio’s Unnecessary Roughness with Q Myers last month.
He added:
“Talking to the guys, they were really frustrated. Our group of guys, they worked really hard on the offensive line and throughout the entire Raiders team. These guys work hard and their frustration last year was they are putting in all this time, they’re not getting the results on the field, but they really felt like they weren’t getting coached up in the meeting rooms, so there was a lot of frustration.”
And then:
“I think that frustration is completely gone with a guy like Rick Dennison. He is highly detailed.
He’s all about fundamentals. He’s going to get these guys all on the same page and you could see it in the preseason.
You could see the double teams happening, the bodies hitting the floor. The backs hitting the holes, so it’s an exciting time.”
In Other News...
Raiders Fans Face A Familiar Allegiant Problem Before Chiefs Game
When the Raiders get set to host the Chiefs at Allegiant Stadium on Sunday, theyll again be dealing with one of the more familiar parts of life in Las Vegas: plenty of red in the stands. Since the building opened in 2020, Kansas City followers have shown up in noticeable numbers for this matchup, turning a divisional home game into something that can feel a little less like home.
Raider Nation Radio host JT the Brick has already pushed fans to hold onto their tickets instead of selling them off to opposing supporters, a reminder of how much resale can shape the atmosphere inside the stadium. Projections still have Raiders fans making up 64 percent of the crowd, which would mean a slightly smaller Chiefs presence than in some previous meetings, but enough of a road feel to keep the issue front and center. [Read more 🡒]
Raiders 3-0 Start Just Raised The Stakes On One Receiver Decision
The Raiders 3-0 start has changed the feel around the building in a hurry, and not just because the wins have come in a way few expected before the season. A team that looked like it was going to spend September answering questions about its direction now has a little room to think bigger, from the quarterback situation to how it wants to shape the rest of the roster.
One name that has surfaced in that bigger-picture conversation is Marvin Harrison Jr., with Bleacher Report floating Las Vegas as a possible destination if Arizona ever became willing to move on. Harrison has had a frustrating stretch with the Cardinals, and the Raiders fast start only adds to the intrigue, since any receiver decision now carries more weight for a club that suddenly has real momentum and more ambitious expectations. [Read more 🡒]
Why Chiefs Week Still Hits Different For Raiders Fans
The Raiders-Chiefs rivalry has been baked into this fan base for generations, long before either franchise settled into its current home. It started back in the 1960s, when Kansas City was still the Dallas Texans, and it only got sharper as the teams spent decades trading punches, with the Raiders having their own defining moment in the 1968 AFL division playoff game. Even now, the history still hangs over every meeting, because this is one of those matchups where the past never really stays in the past.
For Raiders fans, Chiefs week carries a different kind of weight because the series has not felt balanced in a long time. Kansas City owns the overall edge, and the recent stretch since 2014 has only deepened the frustration on the Las Vegas side. Still, the rivalrys staying power is part of what makes it matter: every game becomes a reminder of old grudges, old highs and lows, and why this matchup still draws more attention than most on the schedule. [Read more 🡒]