One Tuesday rep in practice helped explain why UCLA keeps finding answers on Saturdays.
Aidan Mizell and Scooter Jackson have been pushing each other all season, and that back-and-forth showed up again in UCLA’s 34-20 win over Minnesota in Minneapolis. Mizell hauled in two 75-yard touchdown passes from Ty Dieffenbach, while Jackson snagged an interception as the Bruins moved to 9-0 for the first time since 1999.
Dieffenbach was sharp in limited volume, piling up a career-high 303 passing yards on only eight completions. Jackson’s takeaway came when he dropped back and got in front of Jalen Smith to intercept Drake Lindsey.
“You guys see it every day in practice,” Jackson said. “Those guys, and when I say ‘those guys’ it’s not just Aidan.
It’s Brian (Rowe Jr.), Semaj (Morgan), and I can keep going on and on. Those guys every day make me better.
You see it in practice. They do me up in practice every day.
But on Saturdays, they help me perform very well.”
That kind of mutual pressure has become part of the Bruins’ identity under Bob Chesney. He pointed to the practice battles as a key reason UCLA is handling game day so well.
Last Tuesday offered a clean example. Dieffenbach lofted a pass that Jackson misjudged, and Mizell, who had beaten him downfield, made an acrobatic grab after the ball got tangled up near Jackson’s hands and pads. The offensive sideline erupted, but there was no bad blood between the two.
Mizell didn’t taunt Jackson, and Jackson didn’t react negatively. It was just another hard rep between two players who keep making each other better.
“That’s what we talked about being the standards of our team,” said UCLA head coach Bob Chesney, who is getting his Bruins (9-0, 6-0 Big Ten) ready to take on Illinois (6-3, 4-2) on Friday night. “There’s probably eight or nine bullet points at the beginning of the year, and we review every Friday and make sure those are important.
When you get to the game, and you put yourself in a position where you’ve been there before. You’ve competed against someone who is of equal caliber to you.
Sometimes Aidan is going to get Scooter, and sometimes Scooter is going to get Aidan.”
Chesney said that kind of daily friction is exactly the point. The Bruins aren’t just practicing plays; they’re practicing pressure.
“There’s something better than that type of competition for them to go against each other,” Chesney said. “That little bit of success breeds a little bit more confidence.
And that little bit of confidence breeds a little more success, and that little success breeds more confidence and the next thing you know, it’s spiraling at a pretty high rate of speed. Being in those competitive situations is what affords them that opportunity to do so.”
He added that the setup matters just as much as the result.
“If we just ran a bunch of scout plays and called it a day, it wouldn’t give us the same speed, mental toughness to fight through things,” Chesney said. “And at the same time, you know you’ve got to bring it when you go good on good.”
For Jackson, that routine has become part of the program’s new standard. He called 2026 “the most exciting college football season” he has ever been a part of, and he tied that feeling directly to Chesney’s approach.
“One thing after practice is called the dirty 30,” Jackson said. “You stay 30 minutes after practice to work on something you need to work on.
That’s the thing I’d say has worked. Nothing else matters.
Just get better.”
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