When Chip Kelly first made his mark as an offensive coordinator at New Hampshire in the early 2000s, UCF defensive line coach Mike Dawson was there to witness it all.

Kelly was a former player at the school, having already put in several years as a position coach. When Sean McDonnell came on as head coach in 1999, he appointed Kelly as his offensive coordinator. Dawson joined the staff in 2000.

New Hampshire offenses took the FCS by storm, ultimately catching the eye of then-Oregon coach Mike Bellotti who hired Kelly to coordinate his offense in 2007. A couple years later, Kelly became the head Duck where his offenses revolutionized college football, a path that eventually took him to the NFL where Dawson joined him on staff with the Philadelphia Eagles.

"Coach Kelly is one of the smartest people I've ever been around," Dawson said. "It was easy for me to tell he was a great coach from the second I stepped on campus (at New Hampshire). I actually had a chance to go against him when I was coaching linebackers and I actually coached the o-line for him my second year there and got to learn with him and be around him. I was amazed every day. His passion for the game. His knowledge of all the positions and the different schemes. He even knows what the umpires are doing on every single play. He does a great job with it and he's a tremendous coach. I'm not surprised at all."

The past two seasons, Dawson has coached one of UCF's most productive units. That defensive line was put to the test at Navy and they came out with flying colors.

"That option offense is fun to prepare for, fun to go against, but at the same time very stressful," Dawson said. "Everybody has got to do exactly what they're supposed to on every single play, otherwise something big can happen. The guys did a great job of learning some new techniques and doing some new things. I thought they played really, really hard. They're assignment most of the time was trying to take care of that fullback. They did a good job with it. I know they felt the pains of their labor certainly on Sunday when they woke up, that's for sure."

Needless to say, that was the most physical game they've played all year.

"Without a doubt," Dawson said. "Their offensive line is extremely physical. Their b-backs came in and really pounded it up in there. Then the running backs ran extremely hard as well. For our guys, absolutely. Their o-line was very strong, technically sound. They did a good job. It was a battle in the trenches."

Dawson did have some experience preparing for an option offense. Rhode Island ran a version of it when he coached at New Hampshire and they also played Georgia Southern in the 2004 FCS playoffs. While on staff at Akron, they played Army.

"What we ask (the defensive line) to do in the trenches isn't fun for a lot of guys, but these guys embrace it," Dawson said. "They take a lot of pride in the way they're playing right now and I hope they continue to do that."

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