We’ve all heard the criticisms of UCLA fans. “UCLA fans expect too much.” “Bruin fans think the school is still relevant.” Etc. Etc.
When this season started, I deliberately avoided setting expectations for this season very high. After all, the last time expectations were high for a new head coach, it was the start of the Chip Kelly era.
Not only was the start of the Chip Kelly era a colossal disappointment, the entire Chip Kelly era proved to be one very expensive failure.
So, I began this season with very modest expectations. All I wanted from Coach Chesney, the new coaching staff and this year’s team was bowl eligibility. A 6-6 record seemed like sufficient progress for Year 1. That would double last year’s dismal win total. The Bruins would play in a bowl game for the first time in a few years and Bruin fans would probably be happy with that after last year’s misery.
Well, here we are now. UCLA has played five games. UCLA has won five games including an upset of Oregon in Eugene. It was the Bruins’ first win at Autzen Stadium since 2004. Twenty-two years. Gosh! That’s almost back to the start of Battered Bruin Syndrome which I wrote about a few weeks ago.
At this point in the season, the Bruins are now just one win away from bowl eligibility. It’s very possible that they could be bowl eligible by this time next week. That’s not a knock on Luke Fickel or the Wisconsin Badgers. It is, however, a statement about these Bruins.
They currently sit atop of the conference standings tied with Indiana and Ohio State. They are a half game ahead of the Badgers. All four teams remain undefeated in conference play. That means next week will see two of the conferences teams lose that status because the Hoosiers meet the Buckeyes in Bloomington in the B1G Noon game on Fox.
If, for some reason, they are unable to win next week’s game against the Badgers, the Bruins will almost certainly become bowl eligible the following week against Michigan State.
Looking at UCLA’s remaining schedule, it is possible that this team could finish as one of the best teams in Bruin history. At this point, it is possible that these Bruins could match the 1998 team for the best start ever. Of course, the ‘98 team won their first ten games before the Miami game.
It’s also possible that this team could become the first Bruin team ever to win 11 games in a season. UCLA has won 10 games nine times, but never won 11.
Of course, it’s also possible at this point that this team could…dare I say it? Run the table and finish the regular season undefeated. It would be just the third undefeated and it would be only the second undefeated and untied season in school history. In 1939, Edwin Horrell led UCLA to the school’s first undefeated season, but they played a school-record four games to a tie finish and finished the year ranked ninth with a 6-0-4 record. The 1939 team is also one of just two teams in UCLA history to have more than one tie in a season. The 1924 Bruins finished with an 0-5-3 mark and they remain the last Bruin team to go winless.
Of course, if they are able to run the table, Bob Chesney will have led them to the Big Ten championship game. That game will be played this year on Saturday, December 5 in Indianapolis.
But I digress.
When I began this article, my intention was to reset expectations for the remainder of this season. Looking at the seven regular season games left, I think it is very possible that these Bruins win at least five more games this year, and more is not out of the realm of possibility either because yesterday’s game, while a generally ugly game, proved that this team can win when it finds itself in a dogfight.
Right now, I’m thinking the Wisconsin, Michigan and Southern Cal games could all be dogfights, and I expect the Bruins to win at least two of the three.
Let’s look at yesterday’s postgame interviews.
Coach Chesney was certainly in a playful mood to start his postgame interview.
I probably had two favorite moments of this interview.
The first was in response to a question about Coach Chesney taking it in a little before heading off the field. He was asked about that moment. He replied:
Just I was here before, you know, we were here last year. They ended our season and sent us home. And I think it was just a just want to take a second and just feel it and and see it one more time before I walked off the field.
So, yes, even a Division I head coach will stop and savor a moment when his team helped him avenge a previous loss. It was a nice moment of humanity from Coach Chesney savoring what this year’s team had accomplished.
Right after that response, he was asked what his message for his team was. Coach Chesney was basically speechless.
I don’t got a message for the team right now. Not tonight at least.
But, tomorrow, it’s going to be the same. It’s going to be: “It doesn’t matter. Now, we’ve got to get better.” And how do we get better? We go back and we look at these things we’ve got to fix. We look at our personnel and see where we’re at as far as once we figure out how these guys if they’re coming back next week or not. There’s a lot of football left to be played. So, it doesn’t matter. “Get better” is ultimately always the message when we turn the corner, but not just yet. We’ll wait for tomorrow for that.
Finally, he had no information on the injury to Nico Iamaleava.
Meanwhile, Ty Dieffenbach was able to come off the bench and lead the Bruins when Nico went down. In his interview, he indicated that he didn’t know he was the guy to replace Nico yesterday until Nico went down.
Dieffenbach spoke about how he ended up at UCLA this year after playing at Cal Poly last year. He explained:
So, I’ve known Coach Kennedy and this staff since when I was in high school, they recruited me there at Holy Cross.
When I got in the portal this year, I got hit up by Coach Kennedy and it was like, “Oh, like it’s like let’s go. Let’s go do this thing.” It was a no-brainer.
Finally, we’ve got Sammy Omosigho and Wayne Knight.
Omosigho discussed both the final two-point try and the final play of the game.
Yeah, that 2-point conversion, we were seeing a little tight formation and we knew it was going to be a downhill run. They got the penalty and knew it was going to be a short-yardage play. We knew they were going to run the ball. It was just who’s going to stop who. The last drive, we knew it was a pass situation and to keep the ball in front of us and swarm to the football.
Meanwhile, Wayne Knight spoke about how it felt to go into Autzen and beat the Ducks after having the season end there last year. He said:
It feels great. I obviously had that loss last December and it left a bad taste in our mouth. I think we didn’t play a clean game of football, but just being able to go on the road and get the job done is a testament to who we are as a team.
Go Bruins!!!
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As Ches always says: I never put limits on the team.
I have been on pins and needles waiting for the injury report on Nico, Pleasant and Tao. 🙏 they are all ok, and will play agaiinst Whiskey.
I remember the flood of 'red' both times when we played the Badgers in the Jan 1 Rose Bowl games in the 90s. It was awful how Bruin fans sold out the team. We lost both games. It was 💔
Our fans need to show up and pack the RB. No excuses!!!
Go Bruins!!! 💙💛💙💛
Transitioning from expecting the worst to envisioning a season of possibilities, I commend your continued progress in moving on from all of the past trauma and overcoming BBS. I am with you at each step of this wonderful recovery process. :-)
Go Bruins!