Surprising predictions for every UCLA football game in Bob Chesneys debut season
There hasn’t been this much excitement about a new UCLA football coach … ever?Consider the sad history of the school’s hires.DeShaun Foster was a curious choice.Chip Kelly was well into his decline.Jim Mora and Rick Neuheisel were retreads.Karl Dorrell was Plan D … dull.Bob Toledo was an offensive coordinator who happened to be in the right spot.Terry Donahue was an alumnus with no head coaching experience.Pepper Rodgers came from Kansas, not exactly a college football powerhouse.Dick Vermeil’s most recent head coaching job came at Napa Valley College.One must go all the way back to Tommy Prothro, who had guided Oregon State to multiple Rose Bowls when he returned to UCLA in 1965, to find a new Bruins coach with buzz approaching that of the excitement surrounding Bob Chesney.Chesney has made UCLA a fashionable pick to become the Big Ten’s most improved team in Year 1 after taking James Madison to the College Football Playoff in 2025.While season prognosticators are as foolhardy as daily lottery players, it’s no stretch to envision Chesney winning big immediately.Here’s a game-by-game prediction for the Bruins:Which new coach will instantly energize his fan base?Cal’s Tosh Lupoi sprouted from the Dan Lanning coaching tree after a successful stint as Oregon’s defensive coordinator but has never been a head coach at any level.The return of quarterback Jaron Keawe-Sagapolutele gives Lupoi a nice starting point, but questions abound on a defense that might make the new coach wish he was back with the Ducks.
Prediction: Win, 1-0.How crazy is it that this will be a nonconference game for UCLA against a team from the Pac-12? That’s the absurdity of college football in 2026.The Aztecs were formidable in only their second season under coach Sean Lewis — who was believed to be a Plan B if the Bruins couldn’t snag Chesney — by going 9-4 in 2025.But the sad truth is they’re 1-22-1 all time in their series with the Bruins.
(Thanks, Chip Kelly, for ...