In hindsight, we should have expected this outcome.

Don’t get me wrong, there was plenty to like in UCLA’s 28-10 victory over San Diego State, but I think we built this game up way too much to be satisfied with the outcome. Following the cathartic beatdown of UC Berkeley to open the season, the UCLA Bruins had all sorts of momentum, with the focus turning to Bob Chesney’s first game at the Rose Bowl in front of the Bruin faithful. It was going to be a celebration of a program finally back on the right track. Throw in some intrigue from San Diego State’s head coach Sean Lewis, who took some shots at UCLA and the coaching staff during the week, and you had the makings of what could be a fiery contest.

And then the day came, and everyone came out flat.

Again, this shouldn’t have been surprising. There was always going to be some sort of come-down from the high of the first game. San Diego State is a solid team that should be competitive in the new Pac-12 (I would even rate them higher than UC Berkeley at this point), with plenty of continuity in their team and coaching staff. This had always shaped up as a good measuring stick for the program, and it ultimately passed with room to spare. That’s not a bad thing.

But there were flaws in this game, starting with…

Offense

Quarterback: C-

I am being a little generous here only because UCLA’s top three receiving options were out for most of this game, but boy howdy did Nico Iamaleava look bad.

UCLA’s offensive struggles in this game can almost solely be laid at the feet of Iamaleava, who struggled with finding receivers and making the right play throughout the first half. UCLA’s coaching staff clearly thought that attacking San Diego State through the air was the correct course of action (which, given Portland State was able to throw for 280 yards the week prior, was probably the correct call) and thus went to a healthy amount of pass plays early in this game. Iamaleava had 14 passing attempts in the first half, and while he hit on 8 of those, it is hard to say that was effective; take away a 45-yard scamper by Brian Rowe, and Nico threw for only 43 yards in the half.

Nico was better in the second half - he went 5-of-8 for 63 yards in the half - but what helped him out more was a recommitment to the run game. You could actually see this from the first to the second quarter, when UCLA went from five rushing attempts to 14, but the second half featured more designed runs for both the running backs and Nico, and that seemed to settle the junior quarterback down some.

The problem, as you can plainly see, is that this offense currently has a governor on it in the form of their quarterback. If Iamaleava can’t be more efficient in the passing game, taking what the defense gives him and making more connections in the intermediate area of the field, then opposing defenses are going to start teeing off on the UCLA rushing attack. Right now the Bruins have been able to take advantage of their rotations to keep everyone fresh and blitz opponents in the 4th quarter, but there will be a few matchups in the future where they won’t be able to pull off that trick.

Receivers: B-

Really just mentioning them first to shout out Semaj Morgan for stepping up with Rowe, Mikey Matthews, and Landon Ellis all out at various points of this game. Second, where on earth has Leland Smith gone to? The San Jose State transfer was a highly coveted add this offseason, but now he can’t even see the field with the Bruin receiving core decimated. Not ideal.

Running Backs: A-

Offensive Line: B+

Overall: B

The running game and offensive line have been carrying things for the offense through two games, and surprisingly, the heavy rotations have played a factor. UCLA has been rotating all three of their running backs and saw 10 linemen get playing time in this game, which allowed the starters to be fresher late into the game. 42 of UCLA’s 73 points have been scored in the 4th quarter, which is nice, but you’d also like to see this group figure things out quicker.

Defense

Run Defense: A-

Pass Defense: Incomplete

Overall: A-

I don’t actually have much to say here, simply because San Diego State did not have much of a plan on offense. Or rather, they knew they did not have a quarterback who could reasonably threaten UCLA’s defense enough to get them not to focus on stopping the run, at which point the game became a math problem. The Aztecs only ran for 3.8 YPC, which is solid if unspectacular, but they only threw for 45 yards total, which is never going to get it done unless you’re one of the service academies running their triple option offense. Jayden Denegal was just not a serious threat, and the Aztec passing attack seemed to largely consist of go routes thrown down the sideline with the hope that the wide receiver would be able to make a play or UCLA would commit a pass interference. Which is why the passing defense gets an incomplete grade here, because I think a better quarterback could have done some damage against this secondary.

Special Teams

Overall: A

Everyone did their job, of what little there was. Shout-out to Morgan for filling in at punt returner as well when Matthews got hurt, taking his one punt back 25 yards and setting the Bruins up for their first score of the night.

The one blemish was Mateen Bhaghani sending two kicks out of bounds, but one of them seemed to be a tactical choice after the referees went full Pac-12 Ref and ordered a rekick after allowing the prior kickoff to start and stop repeatedly, tiring out the coverage team. Still, given that Bhaghani first touched the ball on the kickoff to start the second half, you can maybe forgive him for the error.

Coaching

Offensive Gameplan: C+

I understand the idea behind the offensive game plan to start this game, with San Diego State’s secondary looking like the more vulnerable position to attack, but I’m still baffled that UCLA stuck to that plan for as long as they did. I’m not sure if this is a failure to self-scout regarding Iamaleava, or if he’s doing things in practices that make the staff think it can translate to games, but there should have been a faster pivot to establishing the run than we got here. In general, I am of the opinion that UCLA should establish the run game early and often, then use that to build the passing game off of play action and rollouts for Iamaleava.

The second half was better, and you have to appreciate all the different ways Kennedy can scheme up a rushing attack, especially mixing in quarterback runs to mess with the defense and throw things out of alignment.

Defensive Gameplan: A (with a caveat)

UCLA’s defense was excellent in this one, limiting the Aztecs to only 189 yards in total, which made this an easy A to give. But, much like with the pass defense, I’m going to state that I don’t know how much we can take from this game given how poorly San Diego State’s quarterback played. If Jayden Denegal could throw a good pass downfield, things might have gone differently, or at the very least Colin Hitschler might have had to go into his bag more.

Overall: A-

Sure, you’d have liked more fireworks for Bob Chesney’s first home game at the Rose Bowl, but I think UCLA fans in general will appreciate having a team that looks well-coached and can put teams away late. I’m sure many people (myself included) had some PTSD after that San Diego State field goal drive to cut things to 7-3, recognizing that the Bruins had let the Aztecs hang around, but that was the exact moment UCLA turned things on and put the game out of reach.

The nice thing so far is that there isn’t a trend to latch on to for this team. UCLA did much better in the third quarter compared to the game against UC Berkeley; conversely, UCLA’s offense struggled in the first half compared to the week prior. The only real trend so far is how strong the team comes out in the 4th quarter, and while that’s a really nice trend to have, I think I’d like to see the Bruins put together a more complete game earlier.

Trend

Trending: Up

I don’t even know if a loss here would have stopped this from trending up, but securing a win (and getting the cover!) in the first home game can only help this team’s momentum. If UCLA can grab another win this week against an improving but still poor Purdue team and then find a way to handle September Maryland, then we’d really be cooking with gasoline.

Final Composite

Offense grade: B (3.0)

Defense grade: A- (3.7)

Special Teams grade: A (4.0)

Coaching grade: A- (3.7)

Trending: Up

Final grade for San Diego State Aztecs: A- (3.54)

For reference, here are the grades from past games this year:

UC Berkeley Golden Bears: B+ (3.42)

We’re on to the first Big Ten game of the Bob Chesney era as the Bruins host Purdue. The late start should ultimately help attendance, and this will be the first game with students back on campus (and, as announced today, getting free admission to all sporting events going forward!) so expect a pretty good crowd for this one.

We’ll see if the Bruins can continue building on this momentum.

Go Bruins!

Thanks again for supporting The Mighty Bruin. Your paid subscriptions make this site possible. Questions, comments, story ideas, angry missives and more can be sent to @TheMightyBruin on Twitter.

Editor’s note: Sorry that today’s “Sunday Morning Quarterback” is really more like Sunday Evening Quarterback. Sometimes, it takes more time than I like to get the words on the screen.

It was fun to be back at the Rose Bowl yesterday. While the heat certainly had the intensity to keep some folks away, the majority of the 31,973 fans in attendance, specifically those wearing blue and gold and not red and black, definitely enjoyed themselves.

For those of you who watched on TV, what you didn’t was that the West (Shady side) stands were packed.

For those of you who did stay home, it’s time to dust off that Bruins jersey (or maybe buy a new one) and finally come back to the Rose Bowl.

I know, I know.

Battered Bruin Syndrome has affected all of us to different degrees, myself included.

Last season, I really was only going to home games to tailgate and hang out with friends that I wouldn’t see otherwise because the games were dreadful.

Two weeks into the Chesney era, my love of UCLA football is quickly returning, and I sure hope my excitement has been coming through here on the pages of TMB.

If I’m being honest, I stopped buying the preseason hype toward the end of the Jim Mora era because the annual preseason hype inevitably turned to disappointment, usually when the calendar reached October or November.

But even then, I kept cheering for our beloved Bruins because I wanted things to go our way.

You may remember that I tried to warn the Athletic Department before Chip Kelly was hired, but even my fear disappeared into excitement over Chip’s “Three ships” statement at his introductory press conference.

That, too, proved to be preseason hype when Kelly lost his first game in blue and gold before going on to finish 3-9 that season. After three seasons, the team was just 10-21.

“You are what your record says you are,” Kelly was fond of saying all while many of us were saying in response, “Your record says you suck as a head coach.” Speaking of sucking, those three seasons literally sucked the joy of UCLA football out of the Arroyo Seco, so much so that the three decent seasons the Bruins had under Kelly were barely enough to get Kelly’s record over .500.

Bruin fans felt like we’d been sold a bill of goods and getting little joy in return for the millions Kelly was paid.

In the meantime, Chancellor Gene Block, who couldn’t tell the difference between a football helmet and a batting helmet, fell turned to a guy who was so busy promoting himself, to whom I’m not sure, that he couldn’t read the room regarding the overpaid football coach he inherited from his predecessor, who had overstayed his welcome by more than a decade.

Naturally, it was understandable that some folks doubted things would get better when Julio Frenk was hired as Block’s replacement. Fans wondered, “Could someone who has lived so many of his 71 years outside the US really fix UCLA’s most American of sports?”

I emphatically said, “Yes!” when I wrote about Frenk’s hiring back in 2024.

Of course, like any intelligent boss, Frenk didn’t come in and make rash decisions. A little over a month into his tenure in Westwood. Chip Kelly finally found some place else to go and bailed. In a panic, Martin Jarmond re-hired DeShaun Foster, who had left to become the Raiders’ running backs coach about a month earlier.

Frenk watched Jarmond’s choice go 5-7 in his first season as Foster struggled with everything including his infamous Big Ten Media Days press conference.

When the Bruins started 0-3 last year, it was clear a change was needed, and indeed, one was made.

After all that, it was indeed amazing that in a town, where there are plenty of choices for entertainment dollars, there was anyone coming.

Meanwhile, the lack of football attendance was busy blowing a big rig size hole in the budget for the entire athletic department.

Even after UCLA made the best coaching hire of last year’s coaching carousel, fans did not return immediately.

I don’t know the exact reasoning as to why Chancellor Frenk decided to fire Martinn Jarmond days before the start of football season, but I suspect that the fact that the athletic department couldn’t turn a stellar coaching hire into fans in the stands last night has a lot to do with it. The last decade of UCLA football had proven to be terrible enough that the love which many UCLA fans had for the Bruins has, in fact, turned not into hate, but apathy.

The good news is that Chancellor Frenk has replaced the self-promoter with Tim Harris, who understands the business side of sports. To be sure, he has a rather monumental task ahead of him. He has to convince UCLA’s now apathetic fan base why they need to fill the Rose Bowl to a level not seen since the early days of the Jim Mora era.

“We need to double our base of season ticket holders,” Harris said in a conversation with Bruin Report Online last week.

It shouldn’t be much of a surprise that Harris bought and gave away 300 tickets to last night’s game and that Champion of Westwood did the same. It’s a brilliant marketing move by Harris. It’s the same marketing plan Costco uses in their warehouses every day when they give away free samples: Give consumers a taste of the product and you will sell more of it when they like it.

While it will certainly take a lot more marketing than 600 free samples to double the number of football season ticket holders, I can say confidently that Bruin football hasn’t been in the kind of position it’s in now two games into the season.

A cure has finally been found for Battered Bruin Syndrome. It’s time for Bruin fans and alums to rekindle their love for UCLA football.

They may not win every game this season, but they are going to compete, for sure. And, when they do win, like they did last night and last week, Bruin football is really fun again.

Give it a try. Buy some tickets to next Saturday’s game against Purdue. I know the game doesn’t kick off till 8 pm and that probably means getting home after midnight if you stay till the end, but these Bruins are having fun winning again, and I bet you’ll enjoy being there too!

Help Tim Harris “burn the tarps!”

In my time writing about our beloved Bruins, I’ve gotten to know former LA Times UCLA beat writer and current Senior College Sports reporter for the California Post Ben Bolch. Ben has definitely been a friend to me personally and to The Mighty Bruin as well.

He’s also someone who understands UCLA, Bruin athletics and everything associated with it better than most. If you aren’t reading him regularly, you should be. I suggest bookmarking the Cal Post UCLA sports page so you can.

Of particular note, Ben has penned an open letter to Chancellor Frenk today which I think is a must-read.

And, speaking of Bruin fans coming back home to the Rose Bowl, Bolch also penned a good piece about fans reacting to being back at the Rose Bowl for UCLA games this season after the possibility of a move to SoFi Stadium materialized last season.

Let’s now take a look at last night’s postgame interviews.

Last night’s postgame interviews, courtesy of UCLA Athletics, are all in one long video. Coach Chesney starts things off and he is followed by Semaj Morgan and Jalen Wood. Though the video says it’s Anthony Woods, it was actually Jalen Woods. Then, Nico Iamaleava and Wayne Knight finish things up.

Coach Chesney gave his impressions on last night’s game from the defense to getting the team to gel together and trust one another to the performances of Nico Iamaleava, Wayne Knight, Semaj Morgan and the offensive line.

Both Semaj Morgan and Jalen Woods addressed how the team has been able to finish late in both games. Woods said, “You can’t win the game in the first half.”

One of the other things Jalen Woods spoke about was his interception. He said:

I just know from watching film they like to do screens when it’s like third and medium or long and the back crossed. So, it’s going to be a screen because you went from right to left. So, just a lot of film…just watching them and just being able to execute it.

Wayne Knight spoke about executing plays when his number was called as being how he’s been able to find the end zone so much so far.

Meanwhile, Nico spoke about the frequent rotation of offensive linemen. Nico explained:

I think I love the the rotation with the O line. I think it keeps their legs fresh. We’ve got a lot of big bodies that that can play. So, no, I think it definitely helps us and then, even just coming out in the second half and and still having fresh bodies. We’ve outscored our opponents in the fourth quarter whatever it was…35 to 7. So, it feels good to have fresh bodies in there.

Go Bruins!!!

Thanks again for supporting The Mighty Bruin. Your paid subscriptions make this site possible. Questions, comments, story ideas, angry missives and more can be sent to @TheMightyBruin on Twitter.

Almost sixty-one years. That was the last time UCLA played a football game which was tied 0-0 at halftime. On September 18, 1965, the Bruins played Oklahoma and there was no score at the half.

The Bruins won that game 9-0.

Tonight’s game wasn’t that close. UCLA scored four second-half touchdowns, three of which were scored by Wayne Knight, while allowing just ten points, all in the final quarter.

The real story of this game, however, was the Bruin defense. UCLA forced the Aztecs to punt on their first seven drives of the game before finally allowing a field goal on San Diego State’s eighth drive. By that time, the Bruins were already ahead.

With 11:17 left in the third quarter, UCLA took over on the Aztec 43-yard line after the Bruins forced SDSU’s fifth punt of the game. On that drive, Knight carried for three yards on first down before Nico Iamaleava scampered for 25, down to the 15. Knight ran for seven yards on the next play and he finished the drive with an 8-yard touchdown run.

It stayed 7-0 until Cooper DiLeva made a 46-yard field goal to make it, 7-3, Bruins.

After the ensuing kickoff, UCLA took over on their own 25 and the Bruins went on an almost four minute drive which saw Knight score his second touchdown of the game, this time on a 7-yard run. The Bruins now led 14-3 and that touchdown proved to be the game-winner.

The defensive dagger for UCLA came on SDSU’s next drive when, on the third play of the drive, Jalen Woods picked off a Jayden Denegal pass on the SDSU 19-yard line. Four plays later, Jaivian Thomas took it in for a one-yard plunge, giving UCLA a 21-3 lead.

The Aztecs finally scored a touchdown on their next drive when Denegal found Jackson Ford on a 19-yard pass for six to cut the Bruins’ lead to 21-10.

Following an onside kick attempt by San Diego State, UCLA began their next drive on the Aztec 42-yard line. Following a six-yard run by Knight on first down, Knight went through the middle of the SDSU defense for his third touchdown of the game, a 36-yard run. That was the Bruins’ tenth rushing touchdown of the season already.

That means that, in just two games, UCLA has already scored more rushing touchdowns this year than they did all of last season. That’s right. More rushing touchdowns in two games than all of last season. Wow!

And, of course, Knight’s exclamation point made the score 28-10, Bruins.

That’s how this one ended and UCLA is now 2-0 under Bob Chesney.

Knight finished the game with 97 yards on 13 carries while Iamaleava added 57 yards also on 13 carries. Meanwhile, Semaj Morgan led the UCLA receivers with 73 yards on six receptions and Brian Rowe, Jr made five receptions for 63 yards. Iamaleava was 14-of-22 passing for 151 yards with one interception.

UCLA’s next game will be next Saturday at the Rose Bowl against the Purdue Boilermakers. Kickoff is set for 8 pm and the game will be broadcast on BTN.


Go Bruins!!!

Thanks again for supporting The Mighty Bruin. Your paid subscriptions make this site possible. Questions, comments, story ideas, angry missives and more can be sent to @TheMightyBruin on Twitter.

The last time San Diego State visited the Rose Bowl to play the Bruins, the Aztecs won for the first time after going winless in the first 22 meetings between the schools. Three years ago, UCLA made sure SDSU didn’t win two games in a row when they met at Snapdragon Stadium in San Diego.

This evening, the Bruins will look to extend their streak over the Aztecs to two games in a row when the teams meet at the Rose Bowl at 4:15 pm. Today’s game will be broadcast on Big Ten Network with Wayne Randazzo and former Bruin QB Brett Hundley calling the game. UCLA will also be looking to make it two in a row under new head coach Bob Chesney. What will it take to do that? Let’s look at the keys to the game.

Keys to the Game

1. Run the Ball Well

Last week, the Bruins ran the ball better in one game than they did all of last season. That doesn’t excuse the slow start first quarter or the fact that the Bruin offense disappeared completely in the third quarter either.

So, now, UCLA just needs to build on last week and run the ball well again this week.

2. Control the Line of Scrimmage

Again, the Bruins did a good job of controlling the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball. They just need to be more consistent throughout the game. The touchdown drive to end the first half stands out as one of those times where they failed to control the line of scrimmage. They can’t continue to have those kind of breakdowns as the season progresses.

3. Clean Things Up

There were definitely a lot of things to clean up from last week’s game. Penalties immediately go to the top of the list, but mental breakdowns are up there to because they led to touchdowns like the one which ended the half. It’s frequently said that teams make their biggest improvement between their first and second games. So, now would be a good time to clean stuff up from last week.

Watch and Listen to the Game With TMB!

Today’s game is on BTN and will stream on Fox.com and the Fox One app with Wayne Randazzo, Brett Hundley and Emma Carpenter calling the game. If you would rather listen Josh Lewin, Matt Stevens and Wayne Cook call today’s game, you can listen to the game online while chatting in the TMB game thread. Just right click on either of those links and open them in another tab so you can have it playing while you chat in the comments below.

This is your San Diego State Aztecs at UCLA Bruins game thread. Join your fellow Bruins discussing tonight’s game in the comments section below, but before you get there, here’s how to watch tonight’s game:

UCLA Football (1-0)

• Opponent: San Diego State Aztecs (1-0)

• Series Record: UCLA leads, 22-1-1

• When: 4:15 pm PT, Saturday, September 12, 2026

• Where: Rose Bowl, Pasadena, CA

• Live TV: BTN with Wayne Randazzo, Brett Hundley and Emma Carpenter

• Live Stream: Fox.com and the Fox One app

• Radio/Audio:
  KABC-AM 790 in Los Angeles with Josh Lewin, Matt Stevens and Wayne Cook
  Satellite Radio: Sirius Ch. 178 & XM Ch. 231 (UCLA Call)

  Online: UCLABruins.com

• Live Stats: UCLA StatBroadcast

• Game Notes:
  UCLA
  SDSU

• Rebroadcast (All times PT):
  TBD

Go Bruins!!!

Thanks again for supporting The Mighty Bruin. Your paid subscriptions make this site possible. Questions, comments, story ideas, angry missives and more can be sent to @TheMightyBruin on Twitter.

As usual, we’ll get right to this week’s interviews and see what’s been getting said at this week’s UCLA football press conferences. I’m just going to share this week’s videos here all in the same place to make it easy for you to watch them if you haven’t already. The videos in this article are courtesy of UCLA Athletics on YouTube, unless noted otherwise.

Coach Bob Chesney

We’ll start off, like we always do, with head coach Bob Chesney. On Monday, Coach Chesney provided a final recap for last week’s game against UC Berkeley.

On Tuesday, Coach Chesney’s focus with the media shifted to San Diego State. He spoke about what to expect from the Aztecs offensively, defensively and on special teams. He was also asked about how they played three guards against UC Berkeley and if they plan on settling on two guards. Chesney replied:

No, we’re not hoping to settle on on two. We’re hoping to find a fourth to be honest and to rotate through even more if we can. The defensive line does it every single series and then you have you ask your offense line to be out there for the entire game and and no one else to get reps except for the starting five. And then what happens?

Someone gets a little nicked up and nobody has any experience other than those starting five. So that’s by design. And that’s something that Coach Smith has been doing since I think he was the O line coach at New Haven back in probably 2014. So that is something that has served us well and we’re going to continue to do.

Coordinators: Dean Kennedy & Colin Hitschler

Coach Kennedy addressed a bunch of different things regarding the offense, but probably the biggest thing he spoke about was having rotations on the offensive line, expanding on what Coach Chesney said. Kennedy said:

Coach Smith says it all the time that they have to be the hard playing the hardest out of anybody in America. That’s what they did.

Are there mistakes? Yes. Are there things that we have made on? Yes.

But then when you tie it in together, when you have five people playing as hard as anybody on the football field on a every snap basis, it makes up for mistakes. It makes up for some things when you’re just flat out playing harder than everyone.

So I think then on the same point, when you’re rotating people, you’re keeping people fresh, right? And when you have that type of group that is also bought in like the running backs, right? Well, now you’re able to be fresh in the fourth quarter where we kind of…where our job is to impose our will on anybody that faces against us, right? Right. And I think that’s the biggest teaching point of that.

Of course, defensive coordinator Colin Hitschler spoke about what UCLA will face from the SDSU offense today, but one of the most revealing things he spoke about was the third quarter against UC Berkeley. Hitschler explained:

Yeah, I think it’s a tough situation, right? You’re coming off of halftime where you just gave up a a a panicked two-minute drive that you guys didn’t really that we as a staff more than anything didn’t execute. Uh, you know, probably felt some blood in the water and got overly aggressive and then kind of messed it up and come back after half and JKS is is doing a good job and you want to keep the ball in front of you and maybe played a little too much bend not not break and that’s not who we are. Never, never again let that happen and just keep challenging. We’ve got to be more intentional with our aiming points in that drive and we can clean it up and be a lot better.

“Never, never again” play bend not break? That’s refreshing.

Players: Anthony Woods & Sammy Omosigho

Anthony Woods credited the blocking of the offensive line and receivers as the difference in the run game compared to last year. Woods said, “It was good. Shout out to the O line. If it wasn’t for them, I wouldn’t be able to do it by myself.”

Sammy Omosigho spoke about his first game as a Bruin. One of the coolest things he spoke about was the golden ball. Omosigho spoke about the fumble he forced. He said:

Yeah, so Coach Hitch, shout out Coach Hitch with the amazing play call. You know what I’m saying? Came free and then we take layups. But we go make get the quarterback ball comes out. I didn’t know the ball came out till like later.

I’m looking around for the ball and I looked down at him. He didn’t have the ball. So I was looking around for it and I saw Ameir Washington. He did a great job jumping on the ball. Then it’s time to celebrate. All the guys came. I didn’t know he was going to the sideline or the end zone. So, we went to the end zone and then, we’ve had a golden ball for the during fall camp.

Coach Hitch showed us the golden ball. So, whenever you get a turnover, you have the golden ball, take a picture, put your name on the wall or put your picture on the wall. So, we’re started that during the season. So, first turnover…golden ball and then Tashawn had two of them. So, shoot! The golden ball is fire. It’s another incentive on how to be great and how to just keep doing what we’re doing and making sure that we’re having fun doing it.

Bonus Videos

On this week’s Bruin Insider Show, Coach Chesney sat down for an interview with Nick Koop.

Our final bonus video today comes courtesy of Bruin Report Online. A few days ago, David Woods and Tracy Pierson interviewed new UCLA CEO and Director of Athletics Tim Harris. While it is a bit lengthy, it is well worth taking a little more than an hour to watch the entire thing.

In this honest and extensive conversation, Harris talks about wanting to “burn the tarps” which UCLA has used at the Rose Bowl since attendance dropped. He also addresses many of the concerns diehard UCLA fans have complained about for years.

If there are any doubts remaining that UCLA is finally on the right track, I think it’s safe to say we can put them away as Chancellor Frenk seems to have found two cures for Battered Bruin Syndrome: Bob Chesney and Tim Harris.


Go Bruins!!!

Thanks again for supporting The Mighty Bruin. Your paid subscriptions make this site possible. Questions, comments, story ideas, angry missives and more can be sent to @TheMightyBruin on Twitter.

UCLA will play its home opener tomorrow against the San Diego State Aztecs. It will be the first opportunity for most fans to see the Bruins in person this year.

If you aren’t planning on being there tomorrow, I’m compelled to ask, “Why the heck not?” All the reasons we’ve had for not going have officially been eliminated!

Young, up-and-coming coach who has proven he can win at lower levels of college football? Check!

Chancellor who clearly is supportive of athletics in general and football in particular? Check!

An Athletic Director who is unlike either of his last three predecessors and who clearly understands that the potential UCLA has and is ready to turn things around? Check!

I almost forgot….Not playing this season at SoFi? GIANT CHECK!

So, I have to ask, “What are you waiting for exactly?” I mean, literally everything we’ve complained about for years is now set up for excellence. So, why wouldn’t you come home to the Rose Bowl tomorrow?

Let’s look at the odds, the weather forecast and how to watch (for you out of town folks).

Odds

The Bruins began this week as 8.5-point favorites in this game. Apparently, Bruin fans thought that was too low and the spread now stands at 12.5 points. I was on the Coach Chesney train before the game and I’m all in now. I think UCLA will probably win by double the spread. Take the Bruins and giving the points again this week.

The Over/Under for this game is 54.5 points. After the Bruins almost covered the Over on their own last week, I’ve got to choose the Over this week.

Last week, I took the Bruins and gave the points, and UCLA easily covered the 2.5-point spread. As a result, I’m now 1-0 against the spread this season. I didn’t fare as well on the Over/Under. I took the Under, but UCLA almost covered the Over on their own. So, when you factor in UC Berkeley’s points, the Over won. So, I’m now 0-1 for the year on the Over/Under.

Tailgating and Game Time Weather Forecast

It should be a Chamber of Commerce day tomorrow at the Rose Bowl.

Look for the temperature to be 79° when the parking lots open at 10:15 am for tailgating. Between then and about 3 pm, the temperature will rise to a high of 89° before it finally starts to cool off.

It should dip to about 87°when the game kicks off at 4:15 pm and to about 84° by halftime. It will continue to slowly slide to about 80° when at the start of the fourth quarter. Once the sun finally sets just after 7 pm, expect it to drop into the upper 70s by the end of the fourth quarter.

Let’s take a look at how to watch, listen and stream tomorrow’s game.

UCLA Football (1-0)

• Opponent: San Diego State Aztecs (1-0)

• Series Record: UCLA leads, 22-1-1

• When: 4:15 pm PT, Saturday, September 12, 2026

• Where: Rose Bowl, Pasadena, CA

• Live TV: BTN with Wayne Randazzo, Brett Hundley and Emma Carpenter

• Live Stream: Fox.com and the Fox One app

• Radio/Audio:
  KABC-AM 790 in Los Angeles with Josh Lewin, Matt Stevens and Wayne Cook
  Satellite Radio: Sirius Ch. 178 & XM Ch. 231 (UCLA Call)

  Online: UCLABruins.com

• Live Stats: UCLA StatBroadcast

• Game Notes:
  UCLA
  SDSU

• Rebroadcast (All times PT):
  TBD

Go Bruins!!!

Thanks again for supporting The Mighty Bruin. Your paid subscriptions make this site possible. Questions, comments, story ideas, angry missives and more can be sent to @TheMightyBruin on Twitter.

Let’s finish up our previews of the San Diego State Aztecs by looking at the defense which Nico Iamaleava, Wayne Knight and the Bruins will be up against tomorrow night. First-year defensive coordinator Demetrius Sumler will be calling the Aztec defense tomorrow night, and he is using a 4-2-5 base defense.

Looking at the list of Aztec starters from last week and this week’s SDSU depth chart, it seems like SDSU will play four true defensive linemen, two linebackers, and five defensive backs. It doesn’t appear that the Aztecs will employ any kind of hybrid position like a lot of other defenses have chosen to employ. Of course, without studying hours worth of film, that’s not guaranteed and it also doesn’t mean that SDSU might not call a defensive play where, for instance, one of the edge rushers falls off into pass coverage. That could happen. Of course, if it does, it will result in a weaker pass rush and should equate to more time for Nico to find an open receiver or a chance to take off.

Let’s look at San Diego State’s defensive personnel.

Defensive Line

All four starting defensive linemen for the Aztecs are seniors. On the inside, Malachi Finau and Gavriel Lightfoot will start as the defensive tackles. Lightfoot was third on the team in tackles last week with six. He also had a TFL and a QB hurry while Finau registered just one tackle as well as a QB hurry. On the outside of the defensive line, Brady Nassar will start as the Field Edge while either Kai Wallin or Djibril Rahman will get the start as the Rush Edge.

Nassar only registered a quarterback hurry last week while his backup Nate Henrich had SDSU’s only sack last week along with a quarterback hurry. On the other side, Wallin only made one tackle and he had a quarterback hurry. Rahman’s only stat from last week was a QB hurry.

Linebackers

Senior Will linebacker Sione Hall joined the Aztecs this year after spending last season at Weber State and the previous three seasons at Boston College. He led SDSU in tackles last week with 11. He will be backed up by junior Cameron Cooper, who had six tackles last week.

Senior Tano Letuli will start at the Sam/Mike linebacker spot. Letuli was second on the team in tackles last week with seven. Sophomore Dean Harrington will back him up. While Harrington did play last week, he did not record any defensive statistics.

Secondary

Moving to the secondary, Mike Lindsay will start at right corner. The sophomore is a transfer who joined SDSU from Idaho State this year. In his Aztec debut, he made two tackles and intercepted a pass. His backup is Caleb Ricks, who made four tackles last week in addition to breaking up a pass.

On the left side, senior Jelani Whitmore will start and he will be backed up by senior Carsten Mamaril and sophomore Jamison Starks. Whitmore made three tackles against Portland State. Mamaril added six tackles, and while Starks did play, he didn’t records any stats last week.

Senior Josh Hunter is the starting free safety, and he made three tackles last week. Junior Isaiah Green, who made a tackle, picked off a pass and broke one up, will back Hunter up.

The starting strong safety, which SDSU sometimes calls the Bullet, will be sophomore Jelani McLaughlin. Senior Max Garrison and true freshman Tainoa Lave will come off the bench. Last week, McLaughlin made five tackles, broke up a pass and blocked a punt. Lave made one tackle last week while Garrison played but didn’t register any stats.

Finally, senior Josiah Cox will be the starting nickel. Cox made six tackles and had a quarterback hurry last week. When he’s not on the field, expect to see junior Jalen Thomeson. Thomeson made four tackles last week.

Outlook

After watching UCLA’s running game last week, I really like how the Bruin offense should match up against the Aztecs’ six-man defensive front. Having that fifth DB on the field should definitely help out the Bruins’ rushing attack.

If the Bruins can succeed at running the ball effectively in all four quarters like they did in the second and fourth quarters last week, it should be a convincing win in the Bruin home opener.


Go Bruins!!!

Thanks again for supporting The Mighty Bruin. Your paid subscriptions make this site possible. Questions, comments, story ideas, angry missives and more can be sent to @TheMightyBruin on Twitter.

This morning, we continue this week’s UCLA football previews with a look at the San Diego State Aztecs offense. The Aztecs had quite the week offensively last week. They put up 53 points last week. At the same time, they played Portland State, an FCS school from the Big Sky Conference. So, 50 points was likely the bare minimum floor for the SDSU offense.

San Diego State runs an offense created by former Baylor head coach Art Briles called the “Veer and Shoot.” The name was popularized by Stewart Mandel and it was called that in an article by Ian Boyd on Football Study Hall. Boyd has also written this article explaining the concepts used in this offense. It describes it far better than I could and if you want to learn about what to expect from Sean Lewis’ team tomorrow, it provides a good primer.

Let’s look at the Aztecs’ offensive personnel.

Quarterback

SDSU will start senior Jayden Denegal at quarterback. Last week against Portland State, Denegal was 12-of-17 for 137 yards and two touchdowns before being relieved by redshirt freshman Stone Sanders. Sanders was 2-of-4 for 20 yards in last week’s game.

On the ground, Denegal ran the ball three times for 21 yards while Sanders is credited with one rush for -8 yards, which was a quarterback sack by the Vikings.

Admittedly, the total stats for the Aztec quarterbacks from last week are surprisingly small given that the option plays such an important role in the Veer and Shoot offense. At least last week, SDSU didn’t need to throw the ball much to put up 53 points and they didn’t need to rely too much on Denegal’s legs either since he only ran the ball three times all game.

Running Backs

If the Aztecs didn’t throw much last week or rely on Denegal to take off, the SDSU offense did primarily focus on running the ball. In fact, they ran it 38 times excluding the carries by the two quarterbacks.

Senior running back Lucky Sutton will start at running back. Last week, Sutton carried the ball 18 times. Despite carrying that many times, he only managed to gain 63 yards on the ground. That’s an average of 3.2 yards per carry. At the same time, three of his carries took him into the end zone.

Sophomore running back Javion Kinnard provided the second punch last week for the Aztec rushing attack. He carried just eight times for 82 yards against the Vikings for an average of 9.9 yards per carry. So, while he had fewer than half the carries Sutton had, Kinnard actually gained more yards overall.

Three other running backs carried a total of 11 times for 80 yards with five of those carries going to redshirt freshman Jordin Thomas. Thomas gained 38 yards on those five carries. He also added a touchdown.

Passing Game

Three seniors will start at receiver for San Diego State. Lining on the outside will be Bert Emanuel, Jr. and Donovan Brown, while Nathan Acevedo will work as the slot receiver. While Emanuel got the start last week, he didn’t catch a pass. In fact, his only touch of the game came on a running play where he gained seven yards. Acevedo led the receivers with four receptions for 47 yards and a touchdown. Meanwhile, Brown made two catches for 24 yards.

Off the bench, senior receiver Justius Lowe led the Aztecs in receiving yards with 56 despite only making two receptions. Two freshmen also caught some balls for SDSU last week.

Others catching passes last week included junior Jordan Napier, freshman Daishaun Davis, and freshman Carson Diehl. Javion Kinnard also caught one coming out of the backfield.

While junior Jackson Ford started at tight end, he did not catch a pass last Saturday. In 13 games last year, Ford caught ten passes for 86 yards and one touchdown.

Outlook

Overall, SDSU’s offensive output of 394 yards seems to be somewhat unimpressive given the number of points they put up last week, especially when you consider that Portland State racked up 375 yards while only scoring 20 points. Of course, the flipside to that is the overall efficiency of the Aztec offense.

To be sure, much of that efficiency was due to the fact that Portland State is an FCS school, which makes me hopeful that SDSU won’t be as efficient tomorrow.

That will likely depend on how the Bruin defense plays. At times, UCLA’s defense looked very good last week, but there were enough challenges which need to be cleaned up that Bruin fans may find themselves concerned again.

At the same time, it’s frequently said that a team’s biggest improvement comes between game one and game two. Hopefully, that proves to be the case for the Bruins.


Go Bruins!!!

Thanks again for supporting The Mighty Bruin. Your paid subscriptions make this site possible. Questions, comments, story ideas, angry missives and more can be sent to @TheMightyBruin on Twitter.

On this 25th anniversary of the September 11th attacks, republishing this is one of the best ways I think we can remember the day of the attacks. While off our usual topic of UCLA Athletics, I think it will move you as much as it has always moved me. The author was a high school classmate of mine. Reprinted with permission from Dan McLaughlin. (Twitter: @BaseballCrank). -- Joe Piechowski

By Dan McLaughlin

Until September 11, 2001, I worked in the World Trade Center, halfway up Tower One. I was writing “the Baseball Crank” as a weekly baseball column for the online edition of the Providence (R.I.) Journal. Here’s my account of that day, written for ProJo two days later while it was all still fresh.

On Tuesday, they tried to kill me.

I am ordinarily at my desk between 7:30 and 8:30 in the morning, in my office on the 54th floor of one of the World Trade Center’s towers. Tuesday, I was running late – I stopped to vote in the primary election for mayor, an election that has now been postponed indefinitely. Thank God for petty partisan politics.

Around 20 minutes to 9, as I have done every day for the past five years, I got on the number 2/3 train heading to Park Place, an underground stop roughly a block and a half, connected underground, to the Trade Center. The train made its usual stop at Chambers Street, five blocks north of my office, where you can switch to the local 1/9 that runs directly into the Trade Center mall. The subway announcer – in a rare, audible announcement – was telling people to stay on the 2/3 because the tunnel was blocked by a train ahead of us. Then he mentioned that there had been “an explosion at the World Trade Center.”

Now, I grew up in the suburbs, so maybe I’m not as street smart as I should be, but after living in the city a few years, you develop a sense of the signs of trouble (like the time there were shots fired in the next subway car from mine). I didn’t know what the explosion was, maybe a gas leak or something, but I knew that I was better off getting above ground to see what was going on rather than enter the complex underground. So I got off the train to walk to work.

When I got above ground, there was a crowd gathering to see the horror above: a big hole somewhere in the top 15-20 stories of the north tower (having no sense of direction, I thought that was Number 2 at the time, not Number 1 where my office was), with flames and smoke shooting out. I quickly realized it would not be safe to go into the office, despite a number of things I had waiting for me to do, so as I heard the chatter around about there having been a plane crash into the building (onlookers were saying “a small plane” at that point) and a possible terrorist attack, I turned away to start looking for a place to get coffee and read the newspaper until I could find out what had happened. That was when it happened.

The sound was a large BANG!, the unmistakable sound of an explosion but with almost the tone of cars colliding, except much louder. My initial thought was that something had exploded out of the cavity atop the tower closer to us and gone . . . where? It was followed by a scene straight out of every bad TV movie and Japanese monster flick: simultaneously, everyone around me was screaming and running away. I didn’t have time to look and see what I was running from; I just took off, hoping to get away from whatever it was, in case it was falling towards us. Nothing else can compare to the adrenaline rush of feeling the imminent presence of deadly danger. And I kept moving north.

Once people said that a second plane had hit the other tower, and I saw it was around halfway up – right where my office was, I thought, still confused about which tower was which – it also appeared that the towers had survived the assault. I used to joke about this, telling people we worked in the only office building in America that had been proven to be bomb-resistant. I stopped now and then, first at a pay phone where I called my family, but couldn’t hear the other end. I stopped in a few bars, calling to say I was OK, but I still didn’t feel safe, and I kept moving north. In one bar I saw the south tower collapse, and had a sick feeling in my stomach, which increased exponentially when I saw Tower Number One, with my office in it and (so far as I knew) many of the people I work with as well, cave in. Official business hours start at 9:30, but I started reeling off in my head all the lawyers who get in early in the morning, and have for years. I thought of the guy who cleans the coffee machines, someone I barely speak to but see every day, who has to be in at that hour. I was still nervous, and decided not to think about anything but getting out alive. A friend has an apartment on 109th street, so I called him and kept walking, arriving on his doorstep around 1 p.m., and finally sat down, with my briefcase, the last remnant of my office. I had carried a bunch of newspapers and my brown-bag lunch more than 120 blocks. The TV was on, but only CBS was broadcasting – everyone else’s signal had gone out of the Trade Center’s antenna.

Finally, the news got better. I jumped when there were planes overhead, but they were F-15s, ours. American combat aircraft flying with deadly seriousness over Manhattan. My wife was home, and she had heard from people at the office who got out alive. It turns out that my law firm was extraordinarily lucky to get so many people out – nearly everyone is now accounted for, although you hold your breath and pray until it’s absolutely everyone. The architect who designed the towers – well, we used to complain a lot that the windows were too narrow, but the strength of those buildings, how they stayed standing for an hour and an hour and a half, respectively, after taking a direct hit by a plane full of gasoline – there are probably 10 to 15,000 people walking around New York today because they stayed up so long.

By Wednesday night, the adrenaline was finally wearing off, and I was just angry. They had tried to kill me, had nearly killed many of the people I work with, and destroyed the chair I sit in everyday, the desk I work at and the computer I do my work on. And that’s before you even begin to count the other lives lost. Words fail to capture the mourning, and in this area it’s everywhere. I finally broke down Thursday morning, reading newspaper accounts of all the firemen who were missing or dead, so many who had survived so many dangers before, and ran headlong into something far more serious, far more intentional. My dad was a cop, my uncle a fireman. It was too close.

The mind starts to grasp onto the little things, photos of the kids and from my wedding; the radio in my office that I listened to so many Mets games on, working late; a copy of my picture with Ted Williams (more on that some other day); the little Shea Stadium tin on my desk that played “take me out to the ballgame” when you opened it to get a binder clip, the new calculator I bought over the weekend. All vaporized or strewn halfway across the harbor. The things can mostly be replaced, they’re just things, but it’s staggering to see the whole context of your daily routine disappear because somebody – not “faceless cowards,” really, but somebody in particular with a particular agenda and particular friends around the world – wants you dead.

There’s a scene that comes to mind, and I’m placing it in the Lord of the Rings because that’s where I remember it, but feel free to let me know if I’ve mangled it or made it up. Frodo the hobbit has lived all his life in the Shire, where the world of hobbits (short, human-like creatures) revolves around hospitality and particular etiquette and family snobbery and all the silliest little things, silly at least in comparison to the great and dangerous adventure he finds himself embarked on. Aragorn, one of the Men, has been patrolling the area around the Shire for years, warding off invading creatures of all varieties of evil. Frodo asks Aragorn, eventually, whether he isn’t frustrated with and contemptuous of hobbits and the small, simple concerns that dominate their existence, when such dangers are all at hand. Aragorn responds that, to the contrary, it is the simpleness and even the pettiness of the hobbits that makes the task worthwhile, because it’s proof that he has done his job – kept them so safe and insulated from the horrors all around them that they see no irony, no embarrassment in concerning themselves with such trivial things in such a hazardous world. It has often struck me that you could ask no better description of the role of law enforcement and the military, keeping us so safe that we may while our days on the ups and downs of made-up games.

And that’s why baseball still matters. There must be time for mourning, of course, so much mourning, and time as well to feel secure that 55,000 people can gather safely in one place. The merciful thing is that because, save for the Super Bowl and the Olympics, U.S. sports are so little followed in the places these evildoers breed – murderous men, by contrast, have little interest in pennant races – that they have not acquired the symbolic power of our financial and military centers. But that may not be forever.

But once we feel secure to try, we owe it most of all to those who protect us as well as those who died to resume the most trivial of our pursuits. Our freedom is best expressed not when we stand in defiance or strike back with collective will, but when we are able again to view Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens as the yardsticks by which we measure nastiness, to bicker over games. That’s why the Baseball Crank will be back. This column may be on hiatus for an undetermined time while the demands of work intrude – we intend to be back in business next week, and this will not be without considerable effort – but in time, I will offer again my opinion of why it would be positively criminal to give Ichiro the MVP, and why it is scandalous that Bill Mazeroski is in the Hall of Fame. And then I’ll be free again.

When UCLA was in the Pac-12, the conference would make fun of the Big Ten because the Big Ten had more than ten members. These days, the Big Ten is now up to 18 including four former Pac-12 schools.

Meanwhile, Washington State and Oregon State retained the Pac-12 name when the other 10 schools left, and they have reconstituted the conference with five former Mountain West schools, plus Texas State from the Sun Belt as well as Gonzaga which has joined the conference for basketball.

As a result, San Diego State is finally a member of the Pac-12, but almost all of the schools SDSU wanted to join have left.

As far as the Aztec football team goes, the team’s head coach is Sean Lewis, who is now in his third season leading SDSU football. Since taking over the Aztecs, Lewis has led the team to an overall 13-13 mark, but that record is deceiving. It makes it seem like San Diego State has had two mediocre seasons. To the contrary, that isn’t the case.

While Lewis’ first season with the Aztecs was a bad 3-9, he flipped the script last year and led the team to an impressive 9-4 mark, which included wins over UC Berkeley, Fresno State and Boise State and losses to Washington State, Hawai’i and New Mexico. Last week, SDSU thumped Portland State 53-20 at Snapdragon Stadium.

Interestingly, SDSU may have faced UCLA head coach Bob Chesney even if he didn’t come to Westwood as the Aztecs will host James Madison next week.

Prior to joining SDSU, Lewis worked as the offensive coordinator at Colorado under Deion Sanders. In fact, Lewis left h is head coaching gig at Kent State to work for Sanders. His overall record in five seasons with the Golden Flashes is as sneaky as his record with the Aztecs.

In his first season in 2018, Kent State went 2-10. He led them to a 7-6 mark in 2019 including the school’s first-ever bowl victory over Utah State in the Frisco Bowl. The team went 3-1 in 2020 and went 7-7 in 2021, closing that season with a loss to Wyoming in the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl. In his final season with the Flashes, the team went 5-7.

Matt Johnson joined Lewis with the Aztecs as the team’s quarterbacks coach for 2024 and was promoted to offensive coordinator last year. Johnson had worked with Lewis at Syracuse and he followed Lewis to Kent State when Lewis was hired as the head coach of the Golden Flashes. Johnson was promoted to offensive coordinator when Lewis left for Colorado.

After each of Lewis’ first two seasons at SDSU, he lost his defensive coordinator at the end of the season. Eric Schmidt was hired as the head coach at the University of North Dakota after the 2024 season. He was replaced by Rob Aurich last season, but Aurich was hired as Nebraska’s new defensive coordinator. Demetrius Sumler was promoted to defensive coordinator this season, having spent his entire coaching career with the Aztecs working his way up since 2016 when he joined the program as a graduate assistant.

SDSU Special Teams

The Aztecs’ kicker will be senior transfer Cooper DiLeva, who comes to SDSU after playing at Arkansas last year. Last week against Portland State, DiLeva was a perfect 6-for-6 on PATs and he made his only field goal attempt from 31 yards. DiLeva kicked off nine times last week. He averaged 65.0 yards per kickoff and eight of his kickoffs were touchbacks. Portland State probably should have taken a touchback instead of returning one of those kickoffs as it was returned 24 yards, making the effort not worth it.

Senior punter Tashi Dorje is returning for a second season with SDSU after beginning his collegiate career at the College of San Mateo. Last week, Dorje punted just twice. One was a 48-yarder and the other was a 46-yarder. Last season, he punted three times for an average of 50 yards.

Last week, the Aztecs returned four kickoffs from Portland State. Three of the kickoffs were returned by redshirt freshman receiver Jaylon Hawkins. He managed to return one of those kickoffs 100 yards for a touchdown. He totaled 141 return yards last week. Sophomore received Parker Threatt returned SDSU’s fourth kickoff for 30 yards.

The Aztecs were not as good returning punts as they were at returning kickoffs. Junior safety Jelani McLaughlin was SDSU’s leading punt returner last week with nine yards on one return. Nathan Acevedo was the only Aztec to return more than one punt. He returned two punts for five yards last week. Sophomore linebacker Oberhiri Eyafe returned a punt for four yards.


Go Bruins!!!

Thanks again for supporting The Mighty Bruin. Your paid subscriptions make this site possible. Questions, comments, story ideas, angry missives and more can be sent to @TheMightyBruin on Twitter.

I don’t think you could have scripted a better first game if you were Bob Chesney.

Don’t get me wrong; UCLA’s season-opening 45-24 victory over little brother UC Berkeley to begin the Bob Chesney era was not a perfect game by any stretch of the imagination. The game had plenty of twists and momentum shifts, with the Bruins fluctuating between a near-blowout and suddenly losing control of the wheel. Chesney even mentioned in the post-game pressers that there was plenty that needed to be cleaned up for the team to get where they want to go.

But on a macro level, I don’t think that matters all that much. Chesney’s Bruins just had the best UCLA debut since Jim Mora and Brett Hundley took the field against Rice in 2012. Bruin fans spent the entire offseason ingesting news about the program, building up hype and hope, and in the first opportunity for the team to play real games, they did not fall flat on their faces but rather lived up to the hype. Again, this was not a perfect game, but the result was a 21-point victory in a rivalry game that has grown more bitter in recent years, which has to count for something.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. Welcome to the Eye Test! This is our weekly deep dive article where we take a closer look at each game and break down how the team performed on an individual and team-wide level, giving us a season-long look at how the team is progressing. The Eye Test is divided into five categories, shown here with a quick breakdown of what is in each grade:

• Offense - Fairly simple; this is just the offensive players and how they played. Scheme and playcalling are mostly ignored here, instead focusing on individuals.

• Defense - Same thing as offense, but with the defensive players.

• Special Teams - The same thing as the previous two categories, but this tends to be more of a pass/fail section. Still, special teams are important and can win or lose you a game, so they get their section.

• Coaching - This gets into things like scheme, playcalling, roster management, and the like, separated into offense, defense, and overall.

• Trend - Sticking around this season, Trend is a general vibes measurement on whether the team is moving in a positive or negative direction.

A couple more bits of housekeeping before we get started. First, grades are up to my discretion and are completely arbitrary. I’m sure people will feel differently about certain things, and I encourage you to head into the comments to tell me I’m a big stinky doo-doo head, but I’m just putting it out there now so that people know what’s going on. Second, the detail in the write-ups will vary from time to time, mostly in the first few sections, for the simple fact that I get bored writing the same thing over and over every week. Assume that if I don’t talk about a specific player or unit, they were either fine or did not play, and I want to talk more about the players and units that did impact the game the most.

On to the review!

Offense

Quarterback: C+

This was not Nico Iamaleava’s best game in a UCLA uniform - that honor may forever go to dragging a moribund team to an upset victory over Penn State last year - but that doesn’t mean it was bad. That said, this felt like a quintessential Iamaleava performance, with the junior quarterback offering both steady play and poor decision-making.

On the steady play part, I think this offensive system is going to make things so much easier for Iamaleava. For one, I think the talent throughout the offense has improved, especially on the offensive line and in the receiver room. The system itself is geared towards efficiency and staying ahead of the chains with a heavy emphasis on the run game, which is a quarterback’s best friend. Nico himself is hyper-athletic and his running ability adds an extra dimension to that attack, as his rushing touchdown showed; there were a few designed quarterback runs throughout the game that really showcased how dynamic he can be in the open field (provided he protects the ball better). A lot of the passing similarly plays to his strengths by giving him plenty of options in the short and intermediate part of the field; eight of his 22 passing attempts came at or behind the line of scrimmage, with another five only going 1-4 yards past the line. That said, I did feel that Nico’s deep passes were a bit better than they’ve been in the past, though if he put a little more air under his seam pass to Mikey Mathews late in the first half, he runs all the way for a touchdown.

On the flip side, there were still some problem plays. The first thing that continues to stand out to me is that he’s still getting passes tipped at the line, which should be an extreme rarity given his 6-6 frame. Iamaleava has a weird release where he chicken-wings far too often, shortening his delivery and making the ball easier to tip, and I’m just not sure it’s fixable at this point in his career. Chesney stated in the postgame that the interception was more a problem of Brian Rowe Jr. not running the correct route, but I don’t think it helped that Nico stared the receiver down in an empty backfield set, making it easy for the defender to cheat up. And I’m going to blame the first sack squarely on Nico’s shoulders, as he should have recognized that the corner was playing close to the box thanks to the set and that he would need to be accounted for (spoiler alert: I think it is hard to blame the offensive line for a single sack in this game!)

The big question regarding Nico will be his health going forward. It looks like he got cleated a bit following his last run, which is not a fun feeling, but he did avoid a more serious injury. Still, it will be something to monitor going forward.

Running Backs: A

I was a bit concerned going into the season that UCLA had perhaps too much talent in the backfield and would struggle getting everyone the touches they deserve. I still have that concern, to some extent, but it is hard to argue with the results.

The running back room is a three-headed hydra that is going to kill opposing teams just through its depth. All three running backs offer different looks that teams have to account for, and they work well in tandem. I think Thomas had the “worst” night of the three, but as the speed option that can make plays in the open field, I liked what I saw from him and think that speed option can become a weapon with time. Anthony Woods had the best statistical day of the running backs thanks to two long touchdown runs, the second of which put a capper on the game. That first touchdown run, however, was one of the most impressive of the game, as Woods followed the initial blocking well before using his lower center of gravity to maintain his balance and bounce outside.

Wayne Knight, however, had the star-making performance in this one, showing off the entire bag to the tune of 157 all-purpose yards. Knight had eight carries for 71 yards and three touchdowns, added two receptions for an additional 30 yards, and averaged 28 yards on his two kick returns. Knight took over in the 4th quarter when UCLA needed a spark, taking the first handoff following Ta’Shawn James’s first interception and blowing past the Berkeley defenders en route to a 31-yard touchdown run. It was an impressive run, where Knight identified the hole quickly and showed decisiveness in attacking it, which allowed him to build up plenty of momentum to break through an arm tackle at the second level.

Were there a few things to clean up? Sure, especially when it came to blocking, but I was thoroughly impressed by this group.

Receivers: B

The receiving corps was not asked to do much in this game from a reception standpoint. UCLA only had 24 pass attempts compared to 32 rushing attempts, and many of those passes came at or around the line of scrimmage. Still, the receivers didn’t have anything I would consider a drop, and while Chesney put much of the blame for Iamaleava’s interception on Brian Rowe, I don’t see how much more he can do in that situation to prevent an interception. I was impressed with Rowe otherwise in his few touches, and I thought Mikey Mathews had an impressive game in his return to Berkeley.

The bigger news from this group is how well they were run-blocking, especially the tight ends. This is something we are seeing in NFL teams like the Rams, where the receivers are expected to be physical and present in run blocking, as it helps to set them up for success in the passing game. UCLA wants to run play action as much as possible, which means they need to establish a successful run game early and often. Thus, if the receivers are blocking well, then they’re more likely to get the ball later in the game with a better opportunity for a big gain. I thought the tight ends were exceptional when it came to run blocking; for example, Brayden Loftin had a really nice seal on Knight’s first touchdown run that allowed the offensive line to get to the next level, while he had a great downfield block that paved the way for Iamaleava’s touchdown run. Josh Phifer had a few great blocks on the game-sealing touchdown drive to free up Knight to the outside. Anthony Woods’s final touchdown was keyed by an excellent outside block by Harry Lodge. The receivers also had a great day blocking, especially Landon Ellis and Matthews. I’ll even point out Semaj Morgan as being unfairly targeted by a holding call for simply pancaking a defender downfield.

Ellis’s status will be a question mark going forward for the next few weeks, but otherwise a solid first outing for this group.

Offensive Line: A-

What a difference a year makes.

UCLA fans have suffered through some bad offensive line performances in the past decade, so maybe we’re being too positive here, but this was a breath of fresh air. If your team ever runs for 277 yards in a single game, you’re probably doing a few things right, and while the scheme is definitely a factor, I was impressed with the aggressiveness and physicality of this group.

First off, it is so nice to have a real center again, and Riley Robell had a great understanding of what was being asked of him, picking up defensive linemen and communicating the protections to the rest of the line. Plus, it was nice not having to worry about the snaps to the quarterback for an entire game. I was also pleasantly surprised by the improvement from Eugene Brooks, who was often UCLA’s best offensive lineman last year but looks worlds better in this scheme. Both Brooks and right guard Carter Sweazie were utilized in a lot of pulling action and showed some solid athleticism to swing around and get in position to make a block. Sweazie also had the block of the game during Knight’s go-ahead touchdown run, when he was able to get to the second level and absolutely pancaked a Berkeley linebacker, creating a hole a mile wide for Knight to run through.

UCLA’s pass protection was generally good as well, providing Nico plenty of time to scan the field and make a throw. Of the two sacks that UCLA gave up on Saturday, one was clearly on Nico for not recognizing where the corner was lined up and accounting for him, while the other would probably count as a coverage sack more than anything else (Iamaleava has four seconds in the pocket before he is touched). It certainly helped that UCLA was not using a lot of longer route concepts, but even on the end of first half heave to Matthews in the seam, the line provided plenty of time for Nico to let the play develop and set his feet for the deep pass.

Now, it wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows here. The line picked up two holding calls (and probably could have picked up more), and with both of them featuring more of a hip-toss motion, this could be something the line is being taught to do. I’m also a bit concerned with the depth, as Julian Armella had a below-average outing (though wasn’t a clear negative, so I guess that’s a relief) and there was no other lineman who played meaningful snaps outside the starters. We’ll see if that changes.

Overall: B+

I don’t know how much of the 3rd quarter doldrums can be placed at the feet of the players, but it did happen, and when you have a quarter where you only gain five yards, it’s going to affect your grade, and there were execution issues aplenty in that quarter.

But otherwise, the Bruins found plenty of offensive success against what should end up as a decent UC Berkeley defense. There was a lot of consternation about how the defense was struggling to force a 4th down, but at the end of the game the Bruins ended up with a better 3rd down conversion rate (55% to 52%) and, maybe more impressively, only faced 3rd down 11 times in total. Of UCLA’s 13 non-kneeldown drives, seven ended in points, with another point-scoring opportunity ending via interception. That’s great efficiency, and something the team can build on going forward.

Defense

Rush Defense: B+

A lot was made during the game about how the run defense looked porous, but after review, I have to say the defense held up pretty well in this regard.

Much of the credit should go to the linebackers, especially Sammy Omosigho, who looks like a budding star. I’m not surprised he looked as good as he did given he had time under Brett Venables and the Oklahoma defense, but he looked like a verifiable playmaker throughout this game, finishing with a team-high 14 tackles, including a sack (and forced fumble) and two tackles for loss. Omosigho was everywhere, sprinting into the backfield on some plays, then playing disciplined run fits on others. It truly felt like he was around the ball at all times. Jalen Woods, who looked like the odd man out once Trent Hendricks signed with the team during the tail end of fall camp, was similarly impressive, with 11 tackles of his own, including a number of big-time tackles that stopped big plays. Then we’ll throw in Donavyn Pellot, who was asked to do the most of the linebackers and rose to the occasion, shifting between pass coverage and playing at the line seamlessly. The energy of this group also seemed infectious, as almost every UC Berkeley play ended with a handful of Bruins gang-tackling their opponent. That’s usually a sign of a good defense that is active and playing with purpose.

The defensive line generally did a solid job. The interior is going to be the biggest weak point of this defensive unit, and there was a clear effort to rotate guys around and find the best options. Tyson Ford played the most and generally held up, so I think you can count on him moving forward, while the rest of the group had a mixed day. I think you can give Amier Washington a bit of a pass since he got injured early and was clearly playing through some pain, but I’d also say Darold DeNgohe did enough to warrant further consideration. I’ve seen enough of AJ Fuimaono over the years to know he’s serviceable but unspectacular, and I think if I saw less of him that’d be a good indication of the rest of the line’s development.

Still, when you only give up 3.0 YPC on 40 carries, you’re doing something right. Berkeley was only able to put together four carries of 10+ yards compared to UCLA’s eight, and the longest only went 20 yards, so the run defense did its job and contained the Golden Bears on the ground.

Pass Defense: C+

Pass defense was another story, but one I can’t fully blame on the secondary because Jaron-Keare Sagapolutele is a great quarterback who made some excellent passes. In fact, this game may look a bit differently if JKS had some help from his receivers, as both of his interceptions could be blamed on them either not catching a ball or running the wrong route.

That said, the secondary had some issues, and it is clear how much they needed Scooter Jackson in this one. There was a lot of chatter during the offseason that Jackson would be ineligible to play this season due to some undisclosed circumstances, but on Friday, it was announced that he was cleared to play, and the Bruins definitely needed his coverage ability against the bigger receivers of Berkeley. Jackson (and running mate Roderick Pleasant) weren’t perfect, playing perhaps too handsy and getting a few pass interference calls, but it was apparent that UCLA is better with those two on the field, as the quick touchdown drive before the half by Berkeley came with Pleasant sitting out. Similarly, Cole Martin was not on the field a ton as he works back from injury, so the safeties were a work in progress. I thought Ta’Shawn James had a fine performance in relief of an injured Tao Jackson, though the two interceptions definitely buoyed his performance here.

On the flip side, I was pleasantly surprised with the pass rush. Sahir West will not be in Westwood all that long, as he is headed to the NFL as soon as he is eligible. Officially, West only finished with one sack, but there were plenty of plays where he won his rep pretty decisively and essentially caved in one whole side of the offensive line by himself, which freed up the rest of the line to do damage. Omosigho also did a great job of getting to the quarterback, with his sack being a smart play to let West take up the offensive tackle, then running around him to get to JKS. I was also pleasantly surprised by Anthony Sacca’s play; the Notre Dame transfer did not have a set position when he came over this past offseason, but it looks like he could have a future on the edge. UCLA’s pass rush has been nonexistent these past few years, so getting real pressure and sacks (the Bruins finished with three sacks and two more QB hurries) is a huge improvement and should help out the secondary.

Overall: B

Here’s the thing that stood out to me the most in this first game: on almost every play that UC Berkeley ran, it ended with the Berkeley player surrounded by a group of UCLA defenders. The Bruins showcased one of the best traits of a good defense, which is a full-unit commitment to flying to the ball and stopping forward progress as soon as possible. The gang tackling was great to see, especially after last year, and there was a lot of sound technique throughout the lineup. And here’s a fun stat: only 33% of UC Berkeley’s plays took place on the UCLA side of the field, compared to 59% of UCLA’s plays taking place in opposing territory. Of course, forcing three turnovers is also going to help things along.

Were there some missed plays? Sure, but this was a solid foundation to build on, and I think this defense can turn some heads as the season progresses.

Special Teams

Overall: A

I have a feeling I’m going to be writing this grade a lot this season, especially since Coach Chesney has a special teams background and emphasizes the group as a place where the team can get an edge. Mateen Bhaghani nailed his one FG attempt and all of his PATS, while three of Curtis Gerrand’s five punts landed inside the 20-yard line. On average, the Bruins started on their own 41-yard line compared to Berkeley averaging a start on their own 22-yard line. Did turnovers play a factor here? Certainly, but special teams also held up its end and kept the field flipped as much as possible.

Coaching

Offensive Gameplan: B

Typically in this section, we focus on the specific game plan the coaching staff goes with on each side of the ball, but given this is our first look at the new staff in a game situation, it gives us an opportunity to break down what the scheme looks like. And yes, both offensive coordinator Dean Kennedy and defensive coordinator Colin Hitschler performed these same roles with James Madison last year, but there was an expectation that there would be some changes to account for the new personnel available.

On offense, we knew Dean Kennedy loves to run the ball, with the passing game setting up off that running game with a heavy dose of play action. Through one game, that certainly seems to be the game plan going forward. UCLA hit Berkeley with a bevy of running plays, with the Bruins showing off all sorts of concepts like counter, power, a speed option, and a jet sweep. I mentioned it briefly when talking about the offensive line, but Kennedy seems to love pulling a lineman, typically a guard, and essentially using them as a lead blocker for the gap they want to attack. Let’s look at Anthony Woods’s first touchdown run, for example:

You’ll notice that left guard Eugene Brooks pulls around and wraps into the right B gap, getting to the second level and giving Woods an initial successful run of four yards (Woods then turns that into a touchdown thanks to his balance, but that’s the advantage of talent that Kennedy is now working with). UCLA hit run plays like this repeatedly; hilariously, UCLA pulled Carter Sweazie on Knight’s first touchdown, but UCLA had the play so well blocked already that Sweazie ends up just blocking air the entire time.

One question we had going in was regarding the frequency at which Nico Iamaleava would run. At James Madison, the quarterback was an integral part of the run game, and Iamaleava is certainly a great runner in his own right, but he does have an injury history, which made it a question of how exposed the new coaching staff wanted Nico to be. The answer, at least through one game, is that UCLA is going to be judicious in having Iamaleava run, with the junior quarterback having three designed runs in this game. Now, he did get injured on the last one (due to an apparent dirty play by the Berkeley defender), so we’ll see if that factors into future playcalling.

As for this particular game, I’m going to ding the playcalling for the end of the 1st half and the entirety of the third quarter, as the Bruins got away from the run right when they had the opportunity to put the game away and started getting pass-happy. My opinion with this run game is that UCLA should continue to ride it until the opponent can prove they can stop it with any sort of consistency.

Defensive Gameplan: A-

Defensively, we knew a few things about Colin Hitschler coming into this season. He’s big on having an attacking defense, with an emphasis on smart blitzing against both the run and pass, and his defense really keys on stopping the run and making college quarterbacks hit longer pass plays with consistency. That said, his defenses are liable to give up their share of big plays because the secondary often gets put on an island. The hope there is that UCLA would give Hitschler access to a higher quality of defensive back that could improve his defense on that front.

Just as with Kennedy, Hitschler stayed true to form in this first game, with the defense doing a great job of limiting UC Berkeley to 119 yards on 40 carries, for a low 3.0 YPC. JKS was able to do some damage in the passing game, with seven explosive passing plays, but the Bruins were also able to make things difficult for him by providing him with a number of different defensive looks. Take, for example, Omosigho’s sack and forced fumble:

UCLA lines up six along the defensive front with five defensive backs sitting in a straight line behind them. On the snap, all six linemen go forward, but then the middle three pull back to occupy space in the middle of the field, messing with the potential passing lanes for JKS. That forces him to hold the ball an extra second, allowing West to occupy the outside offensive line and Omosigho to make his way along the outside to get the sack.

Here’s one more, on Derrick Barksdale’s sack earlier in the half:

This is really smart design on the blitz. Omosigho crashes down on the line right before the snap and performs a bull rush to his right, dragging the right guard into the center. At the same time, Aiden Gobaira goes straight upfield on his rush, which drags the right tackle further to the right while engaging the running back, who gets drawn into the play as the extra blocker as soon as Gobaira gets near him. That creates a wide lane for Barksdale to run through, and he’s able to build up a full head of steam on his way to JKS for the sack.

I’m really excited to see how this defense continues to develop throughout the year. UCLA will face a few teams with better offensive talent than UC Berkeley (Oregon, Southern Cal), but if UCLA can limit the run game and mix things up, it could give them an advantage.

Overall: A-

Yes, I am dinging the overall for losing the middle eight when they had the game well in hand, but overall this was an impressive first outing for Chesney and company.

Here’s my one highlight to show the difference a year makes. Heading into the 4th quarter, Berkeley had all the momentum, having just converted another 3rd down to end the previous quarter after tying the game on their last possession. The stadium was rocking, and one team was dancing on the sidelines. If you were a UCLA fan, you probably felt like you’d seen this movie before and knew how it was going to end.

Except the team dancing heading into the fourth quarter wasn’t the Golden Bears; it was the Bruins. UCLA looked like the looser team despite having just played a 3rd quarter to regret, while UC Berkeley looked very tense, as if the weight of the moment was a tremendous burden on their collective shoulders.

You know how the rest of the game went. Berkeley managed only 71 yards of offense in the 4th quarter, their lowest total of the game, and did not score at all, allowing the Bruins to score 21 unanswered points to close out the game. The Bruins had practiced how to meet the moment all offseason, and when the time came to perform, they rose to the challenge. That’s a great sign not just for this season, but for the program moving forward.

Trend

Trending: Up

The vibes are simply immaculate around UCLA football at the moment. Martin Jarmond is gone, replaced by a new athletic director who seemingly understands that UCLA needs to rebuild brand equity in Los Angeles. The chancellor is invested in athletics for the first time in decades. The new head coach took his new team on the road to face a rival and won convincingly.

The rest of the season will play out the way it does, but no matter what happens, it’s going to be hard to match the high UCLA fans are currently on.

Final Composite

Offense grade: B+ (3.3)

Defense grade: B (3.0)

Special Teams grade: A (4.0)

Coaching grade: A- (3.7)

Trending: Up

Final grade for UC Berkeley Golden Bears: B+ (3.42)

A B+ for the first game feels right, all things considered. UCLA was not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, and I think even Chesney would tell you that this team could look much better. But that makes writing this column much more fun, because we get to see how this team improves as the season progresses.

Right now, the Bruins are 1-0. Let’s see if they can go 1-0 again against San Diego State this week.

Go Bruins!

Thanks again for supporting The Mighty Bruin. Your paid subscriptions make this site possible. Questions, comments, story ideas, angry missives and more can be sent to @TheMightyBruin on Twitter.

It’s a great day to be alive and be a Bruin!

Last night, UCLA dominated UC Berkeley and scored three fourth quarter touchdowns to win, 45-21. Of course, after the game, UCLA head coach Bob Chesney and some of the players met with media to discuss the game.

One interesting tidbit about last night’s game comes from Ben Bolch, who is now with the California Post.

As usual, Bolch has a good article describing much of yesterday’s events which preceeded and followed Coach Chesney’s debut.

Overall, Coach Chesney’s mood was probably best described a tempered excitement. On one hand, he was happy for the win and for his players to get the win. At the same time, it was clear that he saw many of the things we all saw as well. “We got a ton of work that we have to do and clean up because we're just not there yet,” Chesney said.

After all, we wouldn’t want him to accept in victory what he wouldn’t accept in defeat.

He later went on to emphasize that point again later.

Chesney also spoke about what he said to the 17 transfers who showed up on the first day he was there in January. “We said to every single one of them, the only reason you could come here is if you intend to win a championship,” he explained. “And then the only other way you could come here is if you’re going to put the team first, your teammatex second, and yourself third.”

Chesney continued, “Team teammates self. That’s the only way you can do this, right? And then, those were all things that everybody agreed on and everybody believed in.”

“And, I think that’s what you’re seeing out here today. They battled and they they fight hard for each other,” he concluded.

In addition to Coach Chesney, Ta’Shawn James met with the media too. The senior defensive back had to step in due to an injury to Tao Johnson. He explained how the play went for his first interception. “I just had to do my job and let the play come to me and just fall back, catch the ball,” he said. “This is my first one.”

He still sounded almost still surprised about it when he added, “This is my first career. It’s my first career interception.”

The offense had three guys in the interview room after the game. Nico was there as was Wayne Knight and Mikey Matthews.

Mikey was asked about how he felt getting a victory in his return to Berkeley. He clearly took great delight in the win. “The student section was talking crazy,” he said. “So, I'm just happy that we were able to silence them and make him go home early,” he added somewhat smugly.

Matthews seemed to be a bit of a trash talker. When Nico was asked about his injury right off the bat, he was quick to call the play Nico got hurt on a dirty play. When Nico downplayed that, Mikey insisted that he had his back.

In addition to talking about the game, Knight was asked about his recruiting journey out of high school. He explained that JMU was the only Division I school which recruited him and they came in late. “It was a blessing and I took advantage of the opportunity. I committed in December actually,” he said. “You always want to get on the big stage and show everyone that you can do it.”

“I think just being in this room right now is you know it’s very fulfilling, but we got a lot more to do,” he concluded.

Of course, Nico was immediately asked about his injury and he downplayed it, saying he is “great.” He also credited the offensive line and the entire offensive unit. “The whole offensive unit made my job easy out there tonight,” he said. “We’ve seen our potential out there with this first game, and it's on us to go out there and put the work in.”

When a reporter tried to get Wayne Knight to say that it’s Coach Chesney’s age that lets him connect with his players, Knight wasn’t buying it. Knight explained:

“I would say he loves his players and you can truly see it in interviews or if you meet him as a person. He truly loves his players. He buys in. He gets his player to buy in and I think that’s just a huge testament to how he approaches every single day. He shows up the same leader every single day and he expects lot out of us.”

Finally, today, we’ll wrap this up by sharing what Nico had to say about this team’s potential. Iamaleava explained:

The sky’s the limit, I think. As we continue to buy into what Coach Chez has, I think, the sky’s is the limit. So, it’s on our job to focus on going 1-0 every week. We started off with 1-0 and we’re focused on the next week now.

Go Bruins!!!

Thanks again for supporting The Mighty Bruin. Your paid subscriptions make this site possible. Questions, comments, story ideas, angry missives and more can be sent to @TheMightyBruin on Twitter.

The UCLA Bruins scored three fourth quarter touchdowns to defeat the UC Berkeley Golden Bears, 45-24, tonight to open the 2026 season. The Bruins also won their first game under new head coach Bob Chesney, and Chesney won his seventh straight season opener.

Throughout the first half, UCLA looked much improved from last year. In the first half, UCLA ran the ball 14 times for 123 yards while Nico Iamaleava was 12-for-18 for 179 yards.

Even the defense looked good for most of the first half. UC Berkeley ran the ball 19 times for just 34 yards. Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele was 15-for-23 for 208 yards in the first half, though 78 of his 129 second quarter yards came on three plays in the final minute of the half.

The third quarter was really rough for the Bruin offense. UCLA only ran eight plays in the entire quarter. They ran it five times, but didn’t gain a single yard on the ground in the quarter. Meanwhile, Iamaleava was 2-for-3 for just five yards. It was enough to cause Bruin fans flashbacks to last season.

Thankfully, Dean Kennedy went back to the ground in the fourth quarter. Perhaps more importantly, the defense seized momentum for the Bruins with three big stops. On UC Berkeley’s first possession of the final quarter, Bear head coach Tosh Lupoi left the offense on the field for a fourth-and-three, but there was a bad snap and the Bruins took over on downs on the Berkeley 49 yard line.

After a quick three-and-out, UCLA punted and the Bears’ next drive began at their own 16. On third down, Ta’Shawn James intercepted a pass from Sagapolutele at midfield and ran it back to the 31.

Wayne Knight took a handoff all the way to the house on the first play of the drive for his second touchdown of the game, and the Bruins took a 31-24 lead.

On the fourth play of the ensuing drive, Sagapolutele threw another pass to James. This time, UCLA took their time on the drive, running almost four minutes off the clock before Knight scored for the third time on a four-yard run to give UCLA a 38-24 lead.

The Bruin defense held strong on UC Berkeley’s next drive too. After the Bears got the ball on their own 25 to start the drive and they got it across the 50 to the Bruin 47. But a pair of incomplete passes sandwiched a two-yard loss by Sagapolutele and UC Berkeley faced a fourth-and-twelve on UCLA’s 49. Fourth down saw the Bruins give up just two yards and UC Berkeley turned it over on downs at the Bruin 47.

UCLA stayed on the ground, handing it off to Anthony Woods, who decided to join the party with a 53-yard run for a touchdown, giving UCLA a 45-24 lead with just 1:17 left, and that’s how it ended.

Except for that third quarter when the Bruin offense was non-existent, it was a much improved outing for UCLA. At the same time, that isn’t to say the rest of the game was perfect.

It wasn’t. UCLA was called for 12 penalties for 110 yards while the Bears were called just six times for 59 yards. That said, the Big Ten officiating crew for this game missed their fair share of calls. At one point, a UC Berkeley player seemed to tackle a Bruin by grabbing his facemask, but no flag was thrown.Regardless, UCLA will need to clean this up moving forward, especially the three defensive PI calls and the two illegal substitution penalties. Those are just sloppy.

Finally, the Bruins won’t be able to get away with five yards in a quarter and still beat the Michigans and Ohio States of our conference. They definitely need to play a full four quarters moving forward, but overall, they worked hard, got the job done and will fly home happy.


Go Bruins!!!

Thanks again for supporting The Mighty Bruin. Your paid subscriptions make this site possible. Questions, comments, story ideas, angry missives and more can be sent to @TheMightyBruin on Twitter.

Tonight, UCLA will visit the UC Berkeley Golden Bears. It’s the first visit to Berkeley by the Bruins since 2022. There is plenty to be excited about when it comes to UCLA football. After decades of mediocrity, the Bruins may finally be on the right track when it comes to football.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock since last December, you know that’s because UCLA hired former James Madison head coach Bob Chesney to be the Bruins’ head coach. Chesney fits the mold that this Bruin fan has desired for years. His head coaching experience has led him on a journey which has taken him from Division III to Division II to the FCS to the FBS, and now, to the Power Four. Talk about paying your dues! Chesney certainly has. In fact, his first job as an assistant coach paid him a measley $5,000 a year. He proved himself at every level he’s coached, and he has won at every level. Now, he is tasked with doing the same thing in Westwood.

It might not happen overnight. Bruin fans may need some patience. While the team has more new guys between transfers and incoming freshmen than returning players, expectations for this season should be modest. What does success look like for Year 1 of the Chesney era? My expectations are simple: Bowl eligibility.

That’s right. A 6-6 record this year is progress. After all, UCLA has been to a bowl game just three times in the past decade. After finishing 3-9 last year for the second time since Chip Kelly took over in 2018, bowl eligibility is not asking too much.

Might these Bruins finish even better than 6-6? Sure, but if we do, it’s gravy. Coach Chesney’s record of turning programs around speaks for itself. We may need to have some patience this year. As good of a coach as he has been, we shouldn’t expect him to lead the Bruins to the CFP this year. If he does, it will be amazing, but we shouldn’t expect to get there quite yet.

All of that said, tonight’s game is one of the games these Bruins can—and should—win. What can they do to put themselves in a place to win? Let’s look at the Keys to the Game.

Keys to the Game

1. Run the Ball Well

UCLA struggled to run the ball well last year. When your quarterback is the team’s leading rusher, you know the team had a hard time running the ball. Chesney brought former JMU running back Wayne Knight to Westwood with him. He ran for 211 yards in the SBC title game last year. Comparatively, UCLA’s best running back last year netted 364 for the entire season. Running the ball well will lay the groundwork (pun intended) for a win tonight and for a successful season.

2. Control the Line of Scrimmage

This goes for both sides of the ball.

The Bruins averaged just 18.17 points per game last year. If they can control the line of scrimmage when on offense, they should score more than 20 points tonight and they will need to do that in order to win this game.

Controlling the line of scrimmage on defense will force more three-and-outs and keep the Golden Bears out of the end zone.

3. Use Special Teams as a Game Changer

When Chip Kelly was head coach, he refused to hire a dedicated special teams coordinator. Chip rather famously said, “They’d have to take a vacation, get a lawn chair out there for them, have them sit down and not do anything.”

By contrast, Chesney as a former special teams coach has emphasized special teams throughout practice, not just a short special teams period. Unsurprisingly, he has a special teams coordinator in Drew Canan.

Watch for the Bruins to do something on special teams that could change the outcome of tonight’s game.

Watch and Listen to the Game With TMB!

Tonight’s game is on ESPN and will stream on WatchESPN.com and the ESPN app with Tom Hart, Roddy Jones, and Quint Kessenich calling the game. If you would rather listen Josh Lewin, Matt Stevens and Wayne Cook call today’s game, you can listen to the game online while chatting in the TMB game thread. Just right click on either of those links and open them in another tab so you can have it playing while you chat in the comments below.

This is your UCLA Bruins at UC Berkeley Golden Bears game thread. Join your fellow Bruins discussing tonight’s game in the comments section below, but before you get there, here’s how to watch tonight’s game:

UCLA Football (0-0)

• Opponent: UC Berkeley Golden Bears (0-0)

• Series Record: UCLA leads, 58-35-1

• When: 7:30 pm PT, Saturday, September 5, 2026

• Where: California Memorial Coliseum, Berkeley, CA

• Live TV: ESPN with Tom Hart, Roddy Jones, and Quint Kessenich

• Live Stream: WatchESPN.com and the ESPN app

• Radio/Audio:
  KABC-AM 790 in Los Angeles with Josh Lewin, Matt Stevens and Wayne Cook
  Satellite Radio: Sirius Ch. 108 & XM Ch. 232 (UCLA Call)

  Online: UCLABruins.com

• Live Stats: UCLA StatBroadcast

• Game Notes:
  UCLA
  UC Berkeley

• Rebroadcast (All times PT):
  Monday, 9/7 at 12:00 am on ESPNU
  Monday, 9/7 at 1:00 am on ESPN
  Wednesday, 9/9 at 5:00 am on ACC
  Thursday, 9/10 at 10:00 am on ACC
  Friday, 9/11 at 8:00 am on ACC

Go Bruins!!! Beat Berkeley!!!

Thanks again for supporting The Mighty Bruin. Your paid subscriptions make this site possible. Questions, comments, story ideas, angry missives and more can be sent to @TheMightyBruin on Twitter.

It’s a new day in Westwood. Gone are everything Bruin fans have hated for years: Gene Block, Chip Kelly, where he’s Northwestern’s new OC LOL, DeShaun Foster, who’s still somewhere in LA, and Martin Jarmond. Now, UCLA has Julio Frenk, Tim Harris and, perhaps most importantly, Bob Chesney. Talk about a house cleaning.

While Chancellor Frenk and pro bono AD Harris may ultimately have some decisions to make with respect to the basketball program at some point down the road, it’s Chesney time right now.

Before we dive into some media interview, UCLA Magazine has a great but lengthy profile on Bob Chesney which is definitely worth checking out if you haven’t seen it already. As I read it, there were definitely Woodenesque comments in the article from Coach Chesney. One of my favorites was this one: “We’ve talked about some goals, but ultimately, we really should be process driven, not outcome driven.” It sounds like a more modern version of “Success is the peace of mind in knowing you’ve become the best you are capable of becoming.” The comparison is simple. Both quotes don’t care about wins and losses. Instead, Chesney and Wooden care about putting in the work to be the best.

Chesney is also fond of a quote from Mark Batterson, a pastor and the author of A Trip Around the Sun, who wrote in that book “The leading cause of success is well-managed failure, and the leading cause of failure is mismanaged success.” Chesney used the quote at his introductory press conference as well as during his interview with Sean Brenner for UCLA Magazine.

Anyway, it’s definitely worth taking a few minutes before kickoff to read that article. Let’s get to this week’s interviews and see what’s been getting said at this week’s UCLA football press conferences. I’m just going to share these here all in the same place to make it easy for our readers to watch them if you haven’t already. The videos in this article are courtesy of UCLA Athletics on YouTube unless noted otherwise.

We’ll start like we always do with the head coach. Coach Chesney began his press conference on Tuesday discussing the Martin Jarmond situation before moving on to Wyatt Mosier’s medical retirement and how Nico has progressed.

He also spoke about what he said to the team in terms of preparation for tonight:

The way I want to say it to them is that this is not special. This is important, right? And I think understanding that when you get to that game, it’s all important. All every game as that we play is important. game one of the season is, you know, obviously, uh, extremely important, but at the same point in time, um, you know, I want them to continue to focus on what they have to do on a day-to-day basis out here, a play-to-play basis out here, and just understand that whatever they’re doing is going to affect that game on Saturday. You want to walk on the field that Saturday understanding that you did everything in your power to be prepared.

He also met with the media on Monday where he spoke a lot about how they will adapt to things because they are facing a new coaching staff on the other side of the field. One of the things Coach Chesney was asked about was if he heard about Calimony. He responded by saying:

Yeah, I heard. I sure have. Yep. I think it is what it is. I don’t know if I would have agreed to that, but that’s I guess how it all went down.

One way you can tell that it’s a new day for UCLA football is that Coach Chesney’s assistants don’t have a muzzle on them the way Chip Kelly’s did. On Wednesday, Offensive Coordinator Dean Kennedy and Defensive Coordinator Colin Hitschler met with the media. Let’s look at Coach Kennedy’s interview first.

One of the things Coach Kennedy spoke about was the challenge of game one being the uncertainty of knowing what the opponent is going to do, and more importantly, how making adjustments determines who will win. Coach Kennedy said:

I think any first game, everybody deals with the same challenges. It doesn’t matter if it’s them to us, us to them. So everybody…it’s like when it rains out, everybody’s dealing with a wet surface. It’s no different. So, by no means, are we looking at that as an excuse, but that is part of game one that every coaching staff deals with.

They might have completely changed their defense. They may not. They might run stuff from that they ran last year. They may not. They might bring stuff from the Vikings. They may not. Like, who knows, right? And that’s what I think the biggest, thing that we have to understand is that the mid-game adjustments, that’s how you win this ball game, right? Especially on game one. And it goes for everybody, right? The players recognizing what are they trying to do and us recognizing and everybody getting on the same page.

A UCLA coach actually discussing mid-game adjustments? How refreshing!

He also spoke about how having different types of running backs and tight ends helps him get more creative offensively. Kennedy explained:

You never want in my opinion…you talk about I’ve said this before, tight ends and running backs. You don’t want the same body type, right? You don’t want the same person.

You want things to be able to do different things. And I think those two position groups, we have a multitude of tight ends and running backs that offer a lot of different things and have different strengths and one person’s weakness might be someone else’s strength. And what that allows you to do is get really creative in all honesty.

Get creative of where you put them in formationally. Get creative of the type of schemes that you do.

And like I said, I think those two positions are the ones that you can that get you can do a lot of things, you know what I mean? A tight end and running back, they typically align in the core, the running back’s next to the quarterback, however it is, right? And now when you can spread them out, put them both in the back…whatever it is that you do…I just think those positions can put a lot of stress on a defense.

Coach Hitschler also spoke about making in-game adjustments. He said:

I think we’ve been able to kind of paint a picture of what we think it’s going to look like and uh, obviously like any game one, you got to adjust.

Like Kennedy, he talked about having guys with different skill sets being able to make a difference. He explained:

Sometimes, the second string guy at that position does different things well than the first thing guy. So, you got to know that and kind of put that puzzle together as a coach as well. And I think the guys have really embraced their roles and I think we’re going to have a lot of people make a variety of different plays on Saturday.

DB Rodrick Pleasant and running back Jaivian Thomas were the players interviewed this week. While both players spoke about the journey through camp to get this point, it was the final thing that Rod said which really stood out. He was asked about what it would mean for the program to start off 1-0. His response tells you all you need to know:

I think it’s exciting. Um, we’re going to get out there and compete. That’s the biggest thing. Um, we’re worried about we’re worried about the process right now.

We’re not worried about the outcome. The process…what we do Monday through Friday will lead to the outcome we want on Saturdays.

Obviously, that connects back to what Coach Chesney has been emphasizing as far as being process driven, not outcome driven, and it’s good to hear.

While that’s all for this week’s pre-game interviews, I’m adding a few more interviews just to help you catch up in case you missed some of these.

If you aren’t pumped up by now to watch this team play tonight, I don’t know what will get you pumped up. Just in case you need one more thing to help pump you up, I’m going to wrap this up with the official 2026 UCLA Football Trailer.

Are you ready for some football now?


Go Bruins!!!

Thanks again for supporting The Mighty Bruin. Your paid subscriptions make this site possible. Questions, comments, story ideas, angry missives and more can be sent to @TheMightyBruin on Twitter.

I

Why does Wile E. Coyote chase the roadrunner?

In celebration of the movie Coyote vs. ACME finally coming to theaters, The Ringer released an oral history of the movie’s production process. It’s a fascinating (long) read, which you can go over here, but as I was going through it, I fell back on that question of why the coyote continues to chase after the roadrunner despite all evidence that it will not work.

Certainly, nature has something to do with it. The coyote needs to eat, and throughout the classic Chuck Jones cartoons, it becomes apparent that the roadrunner is perhaps the only meal in the area for the coyote. In this regard, the coyote’s single-minded focus on the roadrunner is understandable and, in its own way, justifiable. This isn’t some rivalry or attempt at dominance on the part of the coyote, but more the actions of an individual doing its best to survive in the world.

That is not to say ego has nothing to do with the chase, and Wile E. Coyote possesses plenty in that department. The roadrunner is a prize not just for its ability to provide sustenance but because it represents a goal to strive for, and the coyote is bound and determined to capture his prize in his own way. The roadrunner has never shown much in the way of traditional intelligence (the cartoon portrays the roadrunner more as a force of nature than anything else), and Wile E. has been shown time and again that his reliance on ACME products will ultimately lead to disaster, yet he persists in carrying out his hunt in the same way. It is so ingrained that you could imagine the coyote’s descendants carrying on this quixotic quest in much the same way.

Hubris could also be a factor. The coyote is nothing if not full of confidence in his ability to catch the roadrunner using his superior intellect (and apparently endless supply of money), yet that confidence only leads to ruin. Sometimes that ruin is quick, such as a rubber band launching him directly into the ground or a stick of dynamite failing to move away because the knot used to tie it was not tight enough, or sometimes it is a long, drawn-out process, such as the minutes-long gag involving Wile E. and the indestructible steel ball.

Yet despite the myriad of failures, there is an understanding that Wile E. Coyote will dust himself off and continue on his journey towards catching the roadrunner. It is beautiful, in its own twisted way, to watch someone deal with continuous struggle yet persevere, to look an obvious failure dead in the eyes and embrace it rather than walk away. Every rock that falls on him is not an impassable barrier, but a momentary hardship that must be endured to reach the ultimate goal. I’ve written about Sisyphus in the past, and the new movie does make a reference to the Greek myth, but the parallel is remarkably similar.

But more than anything, I feel a sort of admiration for Wile E. Coyote. At no point does he consider quitting, even when the universe tells him it isn’t the worst idea in the world. There is this belief in his head that, one day, he will catch the roadrunner. Maybe everything has to go right to make it happen, or maybe it’s as simple as being in the right place at the right time. After all, if the losingest program in college football can turn around and win a national championship while going 18-0, maybe anything is possible.

—

II

When I think about the history of UCLA football for the past 25+ years, the one thing I keep coming back to is a failure to truly compete.

Now, don’t get me wrong, UCLA has had some good players and occasional good teams roll through Westwood during this time, but when you look back at the decisions made, it often felt like the school would make the decision that would require the least amount of effort possible. Bob Toledo fell off after taking UCLA to some of the highest peaks in school history, and he was replaced with Karl Dorrell, a former UCLA player with no previous head coaching experience, but he was a good Bruin, and Pete Carroll’s Southern Cal was ascending, so why bother competing for a bit? When Dorrell’s program predictably scuffled in mediocrity, he was replaced by Rick Neuheisel, another good Bruin who actually had prior head coaching experience, but had not coached in college in the six years prior to his hiring. When Neuheisel flamed out, UCLA turned to Jim Mora, a coach who had flamed out at the NFL level but was dying to prove his doubters wrong, and for a brief moment in time, he did so, before his personal life bled too much into his professional life and he lost the plot. The school felt like it pulled off a coup when it hired Chip Kelly to replace Mora, but that turned out to be the kind of slow-moving disaster that would ultimately get his protege Deshaun Foster fired. And that sounds like I’m letting Foster off the hook for his part in that train wreck, when he was just as culpable for the worst two-year run UCLA football has ever seen.

At every opportunity, it felt like UCLA took the path of least resistance and was unwilling to do the work required to take that next step. Dorrell was famous for his poor recruiting, deciding that UCLA could not compete with Southern Cal off the field and relegating itself to the scraps of SoCal recruiting. When Neuheisel was hired, UCLA took out an ad that loudly proclaimed that “the football monopoly in Los Angeles was over,” but by the end of his tenure, that ad spend felt like the only amount of money UCLA was willing to pay to challenge Southern Cal. Mora was able to push through a lot of changes designed to modernize the program, such as getting a dedicated football facility built, but he always seemed to have one foot out the door early in his tenure, and in the latter half it felt like he went on autopilot with his recruiting classes and attention to detail.

Chip Kelly…well, we could write a book about the myriad ways he failed as a head coach, but the worst is that he epitomized the lazy mindset that had permeated the athletic department. Kelly refused to recruit, refused to meet with donors, and refused to fix the mistakes he made with his initial coaching staff. It was like he wanted to run a college football program on nightmare difficulty, except he was forcing the entire fanbase to suffer along with him. Kelly ultimately got to the point where his program was no longer floundering, but it took some fortuitous changes in how transfers work to get to that point, and even then, Kelly had set himself up for failure by not readily embracing NIL and nurturing donor relations that would allow him to bring in the high-level recruits required to compete nationally. When he left UCLA at the last minute, it was a gut punch in more ways than one; Deshaun Foster was hired in large part to keep the current roster together, but I would posit that the roster was nowhere near good enough to warrant making such a rash decision.

Foster’s tenure was a disaster, as I said it would be. As Dorrell and Neuheisel taught us, it doesn’t matter how much you love UCLA if you don’t know what you’re doing, and Foster was the epitome of a fish out of water. The Bruins had the look of a team that was learning how to play football for the first time, making simple mistakes and looking unprepared every step of the way. The recruiting did improve, but it would have been hard for it to be worse than the Chip Kelly era, which was historically bad. UCLA found new lows previously unknown under Foster’s tenure, with a blowout home loss to New Mexico serving as the nail in the coffin.

Maybe that’s why the firing of Deshaun Foster stands out so much, because for the first time this century, UCLA recognized something was not working and was proactive about taking steps to change it.

—

III

New from ACME Corporation:

Are you tired of sitting around all day, wondering how you’re going to win a football game against your hated rival? Suffering under the wait of all those well-meaning expectations? Well wait no more!

Introducing the revolutionary new product: Head Coaching Change!

Thanks to our proprietary blend of hopes and a good haircut, Head Coaching Change takes your common sad football team and turns them into something you can be proud of! With the ACME Head Coaching Change, you can expect the following things:

• A happier fanbase

• More wins

• All the recruits you could want

• Playoffs? Maybe!

• And best of all, no problems whatsoever

But don’t take our word for it; listen to this satisfied customer:

“I love what the ACME Head Coaching Change did for my program. Sure, the results haven’t been exactly what I wanted, and the team has performed at the same level that they did with the previous head coach, and we’ve had to blow up a traditional rivalry because our new head coach is a whiny baby, and the defense keeps blowing up at the worst moments possible, but I wouldn’t change a single thing. I trust the ACME Head Coaching Change, and I can’t wait to use it again this year!” - Tommy Trojan

So what are you waiting for? Sign up for your ACME Head Coaching Change today!

*ACME Corporation is not responsible for any bodily harm that may come from using Head Coaching Change, including physical, mental, and emotional damages. Any explosions that result from using Head Coaching Change are the result of user error, and ACME is not liable. Side effects of Head Coaching Change include increased buyouts, disillusioned fans, and loss of job. Do not use Head Coaching Change if you are pregnant or have no idea what you are doing in the first place and are trying to distract from the original hiring decision you made that put you in this position in the first place. For best results, pair ACME Head Coaching Change with the ACME Self-Congratulating Press Release.

—

IV

One of my students asked at the beginning of the year what they needed to do to be successful in my class. I gave the standard answer of completing the assignments, reviewing notes, and showing up to class on time. She listened to the answer, thought about it for a second, and responded, “That’s what everyone says. What do I really need to do?”

I was caught off-guard by the bluntness of the response, but I wasn’t shocked by the content. We have all heard the same platitudes over and over throughout the years: that if you work hard and do the right things, you’ll get what you want. I didn’t give an incorrect answer, but it was a very basic one, and this student clearly wanted more.

So I gave it some thought and came back with a simple statement: “If you can give me your honest best, then you will find fulfillment here. If you can’t, then you will struggle and fail.”

One of the lessons I learned this past year is just how much my students struggle with struggle. Or, to put it another way, many current students have difficulty processing what to do if a situation gets hard. For many of them, the easy answer is to take the easy way out and quit; I had 55 students take my AP Government class this last year, but only 24 ultimately took the AP Test, with more than a few choosing not to take the test the day of. The same thing took place in the various sports I was overseeing, with students choosing to quit playing rather than compete for playing time or show up to practice so they could improve.

Before I get too close to “kids these days” territory, I should note that I absolutely get where these kids are coming from. Even putting aside how we’re still dealing with the knock-on effects of the COVID-19 pandemic stunting so many youth when it comes to their development, we’ve incentivized taking the easy way out too much as a society. Parents are quick to blame everything and everyone else if their children suffer a setback of any kind, which turns any interaction into a minefield. Technology has made it easier than ever to find the answer to various questions, but it also has disincentivized hard work and learning, with AI able to write entire essays for students (not well, I would add, but it still can do it). And students are going to take advantage of every tool available, no matter how morally dubious they may be, because things have gotten more competitive and cutthroat; getting into the college of your choice is a tough order these days, and the job market is just as challenging.

Now throw in the horrors of living as a teenager in the modern era, and how social media amplifies the worst of our society. The amount of terrible messaging these students get blasted into their brains from places like Instagram, TikTok, and Snapchat is immense (teens don’t use Facebook or Twitter, which spares them from different brainrot), which has led to a huge problem with online harassment and bullying. There is a brewing mental health crisis going on amongst our students. I’ve had to deal with students who were at the center of online harassment campaigns, and students who openly talked about self-harm because it was an easy solution to their problems.

It is exceptionally hard to be a teenager in the 2020s, which is why my message to students is that they have to be ok with failure. There are going to be times in life where you aren’t the smartest person in the room, or when you aren’t the funniest or the prettiest or the friendliest or so on, and you’ll have to be ok with that. If someone writes something better than you, you congratulate them and look for ways to get better. If you try out for the school play and don’t get the part you want, you don’t sit around and mope until someone gives you what you want, but instead keep trying to improve. It was a lesson I taught constantly as a basketball coach, and one that I stress to all the athletic teams I now oversee. In fact, I’m writing this bit while sitting in the stands watching our girls’ volleyball team; they aren’t particularly good, but what I love about this team is their willingness to keep competing even against teams that are much better than them. All I can ask from them is to give their best effort each time they take the floor.

—

V

I’m not going to rehash the story of UCLA’s pursuit of Bob Chesney; we’ve done it three times now, and a fourth isn’t going to change things.

What I will point out is that, for the first time in a long time, it really feels like UCLA is going to try. The athletic department acted outside its usual modus operandi by firing a coach at the moment it became clear that things were not going to work out, rather than letting them hang around and try to salvage something. It was the kind of decisive action that major programs take all the time, but has long eluded this school. It then went about running a professional coaching search for what feels like the first time in my lifetime, creating a strong hiring committee made up of influential UCLA alumni that could conduct a national search and identify the best candidates possible, regardless of their prior affiliation with the school. The committee’s ability to land on Bob Chesney, a coach with the program-building resume that UCLA requires, spoke well of the process, and Chesney has thus far held up his end of the bargain, reigniting the donor base and pushing UCLA in a more competitive direction.

UCLA followed that up this Monday by firing athletic director Martin Jarmond, making it the first AD firing in school history. Much like with the hiring of Bob Chesney, I’m not going to rehash the why of Jarmond’s firing since I already did that this week. But his firing and subsequent appointment of Tim Harris as the CEO in charge of athletics points towards an understanding from Chancellor Julio Frenk that UCLA cannot continue conducting business as usual. The athletic department failed to evolve under Dan Guerrero, and Jarmond was either unable or unwilling to go against the institutional inertia that had been established. That inertia led to a relatively scandal-free department, to be sure, but it also lacked innovation and ultimately became a failed department that is losing millions of dollars every year. UCLA has plenty of areas where it could and should be performing better, and shifting the athletic department towards more of a business model may be the change required to open up a host of new revenue streams.

All of this combines to create a UCLA football season that feels different. You know the famous scene in Shawshank Redemption, when Andy Dufresne crawls through the sanitation pipe to freedom? Those are the vibes in the UCLA fanbase right now, that we just crawled through a river of shit and are about to come out clean on the other side. UCLA fans have endured decades of mediocrity on the part of their football program, yet they’re still here, ready to fill the stands and root for better days. UCLA football has been a beautiful tragedy, a gateway drug for addicts who routinely come back for their fix despite how poorly they have been treated.

There is no guarantee that this new era will work out. Chesney could run into the same problems that his predecessors did, or he could find success quickly and leave, putting UCLA back at square one. Firing Jarmond may fix one problem, but it is not a panacea for everything ailing the athletic department. Older UCLA fans could point to any host of events that derailed a good thing; while I have a personal soft spot for the 2014 loss to Stanford that broke Jim Mora, older fans will typically point to Miami in 1998 as the clear inflection point.

But if you’re worried about the possibilities, then why would you do anything in life? Human history is littered with instances of people taking a leap of faith, immigrating to a new land, starting a new job, or choosing to start a family with someone despite all the possible negatives that come with that decision. We do these things because we are constantly striving for the best possible outcomes and are willing to live with the consequences.

Maybe that’s why we sympathize with Wile E. Coyote. The coyote is pure id, only focused on the positives that could result from catching the roadrunner, and never stopping to contemplate all of the potential downsides of his actions. The constant explosions that brutalize him only serve as obstacles to overcome in his quest for glory, and while he never does reach the promised land, a small part of us roots for him to eventually get there.

Don’t be afraid of the unknown. Put on those rocket shoes. Who knows, this might be the moment you catch your roadrunner.

Meep meep.

Tomorrow night, the UCLA Bruins will open both the 2026 season and the Bob Chesney era when they play UC Berkeley in Strawberry Canyon at 7:30 pm. Coach Chesney is looking for his first win with the Bruins after leading James Madison to the College Football Playoff last season.

Interestingly, it will be the second straight game against Tosh Lupoi’s defense for Bob Chesney and offensive coordinator Dean Kennedy. The two big differences, of course, are, first, that Lupoi’s defense won’t be as good as his defense last season when he was the defensive coordinator at Oregon, and second, that, hopefully, Kennedy and Chesney have improved the Bruins enough to beat Lupoi’s defense this time.

Odds

The Bruins begin the Chesney era as 2.5-point favorite in this game. That seems low, given the fact that Coach Chesney has won his last six season openers by at least 14 points. I also don’t see Tosh Lupoi as a great hire by UC Berkeley. So, I’m taking the Bruins and giving the points this week.

The Over/Under for this game is 53.5 points. Earlier this week, I wrote that I don’t see the Bears scoring more than 20 points in this game. That right there will make it very difficult, in my opinion, for the combined scored to cover the Over. So, I’m taking the Under to open the season.

Last season, I finished 7-4-1 against the spread. That’s pretty good. I wasn’t as good on the Over/Under. After the Southern Cal game only saw 39 points scored, I fell to just 5-7 for the year on the Over/Under. It was still better than UCLA’s 3-9 record, but it was downright mediocre. I hope to improve it this year into last year’s ATS territory.

Tailgating and Game Time Weather Forecast

Please note that a permit is required for any open flame/cooking appliances. It will be mostly sunny with the temperature of 72° when the fire permits allow them to begin at 3:30 pm. The temperature will dip to about 65° with clear skies when the game kicks off at 7:30 pm PT. The sun will set at about the same time.

Once the sun goes down, expect it to drop to around 62° at halftime. Then, in the second half, it will fall down to about 60° by the end of the fourth quarter.

Let’s take a look at how to watch, listen and stream tomorrow night’s game.

UCLA Football (0-0)

• Opponent: UC Berkeley Golden Bears (0-0)

• Series Record: UCLA leads, 58-35-1

• When: 7:30 pm PT, Saturday, September 5, 2026

• Where: California Memorial Coliseum, Berkeley, CA

• Live TV: ESPN with Tom Hart, Roddy Jones, and Quint Kessenich

• Live Stream: WatchESPN.com and the ESPN app

• Radio/Audio:
  KABC-AM 790 in Los Angeles with Josh Lewin, Matt Stevens and Wayne Cook
  Satellite Radio: Sirius Ch. 108 & XM Ch. 232 (UCLA Call)

  Online: UCLABruins.com

• Live Stats: UCLA StatBroadcast

• Game Notes:
  UCLA
  UC Berkeley

• Rebroadcast (All times PT):
  Monday, 9/7 at 12:00 am on ESPNU
  Monday, 9/7 at 1:00 am on ESPN
  Wednesday, 9/9 at 5:00 am on ACC
  Thursday, 9/10 at 10:00 am on ACC
  Friday, 9/11 at 8:00 am on ACC

Go Bruins!!! Beat Berkeley!!!

Thanks again for supporting The Mighty Bruin. Your paid subscriptions make this site possible. Questions, comments, story ideas, angry missives and more can be sent to @TheMightyBruin on Twitter.

Today, we wrap up this week’s UCLA football previews with a look at the UC Berkeley defense as well as the Bruins’ offense. If you missed yesterday’s look at the Bears’ offense and the Bruin defense, I mentioned that neither team published a depth chart this week in their game notes. So, I may have to make some educated assumptions as to who some of the starters might be. Take them with a grain of salt for that reason. Let’s start today by looking at the Bears’ defense.

One of the biggest questions whenever there are coaching changes is “What scheme will the opponent use?” Of course, when the new head coach of a team used to be a coordinator, it’s safe to assume that he will probably bring the same schemwe he used previously with him.

So, when looking at the Bears’ defense, it’s helpful to look to last season’s Oregon defense because new UC Berkeley head coach Tosh Lupoi was the Ducks’ defensive coordinator last year. With Oregon, Lupoi typically ran a 3-3-5 defense, though he also would sometimes swap in a DE/OLB hybrid for the fifth defensive back. If you consider that the Ducks played against Dean Kennedy’s offense in the first round of the CFP last year, we can get an even better idea as to what Lupoi will do tomorrow. Against JMU last year, Lupoi started a 3-3-5 not the 3-4 with the hybrid edge rusher. So, we should probably expect the same thing tomorrow night. Let’s explore the Bears’ defensive personnel.

Defensive Line

It looks like it may be a defensive line by committee tomorrow night. UC Berkeley lost their top three defensive linemen from last year. So, like so many other positions, it will be a combination of returners and transfers. As far as returners go, BJ Canady, Stanley Saole-McKenzie, and Derek Wilkins are the top guys who are coming back. Of them, Canady seems to be most likely to start while the other two will likely be reserves.

Among the transfers, only Jericho Johnson followed Lupoi from Oregon. He saw action in just nine games for the Ducks last season, making five tackles and breaking up one pass. While his stats aren’t impressive, he knows Lupoi’s system which should make it easier for him to make an impact. Ashun Shepphard arrives at UC Berkeley after spending the past two seasons at Mississippi State. Shepphard only played in two games last season, but played in 12 games in 2024. Jayden Williams is the Bears’ other incoming transfer. He joins UC Berkeley from North Texas.

Linebackers

It looks like UC Berkeley will be relying upon a pair of transfers as their starting inside linebackers. Redshirt sophomore Kamar Mothundi comes to Berkeley from Oregon, where he played in six games last season and made four tackles. The other transfer is redshirt freshman AJ Tuitele who attended Southern Cal. The Bears’ third transfer inside linebacker is Tristan Jernigan. The redshirt sophomore from Texas A&M will probably see plenty of playing time as well. Meanwhile, Aaron Hampton is the returning player most likely to see a lot of snaps.

Over at outside linebacker, Washington transfer Jayden Wayne is the probable starter, but he is fighting three SEC transfers for playing time. Redshirt sophomore Solomon Williams played at Texas A&M last year, while Emanuel Okoye, who is no relation to former Chiefs running back Christian Okoye, comes to Berkeley after playing at Tennessee last season. Missouri transfer Serigne Tounkara is the third SEC transfer outside linebacker.

Secondary

This may be the strongest unit on this side of the ball. The Bears have four returning defensive backs with two transfers figuring into the mix as well. It’s also the most experienced unit defensively.

The most likely scenario will see at least four senior starting. At the corners, look for a pair of senior transfers from the SEC to start. Those guys are Georgia transfer Daniel Harris and Ole Miss transfer Ricky Fletcher. Both of these corners are seniors.

One of the starting safeties is probably senior returner Isaiah Crosby who was limited to just four games last season due to injury while sophomore Aiden Manutai started 11 games last season.

With Tosh Lupoi coming from the Nick Saban coaching tree, it shouldn’t be a surprise to learn that Lupoi likes to call his nickelback the Star. Legend has it that when Saban worked with Bill Belichick in Cleveland, they would sub in the fifth DB for the Sam linebacker and Saban wanted to keep the S from Sam, and so, the Star was born.

As a result, it would make perfectly good sense to see redshirt senior Cam Sidney start at the Star since he played in 11 games last year and started eight.

Bruin Offense

Of course, Nico Iamaleava is back as UCLA’s starting quarterback. Hopefully, the new coaching staff along with Derek Carr have developed him into a better quarterback than he was last season.

Backing Nico up will be senior transfer Ty Dieffenbach, who could be called the player to be named later to complete the trade of former interim head coach Tim Skipper to Cal Poly. Of course, Nico’s brother Madden also returns

Moving to the backs, Jaivian Thomas returns after a lackluster season last year, which saw him rush for just 294 yards on 81 carries. Anthony Woods is back again too. Like Thomas, Woods also ran for 294 yards last season, though he did it on just 63 carries. Karson Cox is back, too. Last season, he played in just one game and ran for only nine yards.

There are two high-profile transfers joining the running backs room. Wayne Knight became the JMU Duke I am most hopeful about after his performance in the Sun Belt Championship Game where he ran for a career-high 211 yards on 21 carries. When I saw him play in that game, I immediately knew I wanted him in powder blue this year. The other transfer running back on UCLA’s roster is Iowa State transfer Dylan Lee. Lee ran for 117 yards on 25 carries for the Cyclones last year.

Sophomore Noah Fox-Flores is UCLA’s only tight end returning from last season. He has been joined by JMU transfer Josh Phifer and Wake Forest transfer Harry Lodge.

The only starting receiver returning this season is Mikey Matthews. He will be joined by a large group of transfers including Leland Smith, who comes from San Jose State; Aidan Mizell, a senior who played at Florida last season; former South Carolina Gamecock Brian Rowe, Jr.; Michigan transfer Semaj Morgan; Landon Ellis, who followed Coach Chesney from JMU; and Marcus Harris, who played at Washington last year. Bruin fans should expect some of these guys to make their UCLA debut as returners on special teams.

Speaking of special teams, “Money Bags” Mateen Bhaghani is back after flirting briefly with the transfer portal.

UCLA will have a new starting punter this year. Either Oklahoma transfer Chase Barry or Aussie Curtis Gerrand, who transferred from Sam Houston, should be the new starting punter.

But, I digress from our discussion of the Bruin offense.

The Bruin offensive line was pretty much trash last season, and this could be UCLA’s biggest challenge this year. Starting center Sam Yoon is back as is guard Eugene Brooks. Returning guard Julian Armella is competing for reps against Arizona State transfer Sean Na’a and JMU transfers Riley Robell and Carter Sweazie. Junior Jensen Somerville should be one of the starting tackles while transfers Jordan Davis, Mack Indestad, Hall Schmidt and Derek Osman could all see playing time.

Outlook

Of course, line wins games, and this year will be no exception. The Bruins will need to control the line of scrimmage in order to be successful on offense. We all saw last year what happens when the offensive line cannot do that. So, the development of the offensive line will likely determine how well the Bruins play both tomorrow and this season. The performance of the line will determine how much Nico has to scramble as well as how well Knight, Woods and Lee are able to run the ball.

As far as tomorrow goes, a work-in-progress offensive line should do ok if not better against a UC Berkeley front six that also has a lot of question marks.

But, it’s the performance of the UCLA offensive line which will determine if the Bruins score more or less than 20 points tomorrow night against an inexperienced UC Berkeley defense.


Go Bruins!!!

Thanks again for supporting The Mighty Bruin. Your paid subscriptions make this site possible. Questions, comments, story ideas, angry missives and more can be sent to @TheMightyBruin on Twitter.

Yesterday, I began our UC Berkeley previews looking at some of the changes both UCLA and the Golden Bears made since last season. I deliberately decided not to go into any of the personnel changes the Bruins made because I wanted to discuss them alongside the Bears’ personnel.

So, in addition to looking at UC Berkeley’s offense today, I’m going to discuss the Bruins’ defensive personnel. As we start discussing personnel, it’s important to note that neither team published a depth chart this week in their game notes. So, I may have to make some educated assumptions as to who some of the starters might be. Take them with a grain of salt for that reason. Let’s start by looking at the Bears’ offense.

Quarterback

There’s no doubt who will start at quarterback for the Bears. It will be sophomore Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele. Last season, Sagapolutele became only the second true freshman quarterback to ever start a season-opener for UC Berkeley. The other was Jared Goff in 2013.

Last season, he started all 13 games for the Bears and he completed 316-of-492 passes for 3,454 yards with 18 touchdown throws and nine interceptions. That’s an average off 24-of-38 for almost 266 yards per game with 1.38 touchdowns per game and not quite one interception per game. Those are some decent numbers for a true freshman.

The question is how will he adjust to Jordan Somerville’s offense? WriteForCalifornia indicates that Somerville is installing a “Pro-Style scheme…which will rely on his ability to make pre-snap reads that younger QBs often struggle to make.” Will a sophomore be able to accomplish that at this point in the season? I’m not so sure. So, I don’t expect Sagapolutele to torch the UCLA defense.

Junior Colorado State transfer Jackson Brosseau will back Sagapolutele up.

Running Backs

When UCLA running back Jaivian Thomas made the decision to leave UC Berkeley following the 2024 season, he left behind a rushing game which averaged just 2.76 yards per rush last year.

In an attempt to fix that issue, the Bears hit the transfer portal and they landed three transfers including Washington transfer Adam Mohammed, who was the sixth-ranked running back in the portal last season. It’s pretty safe to say that Mohammed will be the Bears’ starter this week.

They also added two more transfers in Carter Vargas, who played at UC Davis last year, and former UTEP back Ashten Emory. Both Vargas and Emory were proficient catching the ball as well last season. So, one or both of them are likely to rotate in for third downs.

Receivers

Expect a trio of transfers to start at receiver for the Bears on Saturday. Rutgers transfer Ian Strong was the sixth-ranked receiver in the portal. He will be joined by former Ohio University receiver Chase Hendricks, who joins the Bears after gaining more than 1,000 yards for the Bobcats last year. Meanwhile, Cooper Perry followed Lupoi from Oregon and he looks to be a versatile player who could also see some action on special teams.

Redshirt junior tight end Mason Mini is the one passing target for Sagapolutele who is returning from last season. That may earn him some more targets due to the quarterback’s familiarity with him. UC Berkeley also added transfers Dorian Thomas, a redshirt junior who played previously at New Mexico, and Rico Walker, who played at Purdue last year and Maryland before that.

Offensive Line

Line wins games. Unfortunately for the Bears, the offensive line only helped running backs average 2.76 yards per rush last season. Given that, it would be reasonable to assume there would be big changes on the offensive line this season. You would be incorrect.

With four of the five probable starters returning from last year, this group puts the Bears’ offensive success in doubt.

Bastian Swinney, Tyson Ruffins, and Sioape Vatikani will start in the middle of the line. Vatikani will probably be at left guard and Swinney will likely be at right guard, based on where each played most last season. Ruffins will probably be the starting center. The probably starting left tackle should be redshirt junior Frederick Williams III. He started six games last season and played in all 13 games. Finally, Mississippi State transfer Jimothy Lewis, Jr. will likely start at right tackle. Will this offensive line be able to keep Sagapolutele upright and improve the rushing attack? I’m doubtful, but regardless of what I think, it’s definitely the biggest question mark for the Bear offense.

Bruin Defense

What will UCLA’s defense look like? Expect Colin Hitschler to employ the same 4-2-5 he ran at JMU.

The defensive line may be the biggest question mark for the UCLA defense since the Bruins don’t return any starters from last season. But the transfer portal has helped bolster the group of returning defensive linemen. To be sure, JMU transfer Sahir West is a virtual lock to start. The other three linemen will likely see some mixture of transfers Aidan Gobaira, Darold DeNgohe, and Maxwell Roy combined with returners A.J. Fuimaono, Cole Cogshell, and Grant Buckey.

Meanwhile, the Bruins look solid at linebacker. Jalen Woods is back for a fifth season and he will be joined by Oklahoma transfer Sammy Omosigho and JMU transfers Trent Hendricks and Drew Spinogatti. Unfortunately, Wyatt Mosier announced his medical retirement recently.

The strongest defensive unit looks to be the secondary where Cole Martin, Rodrick Pleasant, Scooter Jackson, Robert Stafford III and Aaron Williams all return this year. Those guys will be joined by transfers Malik Hartford, Osiris Gilbert, and Derrick Barksdale among others.

Outlook

Again, I’m not convinced that UC Berkeley has an upper hand here. While the Bruin defense is filled with question marks as far as who will start come Saturday night, I don’t see the Bear offensive line creating holes for their backs, and I definitely don’t expect to see Sagapolutele to pick apart the UCLA secondary.

I think the Bruins will hold UC Berkeley under 20 points this week.


Go Bruins!!!

Thanks again for supporting The Mighty Bruin. Your paid subscriptions make this site possible. Questions, comments, story ideas, angry missives and more can be sent to @TheMightyBruin on Twitter.

Are you ready for some football? I sure as heck am!

After a long offseason, the Bruins are finally ready to take the field on Saturday at UC Berkeley at 7:30 pm PT. Saturday’s game will be UCLA’s first matchup against the Golden Bears since the Bruins played UC Berkeley in the final Pac-12 football game for both schools.

Ch-Ch-Change

To say that UCLA is a completely new team this year from the one which finished 3-9 last year might be an understatement. The Bruins have 45 transfers joining the team this year to go along with 17 incoming freshman. That means UCLA’s 62 new players outnumber the 57 players who are back from last season. The Bruins return a total of just six starters from last year with three on each side of the ball.

This was to be expected, and it is the kind of roster reconstruction which typically occurs across college football these days when a program goes through a coaching change. For everyone out there who doubted a coaching change could accomplish transformative change in the program, it also serves as proof of exactly the type of change many have felt was needed at the end of Chip Kelly’s reign in Westwood.

But the head coach and the roster aren’t the only things which have changed for the Bruins.

UCLA has almost an entirely new coaching staff as well. Only two of twelve assistant coaches have returned from last season. Those coaches are running backs coach A.J. Steward and nickels coach Gabe Lynn. While seven of Bob Chesney’s assistant coaches followed him to Westwood from James Madison, three new Bruin assistants join the staff after coaching at neither UCLA nor JMU last season. The seven coaches who join the Bruins after coaching the Dukes last season are defensive coordinator Colin Hitschler, offensive coordinator Dean Kennedy, special teams coordinator/tight ends coach Drew Canan, offensive line coach/run game coordinator Chris Smith, safeties coach Anthony DiMichele, defensive backs coach Eddie Whitley Jr. and defensive ends coach Sam Daniels. UCLA’s other three new assistant coaches are linebackers coach Vic So’oto, who joins UCLA from UC Berkeley, defensive line coach Legi Suiaunoa, who coached at Michigan State last season, and wide receivers coach Colin Lockett, who arrives in Westwood from New Mexico.

Interestingly, Bob Chesney isn’t the only head coach coaching his first game as this will be the first game for new UC Berkeley head coach Tosh Lupoi as well. Unlike Chesney who begins his seventeenth season as a head coach, this will be Lupoi’s first game as a head coach at any level. When you factor in that Chesney’s teams have won their opener by at least two touchdowns in each of the past six seasons, it could be a long night for the Bears.

Lupoi heads back to his alma mater where he played from 2000 to 2005 and he served as the team’s defensive line coach from 2008 to 2011. He left Berkeley to join Steve Sarkisian at Washington in 2012 in the same role. When Sarkisian left for Southern Cal two seasons later, Lupoi was not hired by the Trojans because he was under an NCAA investigation for recruiting violations. While he was eventually cleared, new Huskies head coach Chris Petersen did not keep him. As a result, Lupoi went to Alabama as a defensive analyst. Over time, he was promoted to Nick Saban’s on-field staff and he was named Bama’s defensive coordinator in 2018. He left the college ranks for the NFL, coaching for the Browns, Falcons and Jaguars before joining Dan Lanning’s staff at Oregon in 2022 as defensive coordinator until being hired by Berkeley last December.

In addition to a first-time head coach, the Bears have a first-time offensive coordinator in Jordan Somerville. Frankly, Somerville’s resume looks pretty weak. He was a grad assistant at Arizona State from 2017 to 2019. He left the Sun Devils to become the running backs coach at New Mexico in 2020. After two seasons with the Lobos, he spent a season as an offensive assistant at Oregon. He joined the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2023 as their assistant quarterbacks coach where he spent three seasons with the Bucs. That’s it.

The other side of the ball isn’t much better. Defensive coordinator Michael Hutchings is another key assistant with limited experience. After 15 games in four seasons at Southern Cal, he spent two seasons as a grad assistant for the Trojans before being promoted to defensive quality control analyst in 2020. He spent 2021 as a defensive analyst for Oregon and he spent 2022 as the outsider linebackers coach for the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers. From WKU, he joined the Minnesota Vikings where he started as the team’s assistant defensive backs coach in 2023 and was promoted to safeties coach for two seasons starting in 2024. It’s probably a good thing Lupoi will likely be the guy calling the defense.

The saving grace for Lupoi’s coaching staff might be Nick Rolovich. Of course, Bruin fans will remember Rolovich mostly for his tenure as the head coach at Hawai’i. In 2017, Rolovich’s Warriors came to the Rose Bowl and were dismantled by Jim Mora’s Bruins, 56-23. While Rolovich replaced Mike Leach as the head coach at Washington State, his tenure with the Cougars was short. The Cougs played just four games during the COVID-shortened 2020 season and he was fired by WSU AD Pat Chung for failing to comply with the State of Washington's COVID-19 vaccine mandate for state employees, despite claiming a religious exemption. Rolovich filed a wrongful termination suit against Wazzu and, while he lost in federal district court, an appeal to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals was filed and remains pending.

From a football standpoint, Rolovich was out of coaching until Justin Wilcox brought him on as a senior offensive assistant last season. When Wilcox was fired on November 23, Rolovich took over as the Bears’ interim head coach. Rolovich led UC Berkeley to a win over SMU, but the team lost to Hawai’i in the Hawai’i Bowl.

UC Berkeley Special Teams

When a coaching change takes places, very few starting jobs can be considered “safe.” At the same time, redshirt senior Chase Meyer will likely be the Bears’ starting kicker. Last season, he made 10 of 13 field goal attempts and all 39 extra point tries. At the same time, his season long was just 45 yards in the Bears’ game against Louisville.

The reason his starting job is likely safe is because Lupoi did not go out and recruit an established kicker. Instead, he brought in Auburn transfer Towns McGough who joins the Bears as a redshirt sophomore. McGough redshirted last season after solid freshman season for the Tigers which saw him go 5-for-12 on field goal attempts with a long of 32 yards. He also made all 27 extra point attempts. McGough did kickoff 62 times in 2024 with an average of 62.9 yards. So, he could very well find himself as the Bears’ kickoff specialist.

UC Berkeley’s other kicker is redshirt freshman Erik Peters who did not see action last year.

The Bears’ probable starter at punter is senior transfer Angus Davies. The age of UC Berkeley’s Aussie punter isn’t exactly known, but he may very well be 29. Regardless of his actual age, he averaged 43.49 yards per punt last season at Tulsa and his longest was an 80-yarder. 21 of his 47 punts landed inside the 20 and eight were longer than 50 yards.

UC Berkeley lost their top kick and punt returner from last season. Jacob deJesus graduated after last season. No one else returned more than one punt or one kickoff. So, this is one of those specialist positions which were up for grabs. Our friends at WriteForCalifornia indicate senior receiver Chase Hendricks is likely to be the Bears’ punt returner while junior running back Adam Mohammed and sophomore runningg back Carter Vargas will likely return kickoffs.


Go Bruins!!!

Thanks again for supporting The Mighty Bruin. Your paid subscriptions make this site possible. Questions, comments, story ideas, angry missives and more can be sent to @TheMightyBruin on Twitter.