The bye week arrives with UCLA in a place few would have recognized a year ago: undefeated, ranked, and carrying real momentum into the heart of the schedule.
The No. 23 Bruins are 4-0 overall and 2-0 in Big Ten play, a far cry from last season’s 0-4 start and the coaching change that followed.
Bob Chesney has flipped the script fast. UCLA brought him in, and the program’s tone, results, and national profile have all changed with him.
The Bruins are now ranked for the first time in years, and the numbers keep backing up the buzz. Their ground game has become one of the nation’s best, and they’re one win better than all of last season already. They’re also only two victories away from bowl eligibility, though the next step won’t be easy: Oregon is up next after the bye.
Across the polls and metrics, UCLA’s rise is clear. The Bruins sit 23rd in both the AP Poll and Coaches Poll, with CBS Sports placing them 17th.
ESPN SP+ has them at No. 24, and the FPI now lists them 32nd, up from 40th. That FPI shift comes with an updated projected record of 8.6-3.5, while ESPN’s early win predictor gives Oregon an 84.9% chance to win and UCLA 14.1%.
Chesney’s start has been historic in a few different ways. He’s 4-0 at UCLA and owns a 136-52 overall head coaching record.
He’s the first UCLA coach to win his first four games in his first season since Red Sanders in 1949. And stretching back to last season, Chesney has now won 14 straight regular season games.
The Bruins’ offense has been doing plenty of damage late in games, too. UCLA leads the nation in fourth-quarter scoring at 19.0 points per game and has outscored opponents 76-17 in the final period. That kind of closing punch has helped define this start.
The running game has been a major part of the surge. Wayne Knight has scored a touchdown in four straight games, becoming the first Bruin to do that since Zach Charbonnet in 2022.
Knight now has nine touchdowns, which leads the nation. In last week’s win over Maryland, UCLA had four different players find the end zone on the ground: Knight, Jaivian Thomas, Anthony Woods, and Troy Leigber.
The Maryland game also showed how disruptive UCLA has been on defense. The Bruins picked off four passes, with Ta'Shawn James, Scooter Jackson, Trent Hendrick, and Mason Rivera all recording interceptions. James had one of the two pick sixes and now has three interceptions on the season, which leads the Big Ten and ranks tied for second nationally at 0.75 per game.
That defense has been especially stout against the run. UCLA ranks 22nd nationally, allowing just 91.3 rushing yards per game. Sammy Omosigho added another tackle for loss against Maryland and now leads the Big Ten with 7.5, which also ranks seventh in the nation.
There’s plenty more to note from the start UCLA has put together. The Bruins’ 54-3 win over Maryland was their largest margin ever in a Big Ten game.
Before that, their biggest conference win came against Arizona in 2012, when they beat the Wildcats 66-10 as Pac-12 members. And after beating Purdue 52-38 the week before, UCLA scored 50 or more points in consecutive games for the first time since 1993.
All of it adds up to a program that looks nothing like the one that opened last season. The bye week gives UCLA a pause, but not a reset. The Bruins head into Oregon with momentum, confidence, and a record that keeps getting harder to ignore.
In Other News...
UCLAs 4-0 Start Comes With An Even Bigger Reason For Hope
UCLA heads into its bye week at 4-0, and the record is only part of the story. Under Bob Chesney, the Bruins have paired the early wins with a clear message about the kind of team they want to become, stressing continuous improvement rather than satisfaction with a fast start. That tone has shown up throughout the locker room, with quarterback Nico Iamaleava and defensive captain Sammy Omosigho both reinforcing the idea that the Bruins still have room to grow.
For a team that has already banked a clean start, the challenge now is keeping the edge that got it here. UCLA believes it has not yet tapped its full potential, which is why the bye week feels less like a pause and more like a checkpoint. The next stretch will show whether the Bruins can turn early momentum into something more durable, and whether the standard Chesney keeps pushing can carry them deeper into the season. [Read more 🡒]
Oregon Just Teased A New Look Bruins Fans Need To See
Oregon used its bye week to stir up a little more uniform buzz, teasing an alternate look that immediately caught the eye of UCLA fans because of what it could mean for the Bruins October trip north. The Ducks latest preview shows a matte black design with green and yellow paint streaks, along with a nod to the origin of speed stitched inside the collar, a clear callback to the Chip Kelly era and the programs obsession with pace and style.
The timing makes this one worth watching from a Bruins perspective, since the release is expected on September 29 and could end up being worn for the October 10 matchup against UCLA. A version of the jersey had already surfaced earlier through a leak on Dicks Sporting Goods website and in some stores, but Oregons official tease suggests the full reveal is coming soon, with the only real question being whether the Ducks save it for that showdown with the Bruins. [Read more 🡒]
UCLA Finally Looks Complete With Oregon Up Next
A week after looking like a team still searching for its footing, UCLA turned in the kind of balanced performance coaches spend all September trying to find. The Bruins forced five turnovers, held Maryland to three points and poured in 54 of their own, a clean reflection of the complementary football Bob Chesney said had been building behind the scenes. For one Saturday at least, both sides of the ball seemed to be answering each other.
Now comes the more revealing test. Oregon is next in Week 6, and UCLA will find out quickly whether that sharp showing was a one-off burst or the start of something more stable. The Bruins have momentum, confidence and, for the first time in a while, a version of themselves that looked complete. The question is whether they can carry it into a matchup that should say a lot more about where this team really stands. [Read more 🡒]