Blue-turf debut? Chip just shrugs.

Byline: George Schroeder The Register-Guard

BOISE - Chip Kelly will tote a backpack into Bronco Stadium this afternoon, just like always. Before pregame warm-ups, he'll walk the perimeter of the field, reach down to touch each pylon in the corners of the end zone, just like always.

The idea here is, he's treating his head-coaching debut like any other game, any other time in his career, all those years he was an assistant. Just a routine day at the office. The only difference, he says, is that he won't warm up the quarterbacks.

Kelly grudgingly admits he'll have butterflies, but only because he always does.

Moving from calling plays to running the whole show? No big deal, he says. Opening with Boise State, when Idaho State makes more sense for a rookie's first time out?

"I don't want to play creampuffs," he says. "I hate those games. ... You want to play the best."

Matching wits with Chris Petersen - the guy many thought would one day succeed Mike Bellotti?

"I never heard his name in conjunction with this job," Kelly insists.

Yeah, the new guy is cool under pressure.

Petersen vs. Kelly might not be the first thing you think of tonight, but it's a significant subplot just the same.

A national TV audience will watch, and the story line is Boise State getting a BCS conference team on the blue turf. If they didn't already know, they'll quickly learn of the Broncos' BCS-busting last year at Autzen Stadium. They'll see replays of the cheap shots, and hear how the Ducks are motivated and not afraid to say so.

Good stuff, and sure to captivate viewers. A battle of ranked teams, and a measuring stick for each.

Should Oregon be thinking BCS, or something less? Is Boise State headed for big things, or back to the minority status assigned to mid-majors?

But while we're measuring, don't forget the head coaches.

Rewind to last September. Not so much the Broncos' win, but what happened afterward.

Petersen celebrated with his team, sure. But he also glad-handed a bunch of well-heeled Duck boosters.

He's got lasting relationships with plenty of people from his tenure as an Oregon assistant, but watching the scene, you couldn't help but think he'd just aced the job interview.

Here in the Treasure Valley, Bronco fans dare to believe Petersen isn't looking to use the program as a steppingstone. He seems different than so many others (Houston Nutt, Dirk Koetter, Dan Hawkins) who talk about how much they love a place, then jet away to talk about how much they love the new gig.

But ask the people here which school they thought Petersen might leave for, and you'll understand the sense of relief last December when Oregon named Kelly the coach-in-waiting.

You won't find many Duck fans who questioned the idea, or Kelly's promotion last March, either.

In two seasons since coming from New Hampshire, he'd rocketed from unknown to every athletic director's short list. It didn't just make sense for Oregon to keep him, it felt imperative.

We don't know yet what kind of head coach Kelly will be, but the preliminary returns indicate he's got the right stuff, and he's the right guy to build something better atop Bellotti's foundation.

Which makes tonight's coaching battle the juiciest subplot. Unless you're Kelly.

Then, it's an unfortunate quirk of the schedule, a game that would have been better played a few weeks from now, or maybe not at all.

Not that he'll admit to such thoughts. When you bring up Kelly vs. Petersen, the conversation isn't going anywhere.

"On the inside, and you can inject me with truth serum," he says, "to me it's not juicy."

The comparison is unfair, but it's also inevitable. And there's only one way to come out ahead. All Kelly has to do is win.

If he doesn't, the Ducks will move on and play Purdue, then Utah, then Cal. Maybe they'll win a bunch, this year and in the future.

If Boise State wins, Petersen's gotten the best of the Ducks two years running. People will take another look at his gaudy record (35-4 going into his fourth season), and see another big-school notch in his belt.

And they'll wonder what he might accomplish if he had all of Oregon's resources.

Kelly insists it's just another game, and says he'll do things the same way as he always has.

But this head-coaching debut is anything but routine.

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