UCLA’s 2026 opener had a little bit of everything: a fast start, a rough stretch that looked far too familiar, and then a fourth quarter where the Bruins finally slammed the door.
Bob Chesney got the win in his first game as UCLA’s head coach, and the Bruins made it seven straight season-opening victories for him with a 45-24 win over UC Berkeley on tonight. The decisive burst came late, when UCLA scored three touchdowns in the fourth quarter to turn a one-score game into a comfortable finish.
For much of the first half, UCLA looked like a team that had taken a real step forward. The Bruins leaned on the run and got production through the air, piling up 123 rushing yards on 14 carries while Nico Iamaleava went 12-for-18 for 179 yards. The defense held up too, limiting UC Berkeley’s ground game to 34 yards on 19 carries.
Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele was productive through the air for the Bears in the first half, finishing 15-for-23 for 208 yards. But 78 of his 129 second-quarter yards came on three plays in the final minute of the half, which helped keep the game within reach.
Then came the third quarter, and it was ugly for UCLA. The Bruins managed only eight plays in the period, ran the ball five times without gaining a yard, and got just five passing yards from Iamaleava on 2-for-3 throwing. It was the kind of lull that can drag a season opener off the rails and had Bruin fans flashing back to last year.
The fourth quarter flipped the game.
UCLA’s defense opened the final period with a stop when UC Berkeley went for it on fourth-and-three from its own side of the field. A bad snap wrecked the play, and the Bruins took over on downs at the Berkeley 49. After UCLA punted on its next possession, Ta’Shawn James changed the game with an interception of Sagapolutele at midfield and a return to the 31.
That set up Wayne Knight, who punched in his second touchdown of the night on the first play of the drive. Suddenly UCLA was back in front, 31-24.
The Bears then helped the Bruins again on the very next possession. Sagapolutele threw another pass to James on the fourth play of the drive, and UCLA answered with a methodical march that ate nearly four minutes before Knight scored again, this time from four yards out, to make it 38-24.
UC Berkeley had one more chance to respond, and again the UCLA defense stood firm. The Bears moved from their own 25 to the Bruin 47, but two incompletions and a two-yard loss by Sagapolutele left them facing fourth-and-12. UCLA allowed just two yards on the next snap and got the ball back on downs at its own 47.
From there, the Bruins stayed on the ground and let Anthony Woods finish it off. Woods broke loose for a 53-yard touchdown run with 1:17 left to push the lead to 45-24, and that was that.
The final score reflected a much better showing from UCLA overall, even if the third quarter showed how fragile things can still get. The game also came with plenty of cleanup work. UCLA was flagged 12 times for 110 yards, compared with six penalties for 59 yards on UC Berkeley.
The officiating crew had its share of misses too. At one point, a UC Berkeley player appeared to tackle a Bruin by grabbing his facemask, but no flag came out.
Even so, UCLA’s biggest issue is clear enough: the Bruins have to sharpen up, especially after three defensive PI calls and two illegal substitution penalties. Those are the kind of mistakes that pile up fast.
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Nico Iamaleava Addressed The UCLA Injury Scare Fans Feared
A late scare in UCLAs road win at Cal had Bruins fans holding their breath when Nico Iamaleava went down after a run in the fourth quarter. The quarterback briefly left the game, then came back, and head coach Bob Chesney later said the issue was a calf cramp caused by being cleated, adding that Iamaleava should be fine moving forward.
Iamaleava also spoke about the moment after the game, calling it painful but saying he recovered after a short spell on the sideline. For UCLA, the encouraging part is less about the hit itself than the fact that its quarterback was able to return and help close out a road victory, even if the aftermath still left a few questions about how hell look as the week moves on. [Read more 🡒]
UCLAs New-Look Ground Game Just Changed How Fans See This Win
A 45-24 win over Cal in Bob Chesneys first game as UCLAs head coach already gave the Bruins a clean opening statement, but the numbers on the ground made it feel even more like a shift in identity. UCLA piled up 277 rushing yards and found the end zone six times on the ground, a showing that gave the offense a different kind of edge and left plenty of room for a deeper look at who drove it.
Pro Football Focus has since gone back through the film and graded the Bruins individual performances with its usual detailed system, offering a separate lens on how that performance actually held up snap by snap. Those grades can still change as the review process continues, and they do not always line up with what a coaching staff sees, but they add another layer to a debut that already has fans recalibrating what this offense might be under Chesney. [Read more 🡒]
UCLA's Secondary Just Got A Boost And A New Camp Question
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The timing matters, too, with Week 1 against Cal approaching and Jackson expected to be available. For a unit that always has to be ready to shuffle pieces around, getting a player like that back in the rotation can change how the Bruins approach the early part of the season. The open question now is how quickly he settles back in after the interrupted offseason and what role he ultimately claims once the games start counting. [Read more 🡒]