Junior cornerback Devin Kirkwood will need to play well to stop CCU quarterback Grayson McCall. (Photo Credit: Don Liebig/uclabruins.com)
Tonight’s game will be a tough one. When UCLA first scheduled Coastal Carolina back in 2015, the Chanticleers hadn’t officially become an FBS program yet. They transitioned to the FBS in 2017 and, over the past three seasons, they’ve gone a combined 31-7. That gives them a better record than the Bruins have had during the same time frame as Chip Kelly’s teams have gone just 20-12 since 2020. To be sure, the Bruins have played in a Power Five conference while the Chants are members of the Sun Belt Conference, but last season UCLA almost lost to a good Sun Belt team.
So, tonight’s opponent shouldn’t be considered a cupcake by any stretch. In fact, I can’t believe that UCLA is a 15.5-point favorite heading into tonight’s game. While I do think the Bruins should prevail, I’d be taking the CCU if I were in Vegas today. As far as the over-under goes, that’s set at 66.5 points and I’d be taking the over on that.
If UCLA doesn’t execute well, the forces known as #Pac12AfterDark, while on their last breaths due to the complete and total disintegration of the Pac-12 Conference, could show up and see the Bruins get upset at home on national TV (except for the 15 million homes who have Spectrum as their TV provider. Thanks, Disney!).
Let’s look at the game time weather forecast.
Game Time Weather Forecast
The difference between this year’s season opener and last year’s opener will literally be the difference between day and night. Last season, the Bruins opened the schedule with a day game against Bowling Green that sent fans scrambling for shade or succumbing to the heat. This year’s opener doesn’t kick off until 7:30 pm PT. So, there is no chance of a repeat. Expect it to be about 72° with a 20% chance of rain before 8 pm. The chances of rain will increase as the game goes on. The temperature will drop a few degrees to about 70° with a 35% chance of rain around halftime and it should dip a few more degrees down to 69° with a 45% chance of showers by the end of the second half.
Of course, just remember: It does not rain inside the Rose Bowl.
Listen to the Game With TMB!
Listen to tonight’s game online while chatting in the TMB game thread. Just right click on the link and open it in another tab so you can have it playing while you chat in the comments below. That way, you can listen to Josh Lewin, Matt Stevens and Wayne Cook call today’s game instead of Dave Flemming and Brock Osweiler on ESPN. Of course, if you’re at home with Spectrum, it may be your only option. Thanks, Disney!
In the meantime, here’s how to watch, listen and stream tonight’s game.
UCLA Football (0-0)
Opponent: Coastal Carolina Chanticleers (0-0)
Series Record: First meeting
When: 7:30 pm PT, Saturday, September 2, 2023
Where: Rose Bowl, Pasadena, CA
Live TV: ESPN with Dave Flemming, Brock Osweiler, and Kayla Burton
Rebroadcast (Disney-owned channels in bold italics; all times PT): Monday, 9/4 at 12:30 am on ESPN Monday, 9/4 at 9:00 pm on Pac-12 National (Pac-12 Football in 60) Monday, 9/4 at 9:00 pm on Pac-12 Los Angeles (Pac-12 Football in 60) Tuesday, 9/5 at 12:00 am on Pac-12 Los Angeles (Pac-12 Football in 60) Tuesday, 9/5 at 3:00 am on Pac-12 Los Angeles (Pac-12 Football in 60) Tuesday, 9/5 at 4:00 am on Pac-12 National (Pac-12 Football in 60) Tuesday, 9/5 at 6:00 am on Pac-12 Los Angeles (Pac-12 Football in 60)
Tuesday, 9/5 at 3:00 pm on ESPNU Tuesday, 9/5 at 8:00 pm on Pac-12 Los Angeles (Pac-12 Football in 60) Tuesday, 9/5 at 11:00 pm on Pac-12 Los Angeles (Pac-12 Football in 60) Wednesday, 9/6 at 7:00 am on Pac-12 Los Angeles (Pac-12 Football in 60) Wednesday, 9/6 at 12:00 pm on Pac-12 Los Angeles (Pac-12 Football in 60) Wednesday, 9/6 at 6:00 pm on Pac-12 National (Pac-12 Football in 60) Wednesday, 9/6 at 7:00 pm on Pac-12 Los Angeles (Pac-12 Football in 60) Wednesday, 9/6 at 10:00 pm on Pac-12 Los Angeles (Pac-12 Football in 60) Wednesday, 9/6 at 11:00 pm on Pac-12 National (Pac-12 Football in 60) Thursday, 9/7 at 5:00 am on Pac-12 National (Pac-12 Football in 60) Thursday, 9/7 at 9:00 am on Pac-12 Los Angeles (Pac-12 Football in 60) Thursday, 9/7 at 6:00 pm on Pac-12 Los Angeles (Pac-12 Football in 60) Thursday, 9/7 at 9:00 pm on Pac-12 National (Pac-12 Football in 60) Thursday, 9/7 at 9:00 pm on Pac-12 Los Angeles (Pac-12 Football in 60) Friday, 9/8 at 6:00 am on Pac-12 National (Pac-12 Football in 60) Friday, 9/8 at 10:30 am on Pac-12 Los Angeles (Pac-12 Football in 60) Friday, 9/8 at 9:30 pm on Pac-12 Los Angeles (Pac-12 Football in 60) Saturday, 9/9 at 8:00 am on Pac-12 Los Angeles (Pac-12 Football in 60)
Go Bruins!!!
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U! (clap, clap, clap)
C
L!! clap clap clap
U! C! L! A! Fight! Fight! Fight!
(or F! $! C! for those who prefer)
Checking in at the Rose Bowl / go bruins!
There was a little drizzle, but it passed quickly.
Clouds around - let’s hope no real rain
Just checking in to say good luck! The Chants are deceptive. Be patient!
A bit empty in the stands right row - hope it fills up some more.
Not too bad now - not like last year
That was an hour before gametime. It's filling out some now.
Good evening, Bruin fam!!! LFG!!!
LFG Bruins!
Let's go, Bruins!!!
Geez get this aTm game over with already. Stop throwing incompletions
One of our last Pac12 After Darks!
Guess they're headed to Pac2 After Dark!
Good night, Bruins Friends! This game is too late for me so I thought I'd check in. I'm still mourning the demise of the PAC-12. See ya!
Good to hear from you, Jim! G'nite!
Good night, Jim. Hope you wake to good news!
Let's go!!!
The soon to be dead P12 is 10-0 so far this weekend.
Wow
Buffs were on fire, offensively
Hope Garber gets that out of his system-- way overthrew that one, and he was open
Offense is moving
Good run, son
I like the power Steele shows on contact. What a bull.
That was a good first drive!
Touchdown!!!!
Special teams-- meet the new boss...
Not a good start with 2 penalties already.
One good thing about the P-12 demise...no more SPTRs
Sooo....SBTRs?
Let's go Garbers
Well that looked like the Bruin defense I'm familiar with
Sadly true...
Wide right!!
We dodged a bullet there
Garbers with an assist for the 1st
Garbers looks good when he makes quick decisions.
Good start for Garbers so far
Gah. Too many sloppy penalties.
Wasteful
Damn. He hesitated twice and then forced it into the middle of the coverage. Dumb.
I think he's done a good job of going through the progressions; it's after that, the playmaking when there's good coverage, that he needs to work on
He's gonna want that one back
I’d like to see our d step up
They sure haven't yet
Yikes. Lucky their WR dropped that one.
Ugh
Too many penalties.
D not giving any confidence
Yup. Same old already
Hmm. Wouldn't it be funny if we actually lost this game. Not trolling, but a surprise loss here would be within our "brand", eh?
Truth
So many freakin undisciplined penalties so far. wtf
LOL Toia was damn near on the QB before the ball even arrived LOL love the anticipation, but gotta wait a bit there...
Getting a lil chippy out there on the field
Our defense may be tough with an attitude, or just kind of douchey.
Yeah, jury's still out on that
10 yard cushion on a 3rd and 9. smdh
again, same as the old boss
I see (and hear) the theme you have going here. I like it.
You mean we won't get fooled again? :-)
Defence is solid against the run, but pass is another story
After that hit, gotta take out McCall and hope the FG kicker can make it
QB threw a punch at our guy. No call
Bad no call.
Oh wow I missed it; backed it up and saw his left hook barely miss our player, whose did nothing bad...
Yeah. I thought it hit him
So do you call this defense bent and hanging together by a thread?
It's nice we kept them put of the end zone, but the defense hasn't stopped them on any other series on either drive.
They nearly went 100 yards.. no bueno
Even if our D is... um, better?... than we've seen so far, I still think the O will need to average over 40 pts a game for us to go to a bowl, etc.
new verse, same as the first
Good that Garbers playing this series, since you cannot sit your qb after a pick without getting in his head. Having said that, it's time to see Moore
Late hit!!
I mean roughing LOL
That was a dismal series
Agreed. Really feeble.
Second straight series that ended on a mental mistake by the QB.
I’d like to see another QB now
After seeing what I've seen, I wanna see Moore!
You got your wish.
Happily so
Better from the D
Almost let that slip away but I'll take it.
Dante time