The UCLA Bruins scored three fourth quarter touchdowns to defeat the UC Berkeley Golden Bears, 45-24, tonight to open the 2026 season. The Bruins also won their first game under new head coach Bob Chesney, and Chesney won his seventh straight season opener.
Throughout the first half, UCLA looked much improved from last year. In the first half, UCLA ran the ball 14 times for 123 yards while Nico Iamaleava was 12-for-18 for 179 yards.
Even the defense looked good for most of the first half. UC Berkeley ran the ball 19 times for just 34 yards. Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele was 15-for-23 for 208 yards in the first half, though 78 of his 129 second quarter yards came on three plays in the final minute of the half.
The third quarter was really rough for the Bruin offense. UCLA only ran eight plays in the entire quarter. They ran it five times, but didn’t gain a single yard on the ground in the quarter. Meanwhile, Iamaleava was 2-for-3 for just five yards. It was enough to cause Bruin fans flashbacks to last season.
Thankfully, Dean Kennedy went back to the ground in the fourth quarter. Perhaps more importantly, the defense seized momentum for the Bruins with three big stops. On UC Berkeley’s first possession of the final quarter, Bear head coach Tosh Lupoi left the offense on the field for a fourth-and-three, but there was a bad snap and the Bruins took over on downs on the Berkeley 49 yard line.
After a quick three-and-out, UCLA punted and the Bears’ next drive began at their own 16. On third down, Ta’Shawn James intercepted a pass from Sagapolutele at midfield and ran it back to the 31.
Wayne Knight took a handoff all the way to the house on the first play of the drive for his second touchdown of the game, and the Bruins took a 31-24 lead.
On the fourth play of the ensuing drive, Sagapolutele threw another pass to James. This time, UCLA took their time on the drive, running almost four minutes off the clock before Knight scored for the third time on a four-yard run to give UCLA a 38-24 lead.
The Bruin defense held strong on UC Berkeley’s next drive too. After the Bears got the ball on their own 25 to start the drive and they got it across the 50 to the Bruin 47. But a pair of incomplete passes sandwiched a two-yard loss by Sagapolutele and UC Berkeley faced a fourth-and-twelve on UCLA’s 49. Fourth down saw the Bruins give up just two yards and UC Berkeley turned it over on downs at the Bruin 47.
UCLA stayed on the ground, handing it off to Anthony Woods, who decided to join the party with a 53-yard run for a touchdown, giving UCLA a 45-24 lead with just 1:17 left, and that’s how it ended.
Except for that third quarter when the Bruin offense was non-existent, it was a much improved outing for UCLA. At the same time, that isn’t to say the rest of the game was perfect.
It wasn’t. UCLA was called for 12 penalties for 110 yards while the Bears were called just six times for 59 yards. That said, the Big Ten officiating crew for this game missed their fair share of calls. At one point, a UC Berkeley player seemed to tackle a Bruin by grabbing his facemask, but no flag was thrown.Regardless, UCLA will need to clean this up moving forward, especially the three defensive PI calls and the two illegal substitution penalties. Those are just sloppy.
Finally, the Bruins won’t be able to get away with five yards in a quarter and still beat the Michigans and Ohio States of our conference. They definitely need to play a full four quarters moving forward, but overall, they worked hard, got the job done and will fly home happy.
Go Bruins!!!
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