Oregon’s bye week may offer a breather, but the path ahead is still drawing attention - and one of the louder voices in college football is warning that the Ducks could be walking into a trickier stretch than some expect.
Rece Davis, on his “Rece’s Pieces” segment on “The Pat McAfee Show,” pointed to a few Big Ten teams he believes are getting overlooked right now, including Iowa, UCLA and Nebraska. For Oregon, the most immediate name in that group is UCLA, which is set to face the Ducks at Autzen Stadium soon.
“There’s some teams lurking around in college football,” Davis said. “A little bit quiet so far. And you’re gonna find out just how good they are coming up in the next few weeks.”
“Iowa is one. You’re gonna find out Saturday.
I’ve been really impressed with what Bob Chesney’s doing at UCLA. You take Iowa, you take UCLA, you can even take Nebraska who’s going to get Indiana in a couple of weeks and we may have some sneaky teams that give the Big Ten the type of depth that everybody has been saying ‘Wow, the Big Ten’s good at the top, but what about the middle?
What about the upper middle class?’” Davis said.
UCLA is the most relevant piece of that conversation for Oregon, and it comes with a familiar twist. Chesney is no stranger to the Ducks, who beat his former program, James Madison, 51-34 in the first round of the 2025 College Football Playoff.
Chesney had already been headed to UCLA before James Madison’s trip to Eugene, but the move still carried a built-in layer of continuity. He brought 11 players from that JMU team with him to Los Angeles, a reflection of how fluid roster building has become in modern college football.
The Bruins have looked sharp under Chesney despite inheriting a program that went 3-9 in 2025, even if that season did include an upset of Penn State. UCLA is 4-0 under its new coach, and while the schedule hasn’t exactly been brutal - Cal, San Diego State, Purdue and Maryland - every win has come by at least two scores.
One of the most familiar faces in that group is senior running back Wayne Knight, who already showed Oregon what he can do last season. Knight ran for 110 yards on 17 receptions against the Ducks in 2025, and he has continued to be a major piece of UCLA’s offense this year.
So far, UCLA has piled up 1,126 rushing yards and 18 touchdowns on the ground, and Knight has accounted for a big chunk of that production with 445 yards and nine touchdowns on 49 carries.
With both teams now familiar with each other’s personnel, there’s at least a case to be made that that shared knowledge could matter when Oregon finally sees the Bruins again. Davis’ message was clear: UCLA may not be getting enough attention yet.
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The design was two years in the making and pulls from Hayward Field, while also bringing in new colors and symbolic nods to former players. It also closes the book on Oregons three-year Generation O series, which means Bruins fans will see the latest in a line of highly styled Duck uniforms and the familiar debate that usually follows them. [Read more 🡒]
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The Bruins spent the offseason trying to add not just depth, but answers, and three newcomers stand out as possible difference-makers in how high this group can climb. Joe Philon brings versatility, Jaylen Petty arrives with scoring punch and experience from Texas Tech, and Nikola Kusturica is expected to provide leadership along with production on both ends of the floor. For a UCLA roster looking to sharpen its identity, each newcomer offers something useful, and each could end up shaping a different part of the rotation.
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UCLA Is Suddenly Pushing USC In The Rivalry That Matters Most
USC may still own the flashier rsum on paper, but the early season has started to tilt the conversation in a way few saw coming across town. Under first-year coach Bob Chesney, UCLA is unbeaten at 4-0 and has looked far more organized and physical than it did a year ago, with a rushing attack doing much of the heavy lifting. For a program that spent last season searching for traction, the Bruins have quickly turned October into a chance to matter in the rivalry again.
Meanwhile, Lincoln Rileys USC team sits at 4-1, yet the record has come with plenty of noise around what it means against stronger opponents and whether the Trojans are truly where they need to be. That contrast is what makes this stretch so intriguing for UCLA: the Bruins are not just keeping pace, they are suddenly forcing USC to look over its shoulder. And with Chesney already giving UCLA a sharper identity, the question now is whether this early surge is the start of something lasting or just the latest twist in a rivalry that rarely stays settled for long. [Read more 🡒]