On Saturday, before the Bruins faced Oregon in Eugene, Chesney had his team take a knee in the Autzen Stadium tunnel for one final message.As his undefeated Bruins listened intently, Chesney turned into Tony D'Amato (Al Pacino) in Any Given Sunday.
In the 1999 movie, D'Amato reminded his players, "We're in hell right now, gentlemen.Believe me.
And, we can stay here, get the s–t kicked out of us, or we can fight our way back into the light.We can climb outta hell...
one inch at a time."Chesney gave his boys a speech in a similar vein.The 49-year-old Hollywood newcomer chose to paraphrase Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés after his 1519 landing in Mexico with 600 troops.Bob Chesney leads the UCLA Bruins onto the field before their game against the Oregon Ducks at Autzen Stadium in Eugene, Ore., on Oct.10, 2026.
(Getty Images)"They're about to go in and start the war, and he wants to make sure that nobody has any other thought," Chesney told Bruins."No other thought than we're 100% positive we're winning this f–king battle.
He looks around at the boats they'd have to go home on and says, 'Burn the f–king boats.'NICK SABAN TELLS THEO VON HIS FAMOUS SIDELINE INTENSITY WAS A CALCULATED STRATEGY, NOT EMOTION"There is no way out.We can't go that way (Chesney points to the sunlight outside Autzen Stadium).
You gotta go through these motherf–kers."The Bruins stand up, chant something, and Chesney turns towards the tunnel.Like Tom Cruise about to strap in and go shoot down multiple Sukhoi Su-57 stealth fighters, Chesney grabs his sunglasses, locks them into place, seems to hit play on an Apple iWatch workout and walks down the ramp into battle.CLICK HERE FOR MORE OUTKICK SPORTS COVERAGEChesney isn't the first inspirational speaker to use the "burn the boats" speech, but in the modern Internet era, he's the first to do it with such cinematic flair.
The hair is perfect.The all-black shoes, pants and shirt and then the black sunglasses project something that no...