Tomorrow night, the UCLA Bruins will open both the 2026 season and the Bob Chesney era when they play UC Berkeley in Strawberry Canyon at 7:30 pm. Coach Chesney is looking for his first win with the Bruins after leading James Madison to the College Football Playoff last season.
Interestingly, it will be the second straight game against Tosh Lupoi’s defense for Bob Chesney and offensive coordinator Dean Kennedy. The two big differences, of course, are, first, that Lupoi’s defense won’t be as good as his defense last season when he was the defensive coordinator at Oregon, and second, that, hopefully, Kennedy and Chesney have improved the Bruins enough to beat Lupoi’s defense this time.
Odds
The Bruins begin the Chesney era as 2.5-point favorite in this game. That seems low, given the fact that Coach Chesney has won his last six season openers by at least 14 points. I also don’t see Tosh Lupoi as a great hire by UC Berkeley. So, I’m taking the Bruins and giving the points this week.
The Over/Under for this game is 53.5 points. Earlier this week, I wrote that I don’t see the Bears scoring more than 20 points in this game. That right there will make it very difficult, in my opinion, for the combined scored to cover the Over. So, I’m taking the Under to open the season.
Last season, I finished 7-4-1 against the spread. That’s pretty good. I wasn’t as good on the Over/Under. After the Southern Cal game only saw 39 points scored, I fell to just 5-7 for the year on the Over/Under. It was still better than UCLA’s 3-9 record, but it was downright mediocre. I hope to improve it this year into last year’s ATS territory.
Tailgating and Game Time Weather Forecast
Please note that a permit is required for any open flame/cooking appliances. It will be mostly sunny with the temperature of 72° when the fire permits allow them to begin at 3:30 pm. The temperature will dip to about 65° with clear skies when the game kicks off at 7:30 pm PT. The sun will set at about the same time.
Once the sun goes down, expect it to drop to around 62° at halftime. Then, in the second half, it will fall down to about 60° by the end of the fourth quarter.
Let’s take a look at how to watch, listen and stream tomorrow night’s game.
UCLA Football (0-0)
Opponent: UC Berkeley Golden Bears (0-0)
Series Record: UCLA leads, 58-35-1
When: 7:30 pm PT, Saturday, September 5, 2026
Where: California Memorial Coliseum, Berkeley, CA
Live TV: ESPN with Tom Hart, Roddy Jones, and Quint Kessenich
Live Stream: WatchESPN.com and the ESPN app
Radio/Audio:
KABC-AM 790 in Los Angeles with Josh Lewin, Matt Stevens and Wayne Cook
Satellite Radio: Sirius Ch. 108 & XM Ch. 232 (UCLA Call)Online: UCLABruins.com
Live Stats: UCLA StatBroadcast
Game Notes:
UCLA
UC BerkeleyRebroadcast (All times PT):
Monday, 9/7 at 12:00 am on ESPNU
Monday, 9/7 at 1:00 am on ESPN
Wednesday, 9/9 at 5:00 am on ACC
Thursday, 9/10 at 10:00 am on ACC
Friday, 9/11 at 8:00 am on ACC
Go Bruins!!! Beat Berkeley!!!
Thanks again for supporting The Mighty Bruin. Your paid subscriptions make this site possible. Questions, comments, story ideas, angry missives and more can be sent to @TheMightyBruin on Twitter.