UCLA fans have long held “Once a Bruin, Always a Bruin.” It appears that Nevada quarterback Luke Duncan took that phrase to heart today. The former Bruin actually completed more passes to guys wearing powderkeg blue today than he did to his new Wolf Pack teammates.

Duncan threw interceptions on each of Nevada’s first three drives but completed just one pass to a guy in a white jersey before being pulled in favor of AJ Bianco.

The first interception came on Nevada’s first play from scrimmage when Scooter Jackson caught a pass intended for Gary Givens III at the Wolf Pack 30-yard line and he returned it two yards to the 28.

Six plays later, Mateen Bhaghani made a 26-yard field goal to give UCLA a 3-0 lead.

On Nevada’s second drive, the Wolf Pack drove all the way down to the Bruin 18-yard line when Duncan was intercepted by Jalen Woods and the Bruins’ second drive started at their own 17. This time, UCLA went three-and-out and punted it back to Nevada.

On third-and-twelve from the Nevada 27, Duncan was intercepted by Derrick Barksdale, who ran it back for a pick six and the Bruins now led 10-0.

While none of the 24,611 fans in attendance knew it yet, this game was over and the only thing left was for UCLA to cover the 22.5-point spread.

At that point, Duncan was yanked for Bianco. While he was unable to generate much offense either, at least his passes stopped being caught by the guys in gold helmets.

But the UCLA defense still continued to dominate the Wolf Pack. Overall, the Bruins only allowed 111 yards passing and 65 yards rushing while keeping Nevada off the scoreboard.

The Bruins would add another touchdown late in the first half when Ty Dieffenbach kept it for a four-yard rushing touchdown, and UCLA led 17-0 at the break.

On the first drive of the second half, the Bruins moved 75 yards on a 13-play drive which ate up almost half of the third quarter, scoring on a 14-yard pass by Dieffenbach to Wayne Knight and UCLA stretched the lead to 24-0.

UCLA’s final score came on a 38-yard field goal with just under 10 minutes to go. It made the score 27-0, Bruins. And, that’s how this one ended.

Reeve Sloane eventually replaced Bianco in the fourth quarter and Ty Lee grabbed UCLA’s fourth interception of the day to end Nevada’s last possession of the game.

Dieffenbach finished the game going 16-for-30 for 178 yards and a touchdown. The Bruin law firm of Knight, Woods and Thomas combined for 117 yards on 25 carries. Jalen St. Paul led the UCLA receivers with 53 yards on three catches.

Next Saturday, the Bruins will face a tough test on the road against the Minnesota Golden Gophers, who took #4 Indiana to overtime this afternoon, but lost 23-16. Kickoff time and broadcast network remain TBD.


Go Bruins!!!

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This afternoon, the UCLA Bruins wrap up their three game homestand when they host Nevada at the Rose Bowl. Kickoff is set for 1:15 pm PT and the game will be broadcast on Big Ten Network.

Today’s game is just the second meeting between the Bruins and the Wolf Pack. The only other time these teams have played was back in 2013 when they played in the season opener. UCLA won that game 58-20 behind a very good performance by Brett Hundley. Today’s game should be a blowout win for UCLA similar to the 2013 game.

Normally around Halloween, Bruin fans start asking the inevitable question: Is it basketball season yet. Well, no UCLA fan is asking that this season, though the answer to the question is that basketball season starts Monday with a women’s basketball matinee at Pauley Pavilion against Lehigh and a nitecap featuring the men’s team against Arizona in Las Vegas.

Speaking of basketball and Nevada, former UCLA and current Nevada men’s coach Steve Alford has announced he will retire at the end of this season. It’s kind of a curious situation. Alford is walking away from the final two years of his contract which would have paid him $3 million. At least Nevada basketball fans won’t have to deal with him or his subpar seasons anymore. The Wolf Pack have made the NCAA Tournament in just two of his first seven seasons.

Let’s look at this week’s Keys to the Game.

Keys to the Game

1. Start Fast!

UCLA started really slowly and sloppily last week against Michigan State. I don’t see Bob Chesney letting that happen again. Look for the Bruins to come out sharp this week.

2. Force Nevada to Throw

Nevada prefers to run the ball. If UCLA can open up a multiple touchdown lead, it will force them to have to throw to catch up. Then, UCLA’s defense can completely shut down their offense.

3. Pound the Ball

Nevada likes to play a nickel defense. UCLA previously exploited the nickel defense of other opponents by running the ball for a lot of yards. I expect the Bruins to do the same today. Look for more than 250 rushing yards for UCLA today.

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 A.J. Kanell, 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 Nevada Wolf Pack at #7 UCLA Bruins game thread. Join your fellow Bruins discussing today’s game in the comments section below, but before you get there, here’s how to watch today’s game:

#7 UCLA Football (7-0)

• Opponent: Nevada Wolf Pack (3-4)

• Series Record: UCLA leads, 1-0

• When: 1:15 pm PT, Saturday, October 31, 2026

• Where: Rose Bowl, Pasadena, California

• Live TV: BTN with A.J. Kanell, 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: SiriusXM Ch. 167 (UCLA Call)

  Online: UCLABruins.com

• Live Stats: UCLA StatBroadcast

• Game Notes:
  UCLA
  Nevada

• Rebroadcast (All times PT):
  None

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

On Monday, Coach Chesney spoke about various aspects of the Michigan State game and. One of things which stood out was his explanation about the strength of the running backs and how other units had to catch up to those guys. Chesney said:

I think that they’re they were this way from the beginning. I don’t think, you know, we just start in the winter conditioning and in the weight room, you know, that was a group that we looked at and just said, man, they’re strong, they’re explosive, they work really, really, really hard. Uh, I wish everybody on our team could be like them, you know. It’s almost to that level, you know, and then and then you watch the rest of the team because that that’s really like you’re batting a thousand in that room on guys that push weights, that are physical, that are tough, that bring it every single day.

Even the guys that aren’t playing a lot of snaps for us, you go watch them in the weight room and you work watch their work ethic and you know when when it’s their time they’re going to be able to

do something with it. That’s a complete room. It’s different. You know, some other rooms don’t have that. They do.

So, I don’t think it’s something where they had to catch up to this team. I think it was more of we all had to catch up to them just because of how good they’ve been from the beginning of us arriving.

On Tuesday, Coach Chesney addressed the possibility that some other program might try to poach him. Chesney spoke about how much he is enjoying life at UCLA. He said:

Oh, no. Message to them that I, this is, I said it before, this is the greatest place in the world to play football. I think it’s the greatest place in the world to coach football. I think, you know, I am extremely blessed to be here.

My family loves it here. I love it here. I mean, it’s November almost and look at us out here. So, I truly love it.

And again, the vision that I have for this place as an outsider looking in is all things that is being met with that same energy, a plan moving forward, an idea of chasing greatness and not being afraid to to consider this big-time college football and then to start building the program that way. So, very excited about our future and how things roll.

Clearly, he understand that UCLA is a special place and he subtly conveyed that he is just getting started.

He was also asked about some of the details from Tuesday’s practice. For each, he referenced “the standard” and how they are trying to meet that standard every moment of every day.

Coordinators: Dean Kennedy and Colin Hitschler

Dean Kennedy spoke about topics like the growth he has seen from Ty Dieffenbach since the Oregon game. Kennedy explained:

I think the biggest thing is has really been has been the pocket awareness. He’s done a good job of that, right? He’s done a good job of taking care of the football.

I think also the second piece of that is starting to understand like the command piece and that’s where you see and you watch him at practice. He’s walking around like he’s the king, which he is, right? And that’s how you’ve got to do it at the quarterback position. I think that’s such a huge piece is that his confidence in it bleeds into other people.

He also spoke a lot about the development of the offensive line.

Defensive coordinator Colin Hitschler admitted that preparing to face each of Nevada’s quarterbacks is challenging, but necessary because they don’t know for certain who will start for the Wolf Pack. “When you don’t know who’s playing quarterback, you kind of have three slightly different plans,” he said. “And the guys, to their credit, have really taken to the work of of understanding that.”

Players: Jaivian Thomas and Donavyn Pellot

Jaivian Thomas spoke on a variety of topics including how the backs addressed adversity after a couple of fumbles last week and how they push each other to be the best they can be.

He wrapped up responding to a question about how they will deal with a situation where Wayne Knight may not be able to play. He downplayed any concerns about that. Thomas said:

It’s going to be the same for us like the same it will be when he’s out there whether he is it or not like the standard doesn’t change no matter who’s out there you know so whether it’s a freshman out there like the standard is still the same in the room.

Of course, Donavyn Pellot was asked about his big interception from last week’s game and he spoke about it at length, but what was more interesting to hear was his explanation of how Coach Chesney set the standard when he arrived and he may have also revealed what Chesney has been referring to when he says they have to make the next jump. Pellot detailed:

Coach Chez talked about when he first got here like he’s not going to lose, like we’re not going to beat ourselves and do things that losers do. That was like the first thing he kind of said when he got here, that we’re going to not do what losers do and that’ll get us to a certain point and then when we can start doing what winners do, that’ll get us past that point.

Bonus Videos

Jaivian Thomas was one of the guests on this week’s Bruin Insider Show and we learned quite a bit more about him during the conversation. For instance, he has already completed his undergraduate degree in Sociology. Thomas also looked a little at life after football and spoke about what he wants to do afterwards as well as the why behind it. Thomas told a story:

My freshman year...I don’t know if a lot of people even know about this. My freshman year when we had played Oregon, we were in Oregon. I was carried out on a stretcher. It was just a lot for me mentally. I was young. So, it took a toll on me mentally. I almost stopped playing ball because of it, but it was something I started really looking into and I’m grateful to have the people that I did around my side and stuff like that and they just helped me keep the right mindset and that’s what made me really get into the mental healthi side of it. I feel like I wanted to look in and help people, not even just athletes, but help people in general that that doesn’t know what they’re actually going through or doesn’t know how to handle what they’re going through.

Ever since Coach Chesney arrived, I’ve made a lot of comparisons to Coach Wooden in terms of Chesney’s approach and what’s important to him. This week, we got another glimpse into that and what he looks for in potential players. Chesney put it this way:

I think it just comes from regular interactions. I think it comes from the time you spend on the phone, FaceTimes, but then ultimately in person when they get there. You see how they interact with other people. You see what energy levels they’re bringing to it.

And truly for me, it’s like, does this guy love life? Yes or no? Football is the easy part, right? And that’s all mostly people talk about. I want to really see and feel them when they’re here and see if this is a guy I want to spend the 12 hours a day or 14 hours a day or 16 hours a day, whatever we’re doing with here. Who do I want to spend these with and be around and have representing our program?

As we’ve tended to do each week, we conclude with “The Bruin Tape” to hype you up for today’s game.

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 #7 UCLA Bruins will host the 3-4 Nevada Wolf Pack tomorrow at the Rose Bowl. The game will be broadcast on BTN with A.J. Kanell, Brett Hundley, and Emma Carpenter and the game will kickoff at 1:15 pm PT.

The only other meeting between the schools came back in the 2013 season opener when Brett Hundley completed 22 of 33 passes for 274 yards and two touchdowns and rushed for two more scores as the Bruins won 58-20. As a result, it seems fitting that Hundley will be calling the game tomorrow.

Odds

I would like to thank Coach Chesney for not running more plays at the end of last week’s game and scoring again. By not doing that, he kept the total points to 38 and ensured a win on the Under. Since I took the Under, I am now 2-5 on the Over/Under for the season. Of course, the Bruins covered the 14.5 points to move my record against the spread to 6-0-1 for the season.

This week, UCLA opened as a 23.5-point favorite. Since then, the action has decreased the spread to 22.5 points. I fully expect the Bruins to win this game big. Take the Bruins and give the points again

The Over/Under for this game started at 48.5 points. Since then, it’s dropped to just 44.5 points. With Nevada running a nickel defense and Bob Chesney emphasizing avoiding first quarter mistakes, I’m thinking UCLA could cover the Over here by themselves. So, I’m taking the Over this week.

Tailgating and Game Time Weather Forecast

The bad news is that it will not be a Chamber of Commerce day in Pasadena tomorrow, but the good news is that it should not start raining until the game is over, proving yet again that it doesn’t rain inside the Rose Bowl!

The day will start off cloudy and a little on the cool side with it about 58° when the parking lots open at 7:15 am PT for tailgating. As you’d expect, the temperature will warm up as we get closer to kickoff. By 9 am, it should be in the low 60s and, by 11 am, it should be in the mid-60s.

Meanwhile, it will continue to slowly warm up. By the time kickoff arrives at 1:15 pm, the temperature should hit a high of 67°. The temperature should stay pretty constant into the second half. Look for the temperature to start dropping a little in the third quarter, and as it starts to dip, the chances of rain will start to increase. At 3 pm, there will be a 13% chance of rain. In the fourth quarter, it should still be in the mid-to-upper 60s with about a 20% chance of rain. It will probably start raining around 5 pm as showers move in.

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

#7 UCLA Football (7-0)

• Opponent: Nevada Wolf Pack (3-4)

• Series Record: UCLA leads, 1-0

• When: 1:15 pm PT, Saturday, October 31, 2026

• Where: Rose Bowl, Pasadena, California

• Live TV: BTN with A.J. Kanell, 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: SiriusXM Ch. 167 (UCLA Call)

  Online: UCLABruins.com

• Live Stats: UCLA StatBroadcast

• Game Notes:
  UCLA
  Nevada

• Rebroadcast (All times PT):
  None

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.

Unlike previous games, the Nevada Wolf Pack didn’t release a depth chart this week. Now, that is probably a reaction to the fact that UCLA hasn’t been releasing a depth chart as part of their game notes, but it could also mean that they may be planning to do something different than they’ve done until now.

I expect them to stick to their 2-4-5 (or 4-2-5) nickel as their base defense most of the game tomorrow. Of course, they may try to disguise it, or they may try to surprise UCLA with some sort of seven-man front by pulling the fifth defensive back in favor of an additional lineman or linebacker.

Let’s take a look at Nevada’s defensive personnel.

Defensive Line

Up front, Nevada will start junior David Payne, Jr. as the nose tackle. This season, Payne has made 21 tackles including 3 TFLs, and he has a pair of quarterback hurries. Sixth-year Tanner Vaughan will start next to him at defensive tackle. Vaughan has made nine tackles including one TFL, and he also has a pass breakup and two quarterback hurries.

Linebackers

Nevada will use a pair of Edge rushers. I’m listing them as linebackers because of the way they are listed on previous Wolf Pack depth charts. One of the edge rushers is labeled as a “Jack”. That would be senior Dylan LaBarbera. He is second on the team in tackles with 55 and he leads the team in both TFLs with six and sacks with four. LaBarbera also has a team-leading 12 quarterback hurries.

The other edge rusher is just called the “X” and that will be sixth-year senior Myles Williams. Williams is fifth on the team in tackles with 32, and he has five TFLs and 2.5 sacks as well as a pass breakup and a forced fumble.

Fifth-year senior Jeremy Naborne-Owens will be the starting Mike linebacker. Naborne-Owens is third on the team in tackles with 53 including two TFLs and two sacks. He also has broken up two passes and hurried the QB four times.

The starting Will linebacker will be EJ Smith. Smith leads the Wolf Pack with 73 tackles including 4.5 TFLs and 2.5 sacks. He has also broken up two passes and he has a quarterback hurry.

Secondary

In the secondary, the Wolf Pack will have sophomore Isaiah Jordan as the boundary safety. He is sixth on the team in tackles with 30 including two TFLs. Jordan has broken up four passes. Redshirt senior Larry Turner-Gooden will be the starting field safety. Turner-Gooden has made 25 tackles and broken up six passes.

Junior Bryson Snelling and sixth-year senior Joshua Scott will start at the corners. Snelling has made 15 tackles including a TFL, and he’s broken up five passes. He has the only interception for Nevada this year. Scott has made 19 tackles including 1.5 TFLs and half a sack. He has broken up four passes and forced a fumble.

Finally, sophomore Aiden Walker will be the Star defensive back. Walker is fourth on the team in tackles with 37 including five TFLs and two sacks. He has also broken up three passes.

Analysis

So, the big question is: Will the Wolf Pack stick with their nickel base defense or will they opt for a seven-man front and pull the Star DB? Based on the fact that Walker has the fourth-most tackles on the team, it makes me believe that they will stick with the nickel instead of going to the seven-man front.

That gives UCLA a definite advantage because it helps open things up for the running game, at least a little bit, if not a lot.

As a result, I fully expect the Bruin running backs to tally at least 250 yards tomorrow.


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.

Nevada’s offense definitely prefers to run the ball first. Overall, the Wolf Pack have run it 56.8% of the time while they have thrown it just 43.1% of the time. That makes sense to an extent. In each of the three games Nevada has won, they have won all of them by at least 15 points. So, it’s logical that the offense would look to run the ball to eat up as much clock as possible late in those games.

At the same time, the Wolf Pack has tended to throw the ball a lot more in each of their four losses. In fact, they have thrown it 50.79% of the time in their four losses and run it just 49.21% of the time in those games.

Comparatively, Nevada has run it 66.34% of the time in their wins and thrown it just 33.66% of the time in those games.

So, unlike Michigan State which seemed to want to stubbornly continue to run the ball when behind, the Wolf Pack adjusts appropriately once they start to trail.

As a result, if the Bruins can score early and often, it will undoubtedly force Nevada off their preferred game plan by making it necessary to start throwing the ball more in order to try to catch up.

Quarterback

That would make Nevada’s quarterback more important and Nevada’s probable starting quarterback is familiar with playing in the Rose Bowl. That’s because former Bruin Luke Duncan is expected to start for the Wolf Pack.

To be sure, Duncan is normally third on the Nevada depth chart, but injuries to starter Carter Jones and backup AJ Bianco mean that Duncan is the probable starting quarterback.

Duncan got his first start of the season last week against San Jose State and he played a good game. Overall, he went 18 for 29 for 178 yards with two touchdowns. He also had two rush attempts which netted -10 yards. So, he did not run the ball effectively at all, which matches the playing time he got with UCLA last season when he did run the ball once.

So, the Wolf Pack offense loses a degree of flexibility with Duncan that they normally have with Carter or Bianco.

Running Game

In ideal circumstances, the Wolf Pack would prefer to rely on their top two running backs for most of their offense. Without Carter or Bianco, the running game does lose the added dimension those guys bring as mobile quarterbacks.

Sophomore Dominic Kelly has gotten the bulk of the carries this season. Kelly has carried 111 times for 582 net yards and five touchdowns. That’s an average of 5.2 yards per carry, and his longest run of the season was 72 yards.

Nevada’s other running back is junior Herschel Turner, Jr. This season, Turner has carried 71 times for 480 net yards and four touchdowns. He earned the Mountain West Offensive Player of the Week three weeks ago for his performance against UTEP. In that game, he carried 19 times for 192 yards including a 72-yard touchdown.

Passing Game

Junior transfer Gary Givens III joined the Wolf Pack this season after playing last season at Northern Illinois last year and at Valparaiso the year before that. His 305 receiving yards leads the team. He has made 19 receptions this season and scored one touchdown.

While Givens leads in receiving yards, redshirt senior Damien Morgan leads in receptions with 31. At the same time, Morgan only has 179 receiving yards. That’s an average of just 5.77 yards per catch. He hasn’t scored yet this year.

While senior Donnie Cheers is Nevada’s third starting receiver, he has only made seven receptions this season for 126 yards and one touchdown. His longest reception was a 50-yarder. Cheers’ backup is senior Marshaun Brown. Brown’s 13 receptions are almost twice as many as Cheers. He has 148 receiving yards and two touchdowns.

While junior tight end Carter Eck is listed as the starter, he hasn’t caught a pass yet this year despite playing in all of Nevada’s games. That makes it looks like he is used as a blocking tight end only. Meanwhile, Trace Estes is listed as the backup tight end. Estes has caught five passes for 90 yards and a touchdown.

Both running backs have played roles in the passing game. Kelley has 14 receptions for 121 yards and a touchdown while Turner has eight receptions for 116 yards and a touchdown.

Offensive Line

LT 55 Jack Foster 6-6 293 5Y
75 Jose Balver-Mendoza 6-5 288 Jr. (3)

LG 76 Zach Cochnauer 6-5 325 5Y
59 Jacob Norcross 6-2 293 Jr. (3)
C 58 Ethan Lowell 6-3 276 Jr. (3) 59 Jacob Norcross 6-2 293 Jr. (3)
RG 72 Ethan Newman 6-3 303 Sr. (4)
73 Tyler Miller 6-2 314 Jr. (3)
RT 66 Henry Sellards 6-4 300 Jr. (3)
76 Zach Cochnauer 6-5 325 5Y

Nevada’s offensive line is full of upperclassmen. On the left side, redshirt senior Jack Foster will start at tackle while redshirt senior Zach Cochnauer will be the starting guard if he is healthy enough to play. Last week, Cochnauer was replaced by junior Jacob Norcross because a foot injury sidelined Cochnauer.

Junior Ethan Lowell will start at center. Lowell got his first start two weeks ago against North Dakota State, when he displaced Norcross as the starting center.

Moving to the right side, junior Henry Sellers will start at right tackle and he will be joined by senior guard Ethan Newman.

Despite the fact that the Wolf Pack offensive line is filled with upperclassmen, they have given up 17 sacks this season. So, that combined with Duncan’s inability to run may help the Bruins find success rushing the passer.

Analysis

The best defense is a good offense. If UCLA can build a multiple touchdown lead early, it should change Nevada’s offensive playcalling. After holding both of their last two opponents under 100 yards passing, the Bruin secondary could have a field day.

Overall, given how UCLA’s defense has been playing, I fully expect them to shut down the Wolf Pack offense, regardless of whether Nevada goes to the ground or to the air.


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.

Nick Saban had a saying about all of the hype his teams would receive from the media. He called it “rat poison” because he felt all that praise was poisonous to his teams, creating a mindset among his players that they were so good that they only needed to show up to win games. The way Saban talked about it, the rat poison was the biggest obstacle any good team has to overcome.

UCLA got its first taste of rat poison this week, and fortunately it was not fatal.

It’s easy enough to state that the Bruins sleptwalked through the first half of the game against Michigan State this past weekend. The Bruins trailed early in this game in large part because of unfocused mistakes: a fumble here, a missed coverage there, and plenty of dropped passes. It was the kind of early performance that a good team has that can leave it vulnerable to an upset.

Then the Bruins woke up and put the game away.

Still, this kind of performance can be informative for the team and for coach Bob Chesney. This team isn’t an invincible death squad that can easily beat every opponent on its schedule without breaking a sweat. They do need to show the requisite effort and focus every week, and this game served as a good reminder of that fact. The minute UCLA locked in, especially on defense, this game was over; after giving up that first touchdown, the UCLA defense held Michigan State to 26 total yards over eight drives before the backups allowed a field goal drive.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. Let’s do some grades.

Offense

Quarterback: A-

Ty Dieffenbach got away with a near interception on a bad pass, but that’s the only real issue I had with his decision-making. His passing line was negatively affected by a series of drops by his receivers that would have easily pushed him above 200 yards (and would have prevented an injury scare at the end of the half), but he generally made the right decision with the ball, and that’s exactly what UCLA needs from the quarterback position at this stage of the season. UCLA’s running game is solid, and they have an excellent defense, so if Dieffenbach can minimize mistakes and keep the offense on schedule, that’s all he needs to do.

That said, Dieffenbach’s best plays in this game came in a defensive capacity, as he ran down both fumble returners and slowed them down, allowing the faster players to catch up and stop a potential scoop-and-score. Michigan State ultimately scored a touchdown after one of those returns, but the other one led to no points as the Bruins got an interception of their own, so you can directly credit a seven-point swing to Dieffenbach’s effort.

Running Backs: C

Sure, the three-headed hydra ran for 209 yards (5.4 YPC) on their own, with each running back picking up a touchdown, but man, those two fumbles were really bad. They came deep in Michigan State territory, and neither of them seemed like a freak play; Anthony Woods and Jaivian Thomas simply decided not to secure the ball through the tackle attempt. Throw in Wayne Knight muffing an early kickoff, and the Bruin ball carriers struggled with ball protection early.

Luckily, they figured things out, and Woods in particular seemed to use his mistake to fuel a strong outing, pacing the RB room with 112 yards on 14 carries. Knight was more subdued, and in the postgame Chesney remarked that he was a bit banged up during the game and sat as a precaution, so that is something to monitor going forward. I might expect him to sit for the majority of the Nevada game, maybe playing only a series or two to keep the touchdown streak going.

Receivers: C+

Two drops for Landon Ellis. One drop for Brayden Loftin (not officially a drop, but it hit him in the face mask, so cmon). One drop for Semaj Morgan. Not great. Ellis’s second drop even led to Dieffenbach taking an unnecessary hit and having an injury scare.

But also, Brian Rowe Jr. is finally making big catches, as he did to haul in that touchdown pass from Dieffenbach. Those are the types of plays this group has to make going forward for UCLA to meet its potential. This team can’t ride the running game forever, and needs the passing game to be more consistent to keep defenses honest. Morgan has become pretty dependable, and Ellis typically is, but this group is going to need to find another level down the stretch.

Overall: C+

The 28-10 final score was not indicative of how much UCLA dominated, in large part because the offense kept shooting itself in the foot. The two fumbles came deep in Michigan State territory, but then you throw in a turnover on downs at the Spartan 3-yard line because this team struggles in the red zone, and you have some things that need to be fixed sooner than later. The last stretch of the season is a mixed bag as far as toughness, with this upcoming game against Nevada being the last true gimmie game. Time to make some progress here.

Defense

Run Defense: A

Pass Defense: A

Overall: A

It would be easy to just post the raw numbers and leave it at that. 156 total yards of offense allowed, an average of 2.9 yards per play, 2-11 on third downs, four sacks, six tackles for loss, one fumble, two interceptions. Outside of miscommunication on the first touchdown (which, again, had the drive start at the UCLA 15-yard line because of a turnover), this defense locked Michigan State and did not let up until the 4th quarter, when the game was well in hand and the backups were playing. And even then, the backups still got one of those two interceptions.

UCLA’s linebacker corps is special, but instead of giving the usual flowers to Sammy Omosigho and Jalen Woods (both of whom led the team in sacks and tackles, respectively), I want to talk about Trent Hendrick and Donovyn Pellot. UCLA has shifted to a more traditional 4-3 defensive setup these past few weeks, which has necessitated getting an extra linebacker on the field. That works great for UCLA, as Hendrick is good enough on his own to start for most teams in the Big Ten, and finished third in this game with five tackles (four solo). Pellot had a great game as the first rotation linebacker, having the first hit that led to Malik Hartford’s forced fumble, and then his interception was just a great read and reaction.

Also, I just want to shout out this play:

On the surface, there isn’t much to this play; it’s a simple three-yard run on first down for Michigan State. But consider that this is Michigan State’s first play of the second half, coming right after UCLA hit a deep bomb to extend their lead to two scores. Michigan State needs to answer, and so they go with some misdirection on first down that should have resulted in more yards. Except it doesn’t work, because Anthony Sacca not only recognizes the play, but also recognizes what his role is, and immediately kicks out to stop Chrishon McCray from bouncing to the outside. He then crashes back inside to cut off the run option, essentially funneling McCray into the waiting arms of Pellot. This kind of play isn’t something that should jump out at you, but it’s indicative of how in-sync and locked in this defense is.

Special Teams

Overall: A-

I’m not holding missing a 54-yard field goal against Mateen Bhaghani. That’s an NFL-level kick, and expecting him to make that with any sort of consistency is just asking for trouble.

Kick coverage was pretty good throughout, and I thought UCLA made a great play on Curtis Gerrand’s last punt, where the coverage unit got downfield quickly and was able to down the punt at the 1-yard line. I am, however, dinging the grade a bit for Semaj Morgan being a bit loose with when he decided to try and catch the ball, and Wayne Knight fumbling with his one kick return. The team is playing at a higher level, so the grading is getting tougher as a result.

Coaching

Offensive Gameplan: B

When it is right, this thing looks so good:

Last week I talked about how UCLA can put opponents in the blender when things are clicking, and this play was a great example of it. UCLA came out with three straight run plays to start the second half, and given the success of those plays, it wasn’t crazy to expect a fourth. Dean Kennedy uses that to call a play action, and watch the entire Spartan linebacker and safety corps cheat in anticipation of that call. Once the Spartans realize this isn’t a run, it’s too late; Rowe got a clean release on a go route, and with the safety sucked in on the run, he got single coverage against a cornerback who, similarly, got sucked into a potential run and was immediately on the back foot. Rowe didn’t need to have blazing speed to make this touchdown - imagine Aiden Mizell running this route - because the playcalling had set him up for success.

In general, UCLA had a solid game plan to attack the Michigan State defense. UCLA had six drives of 50+ yards, as good a sign as any that the team was able to move the ball pretty consistently. A lot of the issues offensively came down to execution rather than scheme, with the two fumbles and multiple drops stalling out various drives.

All that said, I’m going to start being very critical of UCLA’s red zone offense, because it is really bad at the moment. UCLA scores points on 75.8% of their red zone trips, the second-worst mark in the Big Ten, and their touchdown rate (60.6%) is one of the worst in the conference as well. When the team gets into goal-to-go situations, things just bog down, as opponents key in on the run and UCLA doesn’t have a big go-to receiver they can throw the ball to. I think teams have scouted out the Wildcat package fairly well, and UCLA will need to add some wrinkles to it to keep teams honest.

Defensive Gameplan: A

Obvious caveat here that Michigan State’s offense is archaic and terrible, and that was before they lost literally everyone to injury. The Spartans dipped into the 4th string at quarterback once this game was over, which is a tough situation for anyone to be in.

Still, Michigan State had only 83 yards through the first three quarters. Their one true drive of the game came in the 4th quarter against the backups, who redeemed themselves on the next drive by creating an interception. Michigan State averaged 2.9 yards per play. This whole thing was gross.

I don’t really have any negatives for this game on the defensive end. The issues again stemmed more from execution than anything in the game plan, which essentially put Michigan State in a chokehold and refused to let up. This defense is playoff-caliber.

Overall: A-

Last week, I talked about UCLA needing to clean up in the Middle Eight, with the Bruins looking really poor on that front through the first six games. Things definitely improved, especially coming out of the half, with the Bruins scoring a touchdown on their first possession of the second half and forcing a three-and-out on the other end. But the two-minute drill needs some work, as UCLA had a chance to put even more points on the board but failed to execute. Gotta clean that up.

This is where we’ll come back to the rat poison from the start, and credit Bob Chesney and the staff for getting everyone refocused after a nightmare first quarter. There were still problems in the first half, but Chesney clear got on his team after that quarter, with the defense playing some inspired football during the competitive portion of the game while the offense responded well. This is going to be the challenge for the next few weeks as well; Nevada should be a relative pushover, but Minnesota and Illinois represent traps that UCLA could fall into if they’re not prepared. I have some faith that Chesney and company can use this game as a learning tool going forward.

Trending

Trend: Neutral

This is the first game where I’d look at how the team is progressing and say that things did not improve, but they didn’t get worse. Really, UCLA should have won this game by more, and on Homecoming it would have been a great way to build more fan engagement to put on a show for the Bruin fans in attendance. Ultimately, the Bruins won by a comfortable margin, and on a day that Southern Cal was embarrassed by a team UCLA also built comfortably, that should help win over casual fans.

Final Composite

Offense grade: C+ (2.3)

Defense grade: A (4.0)

Special Teams grade: A- (3.7)

Coaching grade: A- (3.7)

Trending: Neutral

Final grade for Michigan State Spartans: B+ (3.39)

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

UC Berkeley Golden Bears: B+ (3.42)

San Diego State Aztecs: A- (3.54)

Purdue Boilermakers: C (2.21)

Maryland Terrapins: A- (3.76)

Oregon Ducks: B (3.00)

Wisconsin Badgers: B+ (3.43)

UCLA plays Nevada this week in a pseudo-bye week. This is the perfect opportunity for the Bruins to jump on an opponent early and put the game away as quickly as possible so that the backups can get plenty of experience while the starters rest and recover.

On top of that, the Bruins are now fully in the College Football Playoff conversation, and given the relative strength of their schedule to this point (Wisconsin is the best team they’ve faced), the Bruins will need to put up some style points by blowing out some lesser opponents. That means they need to win this game by a substantial margin and avoid playing with their food. Kick-off is at 1:15 PM, and this game needs to be functionally over by 1:30 PM.

That might sound harsh, but this is the standard Bob Chesney and company are aspiring to. If the party line is going to be “Why not now? Why not us?”, then we are going to treat this team the same way we should treat any other playoff hopeful.

Let’s see if they can rise to the challenge.

Go Bruins!

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This week, the UCLA Bruins face their last non-conference opponent of the regular season when the Nevada Wolf Pack visit the Rose Bowl. Normally, UCLA doesn’t play a non-conference game this late in the season, but they will this season.

This game may very well be UCLA’s best option for a guaranteed home win this season because Nevada doesn’t appear to be a very good football team. The Wolf Pack are 3-4 with wins over Western Kentucky, UTEP and San Jose State while their losses came against Montana State, Middle Tennessee, Air Force, and North Dakota State.

Nevada’s head coach is Jeff Choate. Choate is in his third season leading the Wolf Pack, and this is his second head coaching job. Previously, he led the program at Montana State for four seasons. While his overall record with the Bobcats was just 28-22, he did improve the team’s performance each season and he led Montana State to the FCS playoffs in his final two seasons.

After COVID cancelled the 2020 season, Choate decided to leave for a job as the co-defensive coordinator and linebackers coach for Steve Sarkisian at Texas. Choate had previously worked with Sarkisian at Washington.

After three seasons at Texas, Choate opted to take the head coaching job with the Wolf Pack. In each of Choate’s first two seasons at Nevada, the Wolf Pack won just three games each year. If there’s an upside for Nevada, the fact that the team has already won three games makes it seem like they will likely improve their win total this year.

Choate is on his third offensive coordinator in three seasons. Matt Lubick was Nevada’s OC during Choate’s first season, but he left to go back to Kansas. He was replaced by David Gilbertson who was Nevada’s quarterbacks coach in 2024, but Gilbertson was fired at the end of last season by Choate, citing a lack of offensive production. For this season, Choate brought in Brett Bartolone.

After Bartolone spent 2020 and 2021 as an offensive analyst at Nevada, he was hired by Deion Sanders to be the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Jackson State. When Sanders went to Colorado, Bartolone went with him, albeit as the Buffs’ receivers coach rather than as the offensive coordinator. So far, Bartolone has improved Nevada’s scoring by 8.69 points per game from 17.6 last year to 26.29 this year.

While Choate has had to replace his offensive coordinator twice, Kane Ioane has been his defensive coordinator for all three seasons with the Wolf Pack. This is the second time that Ioane has served as Choate’s defensive coordinator. Previously, Ioane was Choate’s defensive coordinator at Montana State in 2019. He was still on Choate’s staff in 2020, but the Bobcats did not play that year due to COVID. When Choate left for Texas, Ioane went to Boise State as the Broncos co-defensive coordinator and safeties coach.

Ioane will run a 2-4-5 Nickel defense, which should open up the ground game nicely for the Bruins by playing a fifth defensive back and leaving just six men up front instead of having seven men up front like Wisconsin and Michigan State did. If they stick with the nickel and don’t put seven men upfront, it should result in another big rushing game for the Bruins. I’d expect them to gain more than 250 yards on the ground.

Let’s look at Nevada’s special teams personnel.

Special Teams

Sixth-year senior Joe McFadden will handle Nevada’s placekicking duties. McFadden is in his second season with Nevada after beginning his collegiate career with UConn. This season, he has made all 20 PAT tries and he is 10 of 12 on field goal attempts. Perhaps more importantly, McFadden is a perfect 10 for 10 on field goal tries of less than 50 yards. His only two misses were his two attempts longer than 50 yards.

Both misses came against North Dakota State. One of them was a 57-yard attempt with three seconds left in the first half and the other was a 54-yard try on fourth-and-sixteen in the third quarter. The fact that Choate would send him out to try two long field goals like that displays a level of confidence most college coaches may not have in their kicker, though a really long try with three seconds left in the half reflect a lack of confidence in the offense’s ability to take a shot deep than a vote of confidence in his kicker.

The same thing goes for the second long attempt. On fourth-and-sixteen, there may not have been much confidence in the ability to get the first down and a punt likely would have gone for a touchback due to a short field. It’s worth noting that McFadden’s career long was 50 yards. He made his first 50-yarder at UConn in 2023 and he repeated it last season with the Wolf Pack.

While McFadden was also kicking off earlier in the season, Australian freshman Jacob Fernandez seems to have taken over on kickoffs during October. McFadden and Fernandez both kicked off against UTEP, but Fernandez was the guy for all kickoffs against NDSU and SJSU. Half of Fernandez’s 12 kickoffs have gone for a touchback and he is averaging 64.0 yards per kickoff.

Ewan Baulch, another Australian true freshman, is Nevada’s starting punter. Baulch is averaging 43.26 yards per punt and his season long was a 61-yarder against Western Kentucky. Of his 27 punts, 15 of them have been fair caught by opponents while only one has landed in the end zone for a touchback. Six of his punts landed inside the 20 and four have traveled more than 50 yards.

When it comes to returners, Nevada’s depth chart has been as simple as possible. Only the first-string returners have returned a punt or kickoff for the Wolf Pack.

For punt returns, that’s sixth-year wide receiver Gerick Robinson. Robinson has returned 15 punts this season and he is averaging 13.8 yards per punt return. His longest punt return was a 43-yarder against Middle Tennessee, but he also had a 41-yard return against North Dakota State. So, while he has not returned one for a touchdown yet, he is still a dangerous return man.

Meanwhile, fifth-year running back Ky Woods is also very dangerous. Woods has returned nine kickoffs and he is averaging 32.33 yards per kickoff return. His longest return of the year came last week against San Jose State when he returned a kickoff 90 yards. He didn’t score on that return but it set the Wolf Pack up on the Spartans’ four-yard line and they scored on the first play from scrimmage on the drive, giving Nevada a 28-10 lead and sealing the win.

As a result, UCLA needs to make sure that the Bruin special teams are on point and don’t suffer any lapses which put the Wolf Pack in a position to score.


Go Bruins!!!

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I don’t think anyone who watched yesterday’s game either in-person at the Rose Bowl or on TV somewhere will disagree that the game began as kind of a sloppy mess. Unfortunately, that’s just the way a football game goes sometimes.

Frequently, those types of mistakes are caused by weather or the opposing team making plays. Your guys can’t control the weather, for sure, and to a lesser extent, you can’t control what the opponent does. To be sure, you can look to minimize your own mistakes by holding onto the ball better and not making mental errors which prove costly.

Usually, the team which makes the fewest mistakes, or which causes their opponent to make more mistakes, will win a game.

Former NFL head coach Mike Shanahan used to say that he wouldn’t accept something in a win which he wouldn’t accept in a loss. Over the years, both here and on the old site, we’d reference that quote when talking about an ugly win.

Well, it’s refreshing to hear a Bruin coach talking the same way finally, even if his actual language is a little different.

Coach Chesney opened his postgame press conference admitting this:

Obviously, anytime you have a a win, it’s a they’re not easy to come by. So, to be able to end up with a win is a big deal. Seven and oh…obviously, a big deal. Um but, you know…and that first half was just not our type of football.

Not really how we want to play the game. The two fumbles for them to have a hundred and some yards of returns on those two. But what a great job by the defense to step up and get a stop on one.

And then Donnie with the interception and flip the field right back again. That was a big time deal. That’s 14 points.

Let’s talk about Ty a little bit in that situation, too, because he’s the one that actually runs down the field and then holds the kid up and then the pursuit of B. Rowe and Aiden Mizell never ever quitting [and] playing to the whistle. That matters more than anything almost that we did today. It was sloppy, but in the end got a win and proud of our guys.

A bit later, he touched on it again:

Yeah, it’s really important. I mean, it’s look, it’s two fumbles, two drops, two holding penalties, right?

That’s ultimately what happened out there. Two fumbles, two drops, two holding penalties. You can’t do it.

You just can’t do it if you want to win really close games. Again, we we’re taking three, four touchdowns off the board by doing that. So, the holds, we’ll go back and look and just see. I didn’t think one was. I thought that we helped guide the guy up field. The second one definitely was or the first one was the second one I don’t think was and it was a big run by Wayne at that point in time.

The two drops can’t happen and then you know ultimately the two fumbles…just a shame.

Now, they’re good at this. This is what they do. They punch the ball out. They just haven’t recovered it. Now, they were not only recovering it but they were scooping and scoring it for the tune of 120 some yards. So, that’s a problem and we will get better.

And he still wasn’t done. He mentioned it one more time during the interview. Coach Chesney offered a final glimpse into his thought process, saying:

So, the thing for me is like when you see it hit a couple different people, you think, “Hey, I could fix this one guy and fix his situation,” and then it happens to somebody else and then you see it like almost happening with the ball coming out too.

So, we’ve been great with it all year and we work on it and there’s ball security things. There’s all the times we go against the defense. We are making sure iron on iron and punching the ball out and doing everything else. We just have got to put a little bit more of an emphasis on it.

And, I think that you need a game like this once in a while to allow you to say, “Okay, damn. This is week seven. Maybe over the past week, I kind of got a little lax on it. I’m never going to let this happen again.” That’s what you ultimately need.

It seems pretty clear that he means what he said and look forward to seeing the improvements which will come as a result.

And, I fully expect the Bruins to demonstrate those improvements next week against Nevada.

Go Bruins!!!

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The UCLA Bruins have moved up again in this week’s Top 25 polls after beating Michigan State yesterday, 28-10. With three previously higher ranked teams losing, the Bruins are now ranked seventh in both the AP Poll and the USA Today Coaches Poll.

Yesterday, BYU, Ole Miss and Texas Tech all lost, leaving just Miami, Utah and UCLA unbeaten. Miami remains in top spot in both polls but BYU’s loss moves Ohio State to #2 while Georgia and Indiana are third and fourth, respectively. The Fighting Irish landed at fifth in the AP Poll, followed by Utah while they flip-flop in the Coaches Poll.

The Bruins are followed by BYU and Kentucky in the AP Poll with these teams trading places in the Coaches Poll. Alabama is now ranked tenth in both polls.

As far as other Big Ten schools go, Northwestern moved up to #18 in the Coaches Poll and they are tied for 20th with Boise State in the AP Poll. Wisconsin’s win over Southern Cal lands them the 25th spot in the AP Poll while the Trojans’ loss knocked them out of the AP Poll and down to 25 in the Coaches Poll. Can someone please find a way to save Lincoln Riley’s job?

Iowa, Minnesota and Southern Cal all received votes in the AP Poll while Wisconsin, Minnesota, Nebraska and Michigan all received votes in the Coaches Poll.

Here are both complete Top 25 polls:

UCLA’s next game will be this Saturday, October 31 at the Rose Bowl against the Nevada Wolf Pack. Kickoff time is set for 1:15 pm PT and the game will be broadcast on BTN.


Go Bruins!!!

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The ninth-ranked UCLA Bruins remained undefeated this afternoon by beating the Michigan State Spartans by a score of 28-10. It’s the seventh straight win for the Bruins and UCLA is now 7-0 for the first time since 2005.

Things were a little concerning early when, on the Bruins’ first drive of the game, Anthony Woods fumbled and it was recovered by MSU’s Devin Vaught who returned it for 56 yards all the way down to the Bruin 15.

Two plays later, Kenneth Williams scored on a one-yard run to give the Spartans a 7-0 lead.

The Bruins’ next two drives both ended in punts.

On the second play of the Spartans’ first drive of the second quarter, Williams fumbled and Sammy Omosigho recovered the fumble on the MSU 19-yard line. Five plays later, Javian Thomas got UCLA on the board with a seven-yard touchdown run and Bhaghani’s PAT tied the game, 7-7.

UCLA moved the ball well on their next drive. On six plays, they went from their own 23 to the MSU 37, but on the seventh play of the drive, Jaivian Thomas fumbled and Vaught returned this one for 56 yards down to the Bruin 19-yard line, and it looked like the Spartans would capitalize again.

But on the second play of the drive, Donovyn Pellot picked off a pass from third-string quarterback Kayd Coffman, who started due to injuries to Spartan QBs Alessio Milivojevic and Cam Fancher. Pellot ran the interception back 67 yards to the Michigan State 21-yard line.

Five plays later, Wayne Knight scored UCLA’s second touchdown of the game from one yard out and the Bruins took a 14-7 lead into the locker room at the half.

It’s worth noting that Bruin fans held their collective breath on the Bruins’ final drive of the half when Ty Dieffenbach went down with what looked like a serious injury, but UCLA punted it away on fourth down and didn’t get the ball back until they received the second half kickoff.

UCLA’s first drive of the second half began on their own 25 following a touchback, and when the offense took the field Dieffenbach was out there with them. So, whatever the issue was at the end of the first half, it didn’t keep him from playing on UCLA’s next possession or any part of the second half.

In fact, as if to say “I’m OK,” Dieffenbach threw a beautiful 63-yard touchdown pass to Brian Rowe on the fourth play of that drive. The ball looked a little overthrown, but Rowe turned on his afterburners and grabbed at just the right time. It was one of UCLA’s longest touchdown passes of the season, and probably the prettiest. It gave the Bruins a comfortable 21-7 lead.

UCLA’s final score of the game came on their next drive following another Michigan State punt. This drive began on the Bruins’ 30-yard line and UCLA drove 70 yards on ten plays with Anthony Thomas joining Knight and Thomas with a rushing touchdown. This one came on a four-yard run.

From there, the Bruin defense took over. Forcing a pair of punts before finally giving up a field goal to the Spartans.

Overall, it was another outstanding defensive effort by the Bruin defense. Today, they allowed a total of 156 yards with 109 coming through the air and just 47 yards rushing. In fact, prior to Michigan State’s field goal drive in the fourth quarter, they had held the Spartans to just 89 yards total.

It was a very impressive effort by the defense which could easily be overlooked, but shouldn’t be because the defense has been doing such an outstanding job all season and they only seem to be getting better.

Offensively, Dieffenbach finished up going 18 of 31 for 198 yards and a touchdown. Brian Rowe led the receivers with three catches for 74 yards and a touchdown while Semaj Morgan had seven receptions for 70 yards.

Anthony Woods led the Bruin rushers with 112 yards on 14 carries while Knight managed to gain 56 yards on 15 carries.

UCLA’s next game will be next Saturday at the Rose Bowl against the Nevada Wolf Pack. Kickoff is set for 1:15 pm and the game will be broadcast on Big Ten Network.


Go Bruins!!!

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After beating Wisconsin at home last week, the Bruins are back for this year’s Homecoming game at the Rose Bowl against the Spartans. Kickoff is set for 12:30 pm PT and the game will be broadcast on CBS. After six straight wins to start the season, you really should be at the Rose Bowl to cheer on these Bruins. UCLA football has been this fun since 1998!

This afternoon, the Bruins will play the MSU at the Rose Bowl for the first time since 1966. So, it’s fitting that the Bruins will wear their 1960s throwback uniforms for today’s game. The good news is that today’s game should not be as close as the 1966 Rose Bowl Game, which the Bruins won 14-12.

While Michigan State has played consecutive close games, which they lost by a total of four points combined, the Spartan injury report doesn’t look like this game is going to be very close. It could even be more lopsided than last year’s win in East Lansing.

Let’s look at this week’s Keys to the Game.

Keys to the Game

1. Take What the Spartans Give

Michigan State has tended to play a nickel defense, but switched to a 4-3 defense with a seven-man front against Nebraska. Injuries may determine what the Spartans end up running today. If they play the 4-3, the Bruins should go to the air like last week against Wisconsin, but if they are playing the nickel, they should run it up their guts.

2. Suffocate the Spartan Offense

The MSU offense is plagued by injuries coming into today’s game. They may have to start their third- or fourth-string QB and their third-string running back due to injuries. This could give the Bruin defense an opportunity to just complete strangle and suffocate the Spartan offense, and they absolutely should!

3. Win the Turnover Battle

The Bruins need to win the turnover battle. Michigan State has only picked off two passes all season while UCLA is fifth in the nation with 11 picks. Grabbing a few more will help the offense out a lot.

Watch and Listen to the Game With TMB!

Today’s game is on CBS and will stream on CBSSports.com and the Paramount+ app with Brad Nessler, Charles Davis and Jenny Dell 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 Michigan State Spartans at #9 UCLA Bruins game thread. Join your fellow Bruins discussing today’s game in the comments section below, but before you get there, here’s how to watch today’s game:

#9 UCLA Football (6-0, 4-0)

• Opponent: Michigan State Spartans (2-5, 0-4)

• Series Record: UCLA leads, 4-3

• When: 12:30 pm PT, Saturday, October 24, 2026

• Where: Rose Bowl, Pasadena, California

• Live TV: CBS with Brad Nessler, Charles Davis, and Jenny Dell

• Live Stream: CBSSports.com and the Paramount+ app

• Radio/Audio:
  KABC-AM 790 in Los Angeles with Josh Lewin, Matt Stevens and Wayne Cook
  Satellite Radio: SiriusXM Ch. 85 (UCLA Call)

  Online: UCLABruins.com

• Live Stats: UCLA StatBroadcast

• Game Notes:
  UCLA
  Michigan State

• Rebroadcast (All times PT):
  Sunday, 10/25 at 5:00 pm on BTN (B1G Football in 60)

  Sunday, 10/25 at 11:00 pm on BTN (B1G Football in 60)

  Monday, 10/26 at 3:00 am on BTN (B1G Football in 60)

  Tuesday, 10/27 at 12:00 am on BTN (B1G Football in 60)

  Wednesday, 10/28 at 2:00 am on BTN (B1G Football in 60)

  Wednesday, 10/28 at 11:00 am on BTN (B1G Football in 60)

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

On Monday, Coach Chesney spoke about various aspects of the Wisconsin game and. One of things which stood out was his explanation about what goes into his motivational style. Chesney said:

A lot of it, ultimately starts with, honestly my father growing up like watching him and listening to him with a lot of things we talk about in pregame speeches and the stuff he would do, but he was always looking for an edge, like a a mental edge and a building of confidence edge. We were never a really big team, never had a lot of guys on the roster. We were a little Catholic school and, in Pennsylvania, a lot of the two public schools around us were pretty strong powerhouses and I ended up going to a little Catholic school there and never were we the better team, but we played better than a lot of teams sometimes and I think that had a lot to do with just his ability to motivate us and and have us believe in ourselves. That was a big, big part of it. Then, I think for me just I do a lot of like researching and learning just about leadership and I just want to keep growing and getting better and the more people I can talk to the better off I feel like I can be and then just finding my own ways and own research that just kind of fits the narrative of the week that we’re facing.

On Tuesday, Coach Chesney turned his attention to Michigan State, though he did expand on “the standard” which he had explained the day before. Chesney said:

I’ve never looked at odds of what a game is or what any of that stuff is. We just we have to play the opponent that we’ve got to play on that.

So, we have to prepare all week. We have to understand their strengths, their weaknesses, what we could attack, what we have to stop. That’s just the the name of the game. So, how we go about this practice, this walk through at the end, our run fits, our pass game, all the things that come with it, route recognition, and then offensively continue to clean it up. That’s just what we do. So, it’s just when you have a good process and you have a good progression in place and you have the ability to compete every single moment of every day out here. You don’t have to go up or down or do anything else. The standard doesn’t rise or sink, right? The standard is the standard and I think our guys understand that.

Coordinators: Colin Hitschler, Dean Kennedy & Drew Canan

Colin Hitschler spoke about topics like the defense’s success and maintaining the process. He said:

They’ve done a great job of just continuing to get better and continuing to challenge things. It’s really fun to watch a group believe in the process and develop the process. I think everyone’s watching all the saving stuff and all that talk on the process. I think the guys continue to improve their process and enhance it each week and they’re starting to really come together as a group and see how to attack the pass game or or vice versa the run fits and how we got to be perfect on those. So, it’s a fun group to coach right now. But, you know, we’ve been humbled before this year and we know it’s coming again at some point. But it’s our job to battle it off and figure out a way that that teams continue to attack us or try to figure out how the next team’s going to attack us, but adjust on game day and they’ve done a good job of that as well.

Meanwhile, Coach Kennedy spoke about the development of guys like Jaylen St. Paul as well as the performance Ty Dieffenbach had on Saturday. One other topic he discussed was the balance between the run and the pass and how they want to be as balanced as possible so opposing teams can’t focus on just one aspect of the Bruin offense. Kennedy explained:

We believe in being balanced and some of those…sticking to the run game. Obviously, the run game didn’t go as we wanted it to go, but at the same point in time, it still allowed us to have open receivers at times. And that’s the big piece is that how they tie in together because if you just abandon the run game or you abandon the pass game, they can hone in on one individual piece. So, that’s kind of one of our beliefs is that we’re not going to abandon either side of it, right? And that allows for the other position when it’s like you talk about from a team perspective, right? How special teams in defense and offense, they all got to compliment each other. It’s no different from the offensive side of the ball. You know, when one side of it may not be working, it’s the other job to step up.

But at the same point in time, you’re still putting pressure on the defense by still having them think that we’re going to run the ball or pass the ball.

Special teams coordinator Drew Canan also met with the media this week. Coach Canan spoke about the philosophy and some of the strategy which goes into special teams. Canan said:

Well, with special teams, you know, the big thing we talk about, and we talked about this in the first meeting, is we need our most productive players to play on special teams if we want to get to where we are. So, you look at our punt team, you know, there’s Sammy that that’s out there, J9’s out there, Trent Hendricks out there, AG’s out there, Landon’s out there.

So, you know, you look at that unit right there and I think that speaks volumes kind of of of what we need and what we’re asking for on special teams. At the same point, there’s Rosenthal, Shane Rosenthal, there’s Jason McMullen. Maybe they don’t play, you know, a ton of snaps on defense, a ton of snaps of offense, but they’ve bought in.

I think that starts from the leadership. So, I think it starts from the head coach I could probably count on my left hand the 13 years that I’ve been with Coach Chesney how many special teams meetings he’s missed. He’s in every single meeting, meets with me multiple times a day. So, that’s huge. And and then the depth, it’s great to have that and we have multiple returners that we feel we could put in the game, and we have multiple guys that we feel can help us. So, it’s definitely a huge benefit.

Players: Semaj Morgan & Sammy Omosigho

When wide receiver Semaj Morgan spoke with the media, one of the things he spoke of was the performance of Bruin quarterback Ty Dieffenbach. Semaj said:

I feel like the way he got thrown in there during the Oregon game, I feel like that could have been a little nerve-wracking for anybody and I feel like he handled that really well. But, just coming back throughout the week and just gaining confidence throughout the week with his receivers with his play calls, the more and more reps that he got, we could all see it like he was getting more and more confident. So, I was really impressed with how confident he was just going into the game making certain throws like that throw that he had to land and those two whole shot throws that he had to Landon. Those were pro throws and I just was really impressed with the way he came out there and just was a general on the field.

He was real confident. It didn’t feel like we were we were in there with a backup or a second string at all. Everybody on the field, you feel me, is a one. So he came in there with that great mindset that he wanted to win.

Bruin linebacker Sammy Omosigho was asked if he had a favorite Coach Chesney moment. While he didn’t have one, he offered a glimpse into Chesney’s personality. Omosigho explained:

Favorite moment? Not really. He just coach Ch just be talking and what he says is very it’s very impactful, very meaningful. You know, just every day to know him something new. He’ll be he’ll be in the morning. He’ll be walking in the locker room. It’s 6:15. He walks in. All righty, guys. Who’s ready to work?

Mind you, we’re walking in. It’s 6:15.

Like, come on, Coach Chesney…he’s ready to go. Like, I guess that’s type of guy he is and the type of guy that he wants us to buy into. And I think the guys really bought in and that’s really been a good part of it.

Bonus Videos

With Nick Koop moving on to Washington, this week’s Bruin Insider show added Josh Lewin as the new host. Lewin spoke with both Coach Chesney and Semaj Morgan. Lewin asked Chesney why this team is 6-0. Chesney responded:

We, at the very beginning of this, determined the standards that we want to live by every single day when we really talked a lot about it. We talked about what championship level football looks like. We talked about the idea that we have to go every single day and attack greatness and chase greatness. And we’re not there yet.

But at the same point in time, we know that we got to be better today than we were yesterday. And I think that’s really it. We don’t worryabout just the overall outcomes or the 6 and 0 part. Like that is all part a byproduct of what we’re going to do on a day-to-day basis. Our competition levelis through the roof on this team right now. The true joy of playing this game for and with each other exists on this team. And then we’re holdingeach other as accountable as we possibly can on a day-to-day basis to make sure that we don’t fall short

One of the best stories Semaj Morgan told during his conversation was what made him choose UCLA. The bottom line was he wanted to go somewhere he could win. It’s quite a story to listen to. Unfortunately, due to the length of it, I’m not going to quote the whole thing here, but he concluded saying, “So, when I came as soon as I got on the plane, I’m talking to my dad and I text Coach Chesney like, ‘Hey, coach, I want to commit.’” It’s a great story.

Bruin running back Wayne Knight was interviewed on ESPN's SportsCenter. Of course, the hosts asked him about Coach Chesney's pregame speech at Oregon. Knight answered:

if that doesn't get you fired up, then I don't know what will. I just know that I'm ready to run through a brick wall, you know, for the for the guy next to me and for that for that head coach, man. And just in that moment, all the confidence in the world just flowed throughout the whole entire team. And you could feel it. You can feel the energy. You can feel the aura.

It was good to see Wayne get his due since we haven't heard much from him this season in interviews and whatnot. Of course, sometimes, it's better to just do your talking on the field and he has certainly done a lot of that.

Our next video today comes from CBS Sports. Adam Zucker, Rick Neuheisel and Brian Kelly interviewed Coach Chesney this week. Kelly, who graduated from Assumption where Chesney coached, asked him about having to get the job done without the kind of resources that larger programs have. Chesney's answer helps explain why he has been so successful this season. He detailed:

I started at that Salv Regina University first, the D3 school. And when I was at that D3 school, I visited a lot with the Ivy League schools and as many different people as I could at the D2 level to make it more like what I felt was a D2 school. Then I got to Assumption and it was a D2 school. I wanted to be more like a D1 school. And I had the, obviously, honor of coming out and visiting with you quite a bit. I learned a lot about sports science and running a full organization and program and the the way in which you did it. There was a lot thatI took notes on and use today. And ultimately for me, I just think that, with without the resources, you have to get pretty creative, right?

Necessity is the mother of all invention. And I think that, ultimately, that is something that we were able to do and try to give these guys a feeling that it was big-time college football, even if it wasn't. Every step of the way, we tried to really do that and learn from higher levels. When I got to James Madison, I was learning from NFL guys as much as I can, and here now, the same. We have a great support staff from Doc Roberts, the manager of the the Dodgers, to Adam Peters, the GM of the Commanders, to Bob Meyers, who was the Golden State Warrior GM for all those years. Just a great amount of people that I could keep pulling from to make this the greatest place in the world to play football.

The final interview today comes from AM 570's Petros and Money Show. They spoke with Bruin quarterback Ty Dieffenbach about a variety of things. Among the things we learned about Ty included his favorite Westwood sandwich shop and who cuts his hair. One topic Dieffenbach mentioned was how the offense didn't change at all even though the team was forced to play him at QB. He explained:

During the week there was Coach Kennedy. He told me, “We're not going to go out there and change what we do as a offense. We have full full trust and belief in you to go out there and and operate the offense and throw the ball and then move the ball down the field.” So, I just think hearing that and having a good week of practice as well just set me up for success on Saturday. for success on Saturday.

Of course, we conclude today with the Bruin Tape for Game 6 to hype you up and get you ready for Game 7.

Go Bruins!!!

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The #9 UCLA Bruins will host the 2-5 Michigan State Spartans tomorrow at the Rose Bowl. The game will be broadcast on CBS with Brad Nessler, Charles Davis and Jenny Dell and the game will kickoff at 12:30 pm PT.

Tomorrow’s game is just the eighth time that the Bruins have played the Spartans. Before last season’s matchup in East Lansing, the teams hadn’t met since UCLA swept a home-and-home series back in 1973 and 1974.

It seems fitting that UCLA will be wearing their Beban-era throwbacks for the game tomorrow as this game will be the first time the teams have met in the Rose Bowl since 1966. The only thing that could make it any cooler would be if the Spartans were to wear 60s throwbacks too.

Coming in to that Rose Bowl Game, the Bruins were ranked fifth in the nation while the Spartans were the #1 team in the country, but Gary Beban rushed for two touchdowns to lead UCLA to a 14-12 win. As a result, the 8-2-1 UCLA team finished the season fourth in the AP Top 25 poll behind Alabama, Michigan State and Arkansas, which seems pretty good considering the Bruins opened the season with a 13-3 loss to the Spartans in East Lansing, but what do I know? I wasn’t alive to see either game.

Odds

Last week’s win over Wisconsin moved my record against the spread to 5-0-1 for the season. Of course, I dropped another Over call last week, making me 1-5 on the Over/Under this season.

This week, UCLA opened as a 13.5-point favorite. Since then, the action has increased the spread to 14.5 points. Before I previewed the Michigan State offense as well as their defense, I probably would have said that this is a lot of points to give when you consider that the Spartans have lost their last two games by a total of just four points, but after writing this week’s preview, I just don’t see how the Bruins don’t win this game by at least 17 points. The bottom line is simple: Spartan offensive playcalling has been highly suspect and the number of injuries which could keep key personnel from playing makes this an easy decision. Take the Bruins and give the points again!

The Over/Under for this game started at 47.5 points and I’m thinking the MSU availability report is a significant contributing factor going into the lowering of the Over/Under down to 43.5 points. If I were actually putting money on this, I’d probably take what I was going to put toward the O/U and increase my wager on the point spread, but since I’m not, I have to make a call here. While I think UCLA will win, and win big, I have very little confidence that the Spartans are going to score more than a field goal if they score that much. So, 43.5 points seems like a tough hurdle to climb here.

I’m taking the Under, but won’t be overly surprised if UCLA scores close to that number on their own or even covers it by themselves.

Tailgating and Game Time Weather Forecast

It’s going to be a Chamber of Commerce Day tomorrow in Pasadena.

The day will start off a little on the cool side with it clear and about 57° when the parking lots open at 6:30 am PT for tailgating. Of course, that’s before the sun rises at 7:05 am. As you’d expect, the temperature will warm up as we get closer to kickoff. By 9 am, it should be in the low 60s and, by 11 am, it should be close to upper 60s, possibly breaking into the 70s.

Meanwhile, it will continue to slowly warm up to about 72° in time for kickoff at 12:30 pm. By halftime, it should be in the mid-70s and it will reach a high for the day of 75° by the start of the fourth quarter and it should stay close to that through the end of the game.

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

#9 UCLA Football (6-0, 4-0)

• Opponent: Michigan State Spartans (2-5, 0-4)

• Series Record: UCLA leads, 4-3

• When: 12:30 pm PT, Saturday, October 24, 2026

• Where: Rose Bowl, Pasadena, California

• Live TV: CBS with Brad Nessler, Charles Davis, and Jenny Dell

• Live Stream: CBSSports.com and the Paramount+ app

• Radio/Audio:
  KABC-AM 790 in Los Angeles with Josh Lewin, Matt Stevens and Wayne Cook
  Satellite Radio: SiriusXM Ch. 85 (UCLA Call)

  Online: UCLABruins.com

• Live Stats: UCLA StatBroadcast

• Game Notes:
  UCLA
  Michigan State

• Rebroadcast (All times PT):
  Sunday, 10/25 at 5:00 pm on BTN (B1G Football in 60)

  Sunday, 10/25 at 11:00 pm on BTN (B1G Football in 60)

  Monday, 10/26 at 3:00 am on BTN (B1G Football in 60)

  Tuesday, 10/27 at 12:00 am on BTN (B1G Football in 60)

  Wednesday, 10/28 at 2:00 am on BTN (B1G Football in 60)

  Wednesday, 10/28 at 11:00 am on BTN (B1G Football in 60)

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.

Last week, Wisconsin thought they had a plan to stop the Bruin offense. They opted to play a more traditional 3-4 defense most of the game rather than using a nickel lineup. It added a seventh man to their defensive front and helped them limit the effectiveness of UCLA’s rushing attack.

At the same time, Bruin offensive coordinator Dean Kennedy took what the Badger defense was giving him and had Ty Dieffenbach go to the air more than UCLA had in any other game this season.

Tomorrow, the Bruins face a Michigan State defense which has started a nickel defense against every team except for Nebraska. Against the Huskers, they substituted another linebacker for the nickelback. It didn’t really work for them.

Nebraska still ran the ball 41 times for 157 yards against them while they only threw it 27 times for 212 yards.

Realistically, I fully expect the Spartan defense to put a seventh man upfront because if they don’t, the Bruins will just run all over their defense like they have with most of their other opponents.

Let’s look at Michigan State’s defensive personnel.

Defensive Line

Redshirt senior Ben Roberts and redshirt junior Eli Coenen will be Michigan State’s starting defensive tackles. Roberts is fifth on the team in tackles with 26 including five TFLs, which leads the Spartans, and two sacks. He has also hurried opposing quarterbacks twice. Coenen has made 16 tackles including 4.5 TFLs and a team-leading 3.5 sacks. He has hurried opposing quarterback four times, which ties him for the team lead, and he has broken up two passes. Additionally, he has blocked one kick.

At defensive end, two guys have split the starts. Sixth year defender Isaac Smith has started four games this year while redshirt senior Keahnist Thompson has started three, but they have both played in all seven of Michigan State’s games. So, it seems like these guys are a true platoon, rather than someone stepping in due to injury. Thompson has the better stats of the two. He’s made 15 tackles including 2.5 TFLs and a sack. Additionally, he has three quarterback hurries. Smith has made ten tackles including a TFL and a sack. He’s hurried the quarterback twice.

On the other side, Kenny Soares, Jr. will get the start. Soares has made 22 tackles including three TFLs and a sack. He has hurried the QB four times, broken up two passes and intercepted one more.

Linebackers

This is an area where injuries have forced Michigan State to change up the starting lineup. Jordan Hall who has started four games this season is listed as out for tomorrow’s game. The Spartans will likely start Dion Crawford in his place. While Crawford has only played in six games this season, he is still second on the team in tackles with 41 including 1.5 TFLs. He has also broken up two passes and hurried the quarterback once.

Starting linebacker Brady Pretzlaff is listed as questionable for tomorrow. He’s only played in five of the Spartans’ games this year. In those games, he’s made 25 tackles. If he is unable to play, look for Cam Stodghill to start in his place. Stodghill is fourth on the team in tackles with 28 including 1.5 TFLs, and he’s also broken up three passes.

If they opt to start seven up front, I would normally expect to see Caleb Wheatland on the field, but he, too, is listed as questionable. Wheatland has made 19 tackles including half a TFL. He also has one pass breakup and one QB hurry. If he is unable to play, the Spartans may be forced into playing a nickel defense all game, though they could play Dimari Malone, Adam Shaw, or DeJae White with Malone being the most likely option based on the fact that he’s made seven tackles while White and Malone have just one each.

Secondary

The starting safeties will be redshirt junior Devin Vaught and redshirt senior Nikai Martinez. Vaught leads the team in tackles with 46 including a TFL. He is the only Spartan other than Soares to have intercepted a pass this year. Martinez is third on the team with 30 tackles including a TFL. He has broken up two passes, hurried the QB once and forced a fumble.

It will be next man up at the corners since both of Michigan State’s starting corners will be unavailable due to injury. So, instead of seeing Tre Bell and Charles Brantley, expect to see redshirt senior NiJhay Burt and true freshman Jeremiah Favorite as the starters. These corners have only played in three games each. As a result of that limited playing time, Burt has made just nine tackles and Favorite has made seven.

Whenever the Spartans opt for a nickel defense, look for senior Michael Richard to be on the field. Richard has made 18 tackles this season including two TFLs, and he has broken up a pass and hurried the quarterback once.

Analysis

It looks like the injuries have really piled up on both sides of the ball for the Spartans. So much so, that it could, ultimately, force the defensive alignment that they play. They are particularly depleted at linebacker, to the point that Pat Fitzgerald and defensive coordinator Joe Rossi may decide to stay in a nickel defense all game rather than throwing one of their lesser-used linebackers out there. I expect them to play the eleven guys they feel will give them the best chance at winning.

While I was a little concerned that their last two games had been decided by a combined total of four points, after seeing how many key guys will be or could be missing, I’m back to thinking that the Bruins should roll over the Spartans tomorrow. This game may not be quite as ugly as the Maryland game was, but it could be pretty close.


Go Bruins!!!

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Michigan State’s offense leans very heavily on the running. The Spartans have run the ball 56.1% of the time this season and thrown it just 43.9% of the time. That number seems almost bizarre when you consider the scoring margins in MSU’s losses to Notre Dame, Nebraska and Wisconsin.

For instance, against Wisconsin, the Spartans trailed by two touchdowns at halftime, 17-3. In the second half, the Badgers added a touchdown in each of the two final quarters. Despite that, Michigan State’s offense ran the ball 45 times in the game to just 32 pass attempts.

At the very least, the offensive playcalling is suspect. Down 24-3, MSU’s first drive of the fourth quarter began with four straight runs. That drive began on their own 19-yard line, but they didn’t throw consecutive passes until they crossed midfield. You would think that, when your team is down three scores, you might just have a little more urgency to move the ball downfield in the final quarter of the game, but the Spartans didn’t have that urgency to do that.

Their offense strategy did seem to shift a little against Illinois. In that game, they threw the ball 27 times and ran it 27 times. So, they were perfectly balanced in this game. To a degree, the strategy paid off for them. After trailing 20-7 at half, Michigan State outscored the Illini 24-11 in the second half to force overtime. Then, in overtime, Illinois got the ball first, scored and opted to kick the extra point. When the Spartans got the ball, they also scored. Rather than kicking the extra point and sending the game into a second overtime, Fitzgerald went for the win with a two-point conversion which failed and MSU lost the game as a result.

Last week against Northwestern, the Spartans actually threw the ball 30 times while they only ran it 27 times. The weird thing here is that they actually were leading for most of this game. They took a 7-3 lead with about two minutes to go in the first quarter and led 14-10 at the half. With 11:48 to go, MSU was up 21-13. The Wildcats ties the game with just under seven and a half minutes to go, but didn’t take a lead until there were just two seconds left.

But again, the playcalling in the fourth quarter was puzzling. After Northwestern turned the ball over on downs at their own 28 (you’ve got to love Chip!), the Spartans should have scored somewhat easily. On the ensuing drive, they ran the ball five times before attempting a 33-yard field goal which was blocked. They didn’t take a single shot at the end zone. Frankly, it’s inexplicable and should rightfully be driving Spartan fans nuts.

Let’s look at Michigan State’s offensive personnel.

Quarterback

When the Bruins played the Spartans last season, Alessio Milivojevic entered the game when Aidan Chiles got hurt. Milivojevic finished the game going 8-for-18 for 100 yards with a touchdown.

After Chiles entered the portal and transferred to Northwestern, Milivojevic earned the starting job for the Spartans. He has decent stats this season when he does throw the ball. He’s completed 65.41% of his passes, going 121-of-185 with seven touchdowns and three interceptions and he is averaging 180.4 passing yards per game.

Milivojevic isn’t really a runner. While he has gained 107 rushing yards, he has also lost 121, giving him -14 net yards on the ground, though he does have one rushing touchdown.

While we should expect to see Milivojevic start tomorrow, he was listed on yesterday’s Michigan State availability report as questionable. Cam Fancher probably would have been the choice to play, but Fancher is listed as being out for tomorrow’s game. So, that’s highly unlikely at this point.

That would force Fitzgerald to turn to either sixth year QB Carson Gulker or true freshman Kayd Coffman. Gulker has only thrown one pass this season while Coffman hasn’t thrown one. Gulker has run the ball three times for nine yards and Coffman has lost one yard on three carries. Neither one seems like a great option. You could make a case to start either one and not necessarily be wrong.

Running Game

The possibility that the Spartans could be without Milivojevic might force Michigan State to go back to relying more on the run if the coaching staff doesn’t trust Gulker or Coffman to air it out.

The bad news for MSU is that their running game isn’t exactly lighting it up. Part of that is because they lost starting running back Cam Edwards for the remainder of the season to a knee injury in the Nebraska game.

Since then, they have relied on Jaziun Patterson to be their primary running back. Last week against the Wildcats, Patterson carried 15 times for 72 yards. Milivojevic had the second-most rushing yards with 29 on seven carries. No other Spartan gained more than six yards rushing.

And, therein, lies the problem.

Just like Milivojevic, Patterson is listed on the MSU availability report as questionable. Will he be able to play? That’s a question I don’t know the answer to. If he is able to play, he will get the overwhelming numbers of carries. If he can’t, who will be the Spartans’ running back?

The only running backs besides Edwards and Patterson with at least ten carries are sophomore transfer Marvis Parrish and junior Brandon Tullis. Parrish has carried 33 times this season for 96 net yards. That’s an average of just 2.9 yards per carry and it’s why Tullis may be the better option.

Tullis has carried just ten times for 49 yards, which averages 4.9 yards per carry. So, he’s clearly been made the most of the handful of carries he has received.

Passing Game

The good news for Michigan State’s offense, if there is any, is that their starting wide receivers and tight ends are healthy. It just doesn’t present an answer to all the other questions surrounding the Spartan offense.

It also doesn’t say much that the team’s leading receiver is tight end Jayden Savoury. He leads the team with 27 receptions for 261 yards.

That’s not to say that the Spartans’ starting receivers don’t get the ball. All three of the starting receivers each have 19 or more receptions this season. They just haven’t caught as many passes as Savoury.

Among the receivers, Rodney Bullard, Jr. leads in receiving yards with 253. He’s made 21 receptions, averaging 12.0 yards per reception, and he scored on one of those receptions.

Redshirt senior Chrishon McCray is just one reception behind Savoury with 26 catches. He’s averaging 9.5 yards per reception for 247 receiving yards and he has scored one touchdown.

Redshirt junior Frederick Moore is in his first season with the Spartans after transferring from Michigan during the offseason. He leads Spartan receivers in touchdowns with two despite his 19 receptions being the fewest catches among the starting receivers. He’s gained 207 yards and is averaging 10.9 yards per reception.

Offensive Line

It looks like the coaching staff tried to completely rebuild the offensive line. As Bruin fans have seen, a productive offensive line makes the world of difference for a team. Unfortunately, it looks as though the guys the Spartans brought in have not been able to help open up the holes for the Spartan running backs.

Redshirt senior Ben Murawski is the usual starter at left tackle, but he is listed oas questionable for tomorrow. If he cannot play, look for redshirt sophomore Rakeem Johnson to get the start like he did last week against Northwestern. If Murawski can play, then Johnson will start at right tackle. Redshirt junior Conner Moore will be at left guard next to either Murawski or Johnson.

Redshirt senior center Trent Fraley is in his first season with MSU after playing two seasons each at Marshall and North Dakota State.

Sixth year right guard Nick Sharpe played four seasons at Wake Forest before playing at South Carolina last year. If Johnson is needed at left tackle, then look for Robert Wright, Jr. to start on the right side. Wright joined Michigan State after playing at Georgia Southern last season.

Analysis

The only thing that can be assumed is that the Michigan State offense is a hot mess, mostly due to injuries. The team’s starting quarterback may not be available and his backup is out. The starting running back on a run-heavy team is out for the season and his replacement is questionable for tomorrow.

If both Milivojevic and Patterson are unavailable, I just don’t see any way the Spartans are going to be able to produce much offense against UCLA’s tough defense.

Of course, things will be much better for Michigan State if both of them can play, but even then, the team’s playcalling has been kind of suspect because they haven’t thrown the ball when behind like you would suspect. If the Bruins can get an early lead, the Spartans may just roll over and keep running the ball rather than going to the air. If that happens, this game won’t be as close as MSU’s last two games.


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 did tell you guys this would happen.

There was a lot of pregame consternation regarding the Wisconsin Badgers coming to town, with people likely only seeing Wisconsin’s record and thinking they were world beaters on the level of the UCLA Bruins. I tried to tell you guys that their defense graded out fine but was mediocre against the one good offense they’ve seen this year, while the Wisconsin offense was not very good and could be easily contained by the UCLA defense.

And that’s exactly what happened.

The final score here was not indicative of the level of control UCLA exerted over this game. The Bruins controlled the ball on offense while never truly allowing the Badgers to get into a flow when they had the ball. The Bruins had a few execution errors that they need to clean up, but that only served to keep things close. UCLA nearly doubled up Wisconsin in terms of yardage and essentially waved the white flag at the end, refusing to try and score a touchdown and instead running out the clock late. Sure, the middle eight got nervy for a bit, which I’ll talk about down in the coaching section, but otherwise this was a game that never truly felt in doubt.

That said, let’s start by talking about one of the reasons the game felt fairly safe.

Offense

Quarterback: A-

Was Ty Dieffenbach perfect on Saturday? Not really. His accuracy was not the crispest thing we’ve seen from a quarterback; he missed more than a few check-downs that would have turned into larger gains, and his pocket awareness was suspect at times. At one point, Dieffenbach ran straight backwards to try and avoid a sack and ended up taking a 16-yard sack (that this mistake did not kill the drive continues to amaze me). There were also more than a few throws that Dieffenbach made that would have gotten him into more trouble against a more athletic secondary that could make a play on the ball, rather than the technically sound group at Wisconsin.

Still, for a first FBS start, it is hard to be that stressed over the end result. Dieffenbach completed 22 of his 33 pass attempts (which is the most pass attempts by a UCLA quarterback this year) for 264 yards (barely behind the high mark Nico Iamaleava set against Purdue). He threw an interception, but it essentially came on an end-of-half Hail Mary attempt, so we can let it slide. Ty throws a very catchable ball, which is great when he can loft a ball over the top of a zone coverage rather than trying to throw a laser through it as Iamaleava does, but it does mean he’s going to have to throw more anticipatory passes against better competition. The game-sealing touchdown drive featured two impressive throws from Dieffenbach, first this pass into a hole in the zone on the left side to Landon Ellis:

And then this second one over the top to Semaj Morgan (also note that Dieffenbach had three wide-open options on the play. Great play call from Dean Kennedy here):

UCLA does not need Dieffenbach to win games with his arm every week. But this game showed that he is more than capable of making the passes necessary to keep the offense on track, which should help UCLA’s playoff odds moving forward.

Receivers: B+

The blocking on the outside wasn’t as good as it has been in weeks past (and credit to Wisconsin for playing some defensively sound football), but I do want to give this group credit for going out and making some catches for their quarterback. Brian Rowe Jr., who I’ve felt has been hit-and-miss the past few games with how he keeps dropping catchable touchdowns, made a few great catches in this one. Jalen Saint Paul has a ton of experience working with Dieffenbach on the second team offense, so it makes sense to bump him up to give Ty a familiar target.

Running Back: B-

Offensive Line: C+

Immense credit here to the Wisconsin defense, who did do something I was not expecting by playing above their level, especially when UCLA ran to the outside to utilize their speed advantage. The Badger defense has a wholesale commitment to stopping the run, which generally worked out considering the Bruins barely ran for 3.2 yards per carry and only broke the 100-yard mark rushing thanks to a 3rd-down end-around by Aiden Mizell.

Wayne Knight was not very effective in this game, but I think Wisconsin really keyed in on him defensively, and he’s just not the type of runner who is going to punish a defense repeatedly. I would have liked to see more Anthony Woods in this game, as his running style makes more sense as a bruising back, and his 4th quarter runs really helped put the game away.

Offensive line play was passable but not stellar. I do think the line got away with a few holds, but nothing crazy. I do think the size of Wisconsin’s defensive line gave some of UCLA’s younger linemen issues, and this is where having a shorter offensive line rotation might have helped the Bruins out by putting in the best linemen to allow for offensive success. Ultimately, the Bruins won, and a lot of guys got some real experience against a bigger defensive line, which could help down the line, so no harm, no foul here.

Overall: B-

Wisconsin is one of the better defenses UCLA will face all season, so the positive here is that they came away with the win and were generally able to move the ball. The problems are that this is the second game in a row, especially one against a good opponent, where the running game was unable to get going. UCLA won this game on the back of its passing game, which isn’t ideal given Dieffenbach’s pedigree and what we’ve seen from the running game so far this year. In particular, the offensive line is going to need to show some improvement in opening up holes for the running backs against the stacked boxes UCLA is likely to face going forward. Fortunately, they’ll get a stretch here where they can work on those issues.

Defense

Run Defense: A-

Pass Defense: A

Overall: A

Wisconsin did not cross the 200-yard threshold until the 4th quarter, and even then, they barely got to that point. The UCLA defense only gave up one touchdown drive on the day, and that one required Wisconsin to start with a short field thanks to a UCLA turnover.

There are things to quibble over. For example, a UCLA defense that has excelled at forcing turnovers did not get a single one on Saturday despite forcing multiple fumbles (in fact, one of those fumble recoveries directly led to a first down). UCLA’s run defense was generally fine, though giving up an average of 4.5 yards per carry is one of the higher marks we’ve seen from the team this year. The Bruins did not force a single three-and-out, and against a stronger opponent this might have led to more concern about fatigue later in the game (though UCLA forced four true three-and-outs against Oregon the week prior and faded near the end, so what do I know?).

But again: UCLA only allowed 214 yards of offense on the day. Only 66 of those yards came through the air, as the Bruins completely shut down the Wisconsin passing game despite missing both Roderick Pleasant and Tao Johnson for this game. And yes, Wisconsin’s quarterback is not a great passer, but that is still an impressive performance given defensive coordinator Colin Hitschler’s preference to leave his secondary on an island and load up to stop the run. Scooter Jackson in particular has stepped up since getting absolutely toasted by Purdue a month ago, looking reborn and closer to the physical, gifted corner we saw last year.

If there was an interesting wrinkle, it is that UCLA went to more of a 4-3 defense in this game, which meant more Trent Hendrick as the third linebacker on the field. Hendrick was fine, if a bit undisciplined, but ultimately he was just an extra body given the dominance of Sammy Omosigho and Jalen Woods. The defensive line play was again solid, which is a great sign from this group as it continues to improve as the season progresses.

Special Teams

Overall: B+

Look, it wasn’t bad - Mateen Bhaghani made all his kicks, and the team forced a field goal miss - but they were routinely pinned deep on punts and did not cover themselves in glory on kickoff returns (look, they only got two attempts at it in this game, so every rep counts). Credit to Curtis Gerrand for hitting both of his punts for 50+ yards and flipping the field.

Coaching

Offensive Gameplan: A-

I love that Dean Kennedy came out firing on the Wisconsin defense, throwing more often than he had all season (coming into the game, the Bruins had the second-highest run rate in the Power Four conferences). Kennedy and the offensive staff recognized that Wisconsin would try to load up to stop the run (which was largely successful), which would leave their secondary more vulnerable, and trusted his quarterback to make some throws, which he was largely able to do. There were still some hiccups (I have no idea what the plan was on that trick play that led to an interception), but when the offense gets everything working, it opens up stuff like this:

The poor Badger defense was put in a blender here, having to cover the pitch to the outside while dealing with two streaking receivers on the outside. It led to Landon Ellis finding space in the zone for a big gain. When the offense is humming, these kinds of plays are more common, as the defense is stuck trying to defend like five different things at once, and if the quarterback can make the correct call, it can lead to a big gain almost every time.

I also wanted to shout out wrinkles like this one:

On the play, UCLA motioned a wide receiver, Jalen Saint Paul, into the backfield, only to have him immediately release at the snap. That motion and his alignment meant that a linebacker was forced to cover him, and Saint Paul is too quick and shift for a typical Big Ten linebacker. Saint Paul only needed to make one cut to get plenty of space and turn a 3rd down conversion into a big gain. Just great play design to scheme open an easy completion.

Defensive Gameplan: A-

Going to a 4-3 base defense against Wisconsin makes plenty of sense, so credit to Colin Hitschler for making that adjustment and getting another linebacker on the field against the Wisconsin rushing attack. It wasn’t the most effective thing in the world, and it’s maybe something this team needs to practice more, since the Badgers were able to be fairly efficient on the ground.

Other than that, it remains so wild to know week in and week out that the defense is going to be prepared with a smart game plan every week. Hitschler and company recognized that Wisconsin’s passing attack was not going to be threatening enough, and thus devoted more resources to the run defense. That strategy only works if your self-scout is good enough (understanding that the secondary was capable of man coverage against Wisconsin’s receivers) and if your scheme is adaptable enough.

Overall: A-

I’m going to start being harsher to Bob Chesney and company for the Middle Eight, because it is starting to get out of hand.

For those who don’t know, the Middle Eight refers to the eight minutes right in the middle of the game, combining the last four minutes leading into halftime with the first four minutes of the second half. Because of where they are situated, the Middle Eight is a strategically important time that can allow teams to build momentum and “steal” points without giving the opponent a chance for a rebuttal.

UCLA has not been good in the Middle Eight this year. In UCLA’s non-Maryland games (taken out because it was a blowout and also because UCLA’s offense was outscored, but UCLA’s defense outscored Maryland), the team has been outscored 27-28 in the Middle Eight, and it could have been worse if Wisconsin could hit a field goal or operate their offense with any sort of urgency (seriously, it took Wisconsin six minutes to go 44 yards; this is why I felt so confident that the game was over when the Bruins went up 17-7, because the Wisconsin offense cannot score with any sort of speed). The UCLA offense has struggled coming out of the half, only scoring on two of their first drives of the half (with only one of those drives needing more than 50 yards), and featuring three drives where the Bruins gained less than 10 yards. Three of those drives ended in punts quickly, while the most recent one featured an ill-advised trick play that led to an interception and the lone Badger points of the day.

UCLA’s end-of-half execution has been wanting as well. The Bruins were able to salvage some points after a disastrous sequence at UC Berkeley, and they executed a pretty solid two-minute drill against Purdue, but outside of that, the Bruins have looked hurried whenever the clock starts to shrink, which does make sense given how methodical the UCLA offense normally is, but doesn’t fill me with confidence that the team will execute late.

UCLA has generally entered the Middle Eight with a lead, or at the very least control of the game, and has had the opportunity to put away opponents, but outside of the Maryland game, they have failed to do so. Instead, Chesney’s group has allowed opponents to grab momentum for themselves and get back into games, a troubling trend given the quality of opponents the Bruins have faced thus far. Ultimately, this hasn’t hurt the Bruins because they are the greatest 4th quarter team known to mankind, but this is a trend to watch going forward. I would hope this could get cleaned up against Michigan State.

Trending

Trend: Methodical Improvement

I’m just going to link to the article I wrote earlier this week about fan attendance (and Joe’s subsequent article about how, yes, those numbers are accurate) and point out that this program is trending in the right direction, and as long as it continues to do the right things and continues winning, the fan base will grow. It is ridiculous to believe UCLA was going to reverse 25 years of neglect with a six-game winning streak, so for now continued improvement is the name of the game.

Final Composite

Offense grade: B- (2.7)

Defense grade: A (4.0)

Special Teams grade: B+ (3.3)

Coaching grade: A- (3.7)

Trending: Up

Final grade for Wisconsin Badgers: B+ (3.43)

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

UC Berkeley Golden Bears: B+ (3.42)

San Diego State Aztecs: A- (3.54)

Purdue Boilermakers: C (2.21)

Maryland Terrapins: A- (3.76)

Oregon Ducks: B (3.00)

Given the circumstances of having to start a backup quarterback against an upper-tier Big Ten defense, getting a B+ in that first game feels like a major win. UCLA got past a big hurdle and was able to show that they are still legitimately in the hunt for the conference and a College Football Playoff bid, which is exactly what they had to do.

Against Michigan State, the goal should be a little different. The Bruins should obviously be trying to win, but this is a game the Bruins should win by a significant margin if they’re going to be taken seriously as a playoff contender. Michigan State is a bad team with a ton of injuries and a coach that never should have been rehired in 2026. This game should be over by halftime.

We’ll see if UCLA can rise to that level.

Go Bruins!

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While some things, like UCLA football, have changed, other things have remained the same, like Michigan State football being a mess. Last season, Michigan State was one of the three games the Bruins won. Overall, the Spartans finished with a 4-8 record. As a result, head coach Jonathan Smith was fired.

The very next day, Pat Fitzgerald was announced as MSU’s new head coach. Prior to his hiring, Fitzgerald had been out of college football since he was fired by Northwestern in response to hazing allegations by former Wildcat players.

A large group of Jonathan Smith’s staff was actually retained by Fitzgerald. Defensive coordinator Joe Rossi was at the top of the list of four assistants who kept their jobs after Smith was fired. Receivers coach Courtney Hawkins, safeties coach James Adams, and tight ends coach Brian Wozniak also managed to keep their jobs. I don’t quite understand the logic of retaining so many assistants who had been hired by his predecessor. To be sure, some of them could have been on multi-year contracts and MSU didn’t want to buy them out, too, but keeping so many of Smith’s assistants just seems like a bad idea to me and may explain why the Spartans have played so poorly this year, too.

There were three notable new hires. Former Michigan State linebacker Max Bullough was hired as the Spartans’ new co-defensive coordinator and linebackers coach after spending last season at Notre Dame while LaVar Woods was hired as special teams coordinator and assistant head coach after spending all 18 seasons on the coaching staff at Iowa, including the last eight seasons as the Hawkeyes’ special teams coordinator.

Fitzgerald’s biggest new hire was offensive coordinator Nick Sheridan. He comes over from Kalen DeBoer’s staff at Alabama where he spent a season as the offensive coordinator and one more as the co-offensive coordinator. Sheridan arrived in Tuscaloosa after serving as DeBoer’s tight ends coach for two seasons at Washington.

Of course, the big problem that Michigan State has it that the results so far under the new coach haven’t been any better than they were under the old coach. After opening 2-0 with wins against Toledo and Eastern Michigan, the Spartans have dropped five straight. The slide began with a 27-10 loss to Notre Dame in South Bend. Then, they dropped a home game to Nebraska 31-13, followed by a road loss to Wisconsin, 31-3.

Now, all that isn’t to say that Michigan State is completely awful. Their last two losses came against Illinois and Northwestern by a total of just four points. The Illini won 38-37 and the Wildcats got by MSU, 24-21. So, they have come close twice recently.

Let’s look at the Michigan State special teams.`

Special Teams

Redshirt senior Liam Boyd will handle all of the kicking duties for the Spartans. Boyd is playing at his fourth school in five seasons, after transferring from Charlotte where he played last year. Prior to Charlotte, he began his career with a redshirt season at Clemson before spending two seasons at North Carolina.

This year, he’s made 10 of 13 field goal attempts and his longest was a 51-yarder against Toledo. All three missed attempts were the result of blocked kicks, with two of the blocks coming on attempts greater than 50 yards and the other was on a try from less than 40 yards. So, there’s an opportunity for Bruin special teams to capitalize if they can get through the line on a field goal attempt. He has been a perfect 15-for-15 on PATs.

When it comes to kickoffs, 23 of Boyd’s 32 kickoffs have gone for a touchback, and he is averaging 63.97 yards per kickoff.

Junior Rhys Dakin is an Australian punter who played the last two seasons at Iowa. So, it looks like he followed special teams coordinator LaVar Woods from Iowa. So far this season, Dakin has punted 18 times with an average of 51.0 yards per punt. His longest came to a stop after 74 yards and five of his punts went into the endzone for touchbacks. Six of his punts were fair caught while eight landed inside the 20-yard line. Eleven of his punts traveled more than 50 yards.

Redshirt junior running back Kenneth Williams has returned 19 of the kickoffs the Spartans have returned while defensive lineman Derrick Simmons returned MSU’s only other kickoff return. Williams is averaging 21.21 yards per return for 403 total return yards and his longest return was for 47 yards. So, he can be dangerous. Meanwhile, Simmons’ return wasn’t bad for a big guy. His return was a 13-yarder.

Redshirt senior wide receiver Chrishon McCray has returned all ten of the Spartans’ punt returns for an average of 13.10 yards per return and his longest return went for 41 yards against Northwestern. So, like Williams, he, too, is a dangerous return man.


Go Bruins!!!

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Since Saturday’s game against Wisconsin, there have been a lot of people discussing the announced attendance figure of 36,045 for that game. Ben Bolch wrote about it for the California Post. Of course, yesterday, Dimitri wrote about why it isn’t going to turn around as quickly as the team has.

But I’ve also seen posts and comments on social media from people saying that there were way more than 50K there.

So, in order to clear up any confusion, I want to explain things as clearly as possible for anyone still think their eyes tell them that the announced attendance is somehow lower than the number of people actually in attendance.

First, let’s talk about one of the most common practices in sports attendance. Many teams choose to announce “tickets distributed.” The problem with this, of course, is that if someone has a ticket and doesn’t use it for some reason, that person still gets counted in that attendance number. Inevitably, it inflates the attendance number because even unused tickets get counted into that announced attendance. Until this season, that had been the way UCLA football attendance had been reported.

For instance, the announced attendance for UCLA’s game against Penn State last season was 39,256. However, I obtained the number of tickets scanned at the gates for the same game via a public records request I made last season and that number was only 28,040.

So, after years of attendance numbers which were inflated by unused tickets, Bruin fans may be looking at the people in the stands and continuing to inflate that number in their heads based on historically inflated numbers.

The bottom line to the change is that only tickets scanned are being reported.

Some other teams choose to announce a “paid attendance” number. That would exclude any free or complimentary tickets which may have been used for a particular game. Again, UCLA is not doing that because they are announcing the number of tickets scanned at the Rose Bowl’s gates.

That means students are not being excluded from the announced attendance. While student tickets are now free, students do have to have a ticket to scan in order to get into the game. When a student ticket gets scanned, it gets counted into the announced attendance.

Finally, let’s discuss the Rose Bowl’s capacity because, let’s face it, capacity certainly plays into people eyeballing the seating fullness of the stadium. This may be one of the things which make estimating a crowd size difficult to eyeball because the Rose Bowl capacity has changed over time.

While the Rose Bowl seating capacity from 1972 to 1997 was 104,091, renovations since then have decreased the capacity For instance, the 2007 UCLA Football Media Guide listed the capacity as 91,136. However, the 2026 UCLA Football Media Guide lists the current capacity as 81,258, but that is the post-Field Club renovation capacity without tarps on the upper portions of both end zones.

Speaking of the Field Club, you need to remember that this most recent renovation knocked out a lot of seating. Estimates put that in somewhere between 5,000 and 8,000 seats were removed. As a result, the loss of those seating sections have forced fans who may not want to pay for premium tickets to sit in other locations like the East sideline behind the visitor’s bench, which, in turn, makes those areas appear fuller.

Then, there’s the tarps. An estimate from the Rose Bowl’s Wikipedia page for just the North tarps indicates that about 20K seats are covered by those tarps. Assuming that, it’s reasonable to assume a loss of 20K more for the South end zone tarps. Even if it is only 30K seats lost to both the north and south end zone, the available seating would need to be almost completely full to come anywhere close to the 50K some people seem to think were in attendance on Saturday.

While the Rose Bowl was certainly much fuller on Saturday than it’s been in past seasons, there were still lots of visibly empty seats, especially on the East sideline. In fact, if you look at the photo on this article or the third quarter photo from Bolch’s article, those empty seats are clearly visible. With Homecoming and Parents Weekend on deck for the next two home games, I would expect to see many of those seats filled for Michigan State and Nevada, especially the empty seats in the upper levels of the student sections

In closing, there’s just no reason to doubt the announced attendance for this year’s games. UCLA is announcing the number of tickets scanned, not distributed. So, while they aren’t inflating the number any longer, there just isn’t any reason at all to think that, for some unknown reason, they are now choosing to underreport the actual attendance.

The simple explanation as to why some people are now saying there were more people at Saturday’s Wisconsin game than there actually were has to do primarily with displacement of thousands of seats which were removed in favor of the Field Club seating in the South End Zone which has resulted in more fans sitting in sideline seats behind both team benches, combined with the tarps still being in place.

That said, the Bruins are officially THE best football team in Southern California, and any self-proclaimed UCLA fan living in SoCal really should come out to see this team play. The last time UCLA football was this much fun was probably 1998. It’s quickly turning into a very special season that you really don’t want to miss out.


Go Bruins!!!

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If there’s one thing you can count on from UCLA fans, it is that they can always find the doom and gloom at the end of every rainbow.

The UCLA Bruins are currently 6-0 and ranked #9 in the AP Poll. Bob Chesney has navigated the first half of the season as well as anyone could have imagined, and that’s with the added problem of having to replace the starting quarterback due to injury. It is all sunshine and lollipops in Westwood, which means that UCLA fans have begun wringing their hands and freaking out over the possibility that their new football savior will quickly leave them for another school. I don’t know how much therapy would be required to get people to move past their BBS; maybe the limit does not exist.

One of the big points of consternation in this new BBS front is attendance, or specifically the lack thereof. In fact, Ben Bolch of the California Post made it the focus of his Sunday article. I get where Ben is coming from (though I do laugh at applauding UCLA’s administration for finally reporting real attendance numbers only to compare the current amount to the inflated numbers of 2014), but I did find the article to be pretty disingenuous and lazy, a surprising combination from a reporter who I really like and respect.

So let me, a season ticket holder with a sterling track record of attending these games, better explain UCLA’s attendance woes and state why this was never going to be a quick fix.

Let’s start with the simple fact that UCLA has put a terrible product on the field for the better part of 25 years. Sure, there are some small runs of success here and there, but for the most part, the UCLA football program has been middling, and especially in the past ten years, they have been downright mediocre. And thanks to that, the number of season tickets sold each year has slowly declined, with fewer and fewer WAF members choosing to renew their seats. That sort of institutional inertia is not something that can be turned around in six games. The fact that UCLA got a real attendance number of 36,045 for the Wisconsin game after spending a year where the average attendance (inflated, of course) was 37,283 is a good sign.

The decline in season tickets can also be attributed to a pricing model that has never made much sense for a bad team. Going into this season, my tickets cost $509 per seat for the year. That price includes a $100 per seat WAF donation, and that is on the lower end of the pricing structure; some seats can cost $2209, with more than half of that money going to the Wooden Athletic Fund. Some of you may bat your eyes at those prices, but that is a lot of money to hand over for a middling product. Throw in the cost of parking and various tailgating expenses, and suddenly a season’s worth of tickets can end up at the same price as a multi-week vacation to Japan, and for many families, the math simply stopped adding up, and once the math stops mathing, it can take a good amount of time to start mathing again.

(As an aside, I wholly recommend taking a vacation to Japan. Wonderful country, amazing public transportation, exceptional food.)

Now, sure, you could buy a single-game ticket for a lower price and go to the games that way. Right now on Michigan State, the cheapest get-in price I could find was $48 in the upper bowl, which isn’t bad even though you’re going to be baking in the sun for the vast majority of the game. But single-game ticket sales do not lead to consistent attendance numbers. UCLA needs to regrow the season ticket base, which is going to require rethinking the pricing structure going forward to better attract fans. It is also going to require thinking up incentives that will encourage attendance from this group (this problem is more notable with basketball, but football does suffer as well).

More than anything, it is going to require consistent winning football. Bolch referenced the 2014 season as a comparison point to the attendance problems of today, but he is ignoring that 2014 was Year Three of Jim Mora’s tenure, and featured a team that had spent the previous two years playing great, if sometimes inconsistent, football. Skip ahead to 2017, Jim Mora’s last year, and the average attendance had dropped from a high of 76,650 to a mere 56,044 per game. UCLA has not played in a New Year’s Day bowl game since 1999; that kind of mediocrity stands in stark contrast to the success of Southern Cal in the minds of sidewalk fans.

Bob Chesney has been great so far, but he’s essentially outkicked his coverage when it comes to fan attendance. Had UCLA lost to Oregon, as many likely expected, then there wouldn’t be much of a conversation around the attendance numbers. We’d look at the 36,045 that showed up for the Wisconsin game as meaningful progress, especially the student section, which once again showed up for the game. But with the team instead at 6-0 and ranked in the Top 10, those numbers stand out. I’m sure they’ll continue to increase in the next few weeks with Homecoming being this weekend and Parents’ Weekend the following week.

There’s this saying I see a lot when talking about fandom in general: the brand is like a line of credit, and every time a company makes a poor decision, they are essentially taking out a loan against that brand credit, and when they do something good, they are making a deposit back into that brand credit. The stronger your brand, the more you can withdraw, but that withdrawal limit isn’t infinite - at some point, you have to start putting credit back into the brand. UCLA has spent the better part of 25 years making withdrawals on that football brand without making a deposit, and that’s not something that is going to be overcome thanks to a few good wins to start a coaching tenure.

Ultimately, I can’t blame UCLA fans for failing to fill out the Rose Bowl so far this season. I spent the last week telling anyone who would listen that UCLA should win the game comfortably, was not going to have much issue stopping Wisconsin’s offense, and would find ways to move the ball, yet I consistently met backlash from people. Some of it was justified worry over UCLA having to use a backup quarterback, but most of it seemed to be people afraid of getting Lucy’d by UCLA football again. And I get it - Battered Bruin Syndrome is a thing largely because this program loves to punch its fanbase in the gut.

So in that spirit, I would urge UCLA fans to not get into hysterics over attendance numbers. Much like Rome wasn’t built in a day, UCLA’s attendance problems are not going to be solved in a few months. This is a problem that is going to take years to fix. Thankfully, UCLA appears to have the leadership in place at both the university and athletics level that understands this and is making changes intended to pay off down the line. Changing student tickets to be free is one example of this group starting to make deposits into UCLA’s brand again.

To make it simpler, if UCLA keeps winning and ultimately makes it to the College Football Playoffs, I think that will be a massive deposit into the UCLA football brand and will lead to much higher attendance in the coming years. And I think UCLA has the kind of leadership that can capitalize on that success to build for the future.

But for now, keep building, and the fans will come.

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.