Column: Spring game brought fans nostalgia of Oregon's offense under Chip Kelly

For all the success Mario Cristobal had during his four seasons as coach of the Oregon Ducks, his offenses were pedestrian, bland, three yards and a cloud of dust at times.

If Saturday was any indication, Oregon's offense this fall is going to look very similar to the Chip Kelly era days.

During spring practices, the Ducks offense have displayed a fast-tempo offense, just like what offensive coordinator Kenny Dillingham likes. That carried over in Saturday's spring game on the first play from scrimmage.

Bo Nix completed a 70-yard pass to Seven McGee. Two plays later, Oregon was already in the end zone 59 seconds into the spring game.

Oregon players have been used to the conservative offensive approach under Cristobal. With the hire of coach Dan Lanning and Dillingham, they're set to bring back the wave of modern offense made famous by Kelly.

"I think the offense can be extremely explosive," quarterback Bo Nix said. "If we play together and everyone is out there having fun, and everybody is out there spreading the ball around, the more fun it will be as we go.

"Everyone got a taste of how it could be. Everyone is just starting to buy in continuously and continue to be the best player they can be."

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To put into perspective how different Oregon's offense looked today compared to when Cristobal was the coach, examine the quarterback numbers. Last year's starting quarterback Anthony Brown's longest pass from scrimmage was 66 yards, as he averaged 7.7 yards per pass attempt. In just the spring game, Nix averaged 15.3 yards per pass attempt.

Keep in mind, Nix was rotating snaps during the day with Jay Butterfield. Imagine what a full Nix unleashed could look like in Oregon's offense?

What should give fans hope is how Nix performed in front of an estimated 42,000 spectators. He passed for 230 yards and three touchdowns and an interception.

It was a small sample size, but Nix showed glimpses of the player that won the SEC Freshman of the Year during the 2019 season at Auburn. Oh, by the way, Nix's offensive coordinator and quarterback during that year was Dillingham himself.

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"We want to be an explosive offense," Lanning said. "Explosive plays and takeaways are the two determining factors of wins and losses.

"I certainly don't think we are there yet and we have a long ways to go, but we saw some steps in the right direction."

All wasn't great with the offense as they certainly have some kinks to work out. After the score was 21-14 Green team after the second quarter, the defense made adjustments as Nix, and Ty Thompson each threw interceptions.

But it just wasn't all about the quarterbacks on Saturday, the Ducks also ran the ball efficiently with Sean Dollars and Western Kentucky transfer Noah Whittington.

Byron Cardwell is expected to be the Ducks' starting running back this season, but he missed Saturday's spring game. That gave Dollars and Whittington an opportunity to show what they could do, and they each delivered. Whittington led all running backs with 84 yards and a touchdown on 11 carries.

After running backs coach Carlos Locklyn was hired from Western Kentucky, Whittington followed as he displayed some of his speed and power, especially on a 45-yard run that later set up a two-yard touchdown.

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Dollars, who missed all of last season due to injury, is back to 100% after finishing with 49 yards and nine carries. In the height of the Chip Kelly era, he would use a stable of running backs. In his final season at Oregon, Kenjon Barner, Marcus Mariota, and De'Anthony Thomas all finished with over 700 yards rushing.

It's too early to tell if Dillingham's up-tempo offense will make Oregon national championship contenders. But one thing is certain, the Ducks' offense will be fun to watch as they have a lot of optimism heading into the fall.

"It's a way different offense that it was last year," Seven McGee said. "Coach Dillingham is putting us in spaces to make plays in one-on-one matchups.

"Looking what Oregon should have been and what Oregon could have been, and now we are bringing back the Chip Kelly kind of offense that's creating space and it is wonderful."

Contact Register-Guard sportswriter Antwan Staley at astaley@gannett.com and follow him on Twitter @antwanstaley.