Can UCLAs Bob Chesney do something that hasnt been done in 77 years?

The last time UCLA had a football coach who started 4-0 in his debut season, the school still didn’t know what to make of its bespectacled basketball coach who looked more like a professor.Guy by the name of John Wooden.Wooden had just completed his first season in the fall of 1949 when Henry Russell “Red” Sanders guided the Bruins football team to victories over Oregon State, Iowa, Oregon and Stanford.That team lost its next game — against Santa Clara — but Sanders turned out OK, leading UCLA to the 1954 national championship and what might have been a dynasty if he didn’t die of heart failure before the 1958 season.None of the next dozen head coaches who cycled through Westwood could match Sanders’ stirring start.On Saturday, Bob Chesney can do just that.Chesney’s Bruins (3-0) could improve to 4-0 — and possibly move into the national rankings after getting 10 votes in the AP poll this week — with a victory over Maryland (2-1) at SECU Stadium.Here are five things to watch in a game televised by Big Ten Network beginning at 10:30 a.m.Saturday:UCLA quarterback Nico Iamaleava twice briefly departed his team’s 52-37 victory over Purdue last weekend after injuring various body parts.He hurt his hand, fell on his shoulder and also appeared to suffer a leg injury.

That ushered top backup and younger brother Madden Iamaleava into the game for two series, with Madden throwing the first pass — an incompletion — of his college career.What can the Bruins do to keep Nico from absorbing so many hits, particularly while running the ball?Chesney said the quarterback often has the option to check down into a pass play when he instead spots a weakness in the defense and takes off running.“He’s pretty special when he gets a chance to run,” Chesney said, “but he’s just got to make sure he just keeps himself safe.”UCLA linebacker Sammy Omosigho has perfected the “Peanut Punch” after a lesson from its inventor.Former NFL cornerback Charles “...