UCLA’s 28-10 win over Michigan State at the Rose Bowl came with a little more grime than the final score might suggest, and Bob Chesney made sure to call that out afterward.
The No. 9 Bruins are now 7-0 on the 2026 season, and they did it again without starting quarterback Nico Iamaleava. But for Chesney, the bigger takeaway from Saturday was how his team handled a rough opening stretch against a Michigan State team that came out swinging.
“That first half was not our type of football, not really how we want to play the game, with two fumbles, for them to have 100 and some yards of returns on those two.”
Even with that early mess, Chesney liked the way UCLA steadied itself and finished the job.
“I thought our guys, again, did a really good job.”
He also pointed to the late-game decision-making as the Bruins tried to close things out and protect the lead. The box got crowded, but UCLA stayed committed to managing the clock and leaving with the win.
“There were moments there in the fourth, too, and the late third, where that box got pretty loaded, and we should have taken some shots on the outside. But at the same point, you're trying to run this clock out and get out of here with the win, ultimately, and could have taken a little more risk if we wanted to. But I thought we managed it well enough to get a victory here.”
Chesney was blunt about what went wrong for his offense overall: the giveaways, the drops, and the penalties piled up.
“Look, it's two fumbles, two drops, two holding penalties, right? That's ultimately what happened out there.
Two fumbles, two drops, two holding penalties. ”
And he gave Michigan State credit for what it does best, while making clear UCLA can’t keep giving opponents chances to turn mistakes into points.
“Now they're good at this. This is what they do.
They punch the ball up, they just haven't recovered it. Now they were not only recovering it, but they were scooping and scoring it for the tune of 120-some yards.
That's a problem, and we will get better.”
In Other News...
Michigan State Loss Leaves Two Big Questions Fans Wont Ignore
Michigan States six-game slide grew harder to ignore in a 28-10 loss to No. 9 UCLA, a result that once again left the Spartans searching for answers on both sides of the ball. The offense was operating short-handed, and freshman quarterback Kayd Coffman showed flashes early before the drive-to-drive struggles piled up, leaving the Spartans stuck trying to manufacture consistency they never really found.
There were still a few bright spots, most notably safety Devin Vaught turning in a strong defensive effort, but the bigger concern may be what comes next for a unit already stretched thin. The injury to defensive leader Ben Roberts could become the more consequential development coming out of the game, especially for a team that is already fighting to stabilize itself during a difficult stretch. [Read more 🡒]
Michigan States UCLA Loss Exposed A Bigger Problem Than The Score
Michigan States loss to No. 9 UCLA fit the scoreboard, but the bigger issue for the Spartans was everything that piled up around it. The defeat dropped them to 2-6 overall and 0-5 in Big Ten play, and for stretches they did enough to create some hope, with safety Devin Vaught forcing two turnovers before leaving with a leg injury, Nikai Martinez jumping on a fumble, and quarterback Leo Hannan flashing a few encouraging moments in relief.
The problem is that the positives kept getting swallowed by the injury list, which only grew as the night wore on. Marvis Parrish, Nick Sharpe, Ben Roberts and Vaught all ended up part of the shuffle, leaving Michigan State to piece together roles in real time while trying to compete with a top-10 opponent. At this point, the Spartans are dealing with more than the pain of another loss, because the way theyre holding up physically has become part of the story too. [Read more 🡒]
Michigan State Should Be Watching Whats Happening Around The Big Ten
Michigans loss to Indiana in overtime added another wrinkle to a Big Ten race that has already started to tilt in unexpected directions, and Michigan State has every reason to keep an eye on it. The Wolverines dropped a 13-6 decision and are now down three times in their last four games, with quarterback Tommy Carr making his first collegiate start and kicker Trey Butkowski unable to cash in on key chances, a reminder of how thin the margin has become in the league.
Michigan States interest goes beyond Ann Arbor, though, because the rest of the conference is producing the kind of results that can reshape the road ahead. Oregon fell to Illinois, UCLA has kept winning even after losing its starting quarterback, and those developments matter for a Spartans team trying to understand what kind of path still sits in front of it as the Big Ten slate keeps tightening. [Read more 🡒]