The Chesney era is just around the corner, with UCLA set to kick off Sept. 5 against former Pac-12 rival California in Berkeley. With a transformed roster and coaching staff, the Bruins have the opportunity to bounce back from their 3-9 campaign in 2025. Here are the opening-week predictions from Sports editor Jacob Nguyen and assistant Sports editor Steven Chaparyan, along with a guest prediction from Copy chief Amelia Chief.
Jacob Nguyen
Sports editor
Prediction: UCLA 28, California 24
As a college football fan, I’m excited.
It’s hard not to forget a season in which your top three coaches all leave, you go winless outside of what was basically a three-week Cinderella fluke and you allow 30-plus points in half your games.
Yet here we are.
The entire offseason was nothing but headline after headline. From impactful transfers to an overhauled staff to what seems to be the most fun culture UCLA football has seen in years, I’m inclined to say, “This is the year.”
But after the short-lived DeShaun Foster chapter, the smallest part of me is ever so hesitant.
Nonetheless, if anyone is going to ascertain my confidence, it’s Bob Chesney.
The first-year Westwood coach is no stranger to transforming programs. With 16 seasons under his belt as a college head coach at nearly every level of the sport, Chesney has accumulated in eight conference championships.
Before UCLA, Chesney led James Madison to its first-ever Sun Belt title and College Football Playoff appearance in just his second season there. Before that, he was at Holy Cross, during which he achieved the team’s best three-year stretch in 30 years from 2021 to 2023, going 29-8.
Chesney is neither a stranger to success nor revolutionizing teams. And I’m positive the Bruins are next on that timeline.
UCLA probably knows that opening the season with a loss, after a summer of so much hype, is a tough pill to swallow. I’m sure the last thing it wants to do is be reminded of their home-opening 33-point defeat to Utah just a year ago.
And California won’t be an easy opponent, either.
With a retooled roster of their own, the Golden Bears look poised to make sneaky noise in the ACC, where they’ll wreak most of their havoc in the passing game – on both sides of the ball. Expect Cal to live the day in the air, with quarterback Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele connecting with several new targets.
However, UCLA’s ground game is a completely different beast from what it was in 2025 – well-equipped to pressure a Cal defensive line that’s particularly weak up the middle.
The stakes are high for both sides, and the game should be competitive as a result.
But, for now, I’ll take Chesney to win the scouting report.
Steven Chaparyan
Assistant Sports editor
Prediction: UCLA 23, California 20
Personally, I’m convinced.
As of now.
After witnessing such lackluster performances on both sides of the ball last season, it seems like we truly can’t see any worse this time around.
But simply improving from a 3-9 record and a season where the Bruins conceded 30-plus points seven times seems like too low a bar for this reconstructed, Chesney-led squad.
This team should be trusted with real expectations.
And what better opportunity to prove that than going on the road and stealing a week one win against a former conference rival?
The Bruin defense needs to make a statement early on, because containing a quarterback who threw for over 3,400 yards in his true freshman campaign will be no small task. Sagapolutele brings versatility and quick decision-making to this matchup, so the battle needs to be won in the trenches and in the air.
Luckily, I feel a sense of excitement when I think about the Bruin defense we’ll see out on the field this season.
Former Golden Bear fifth-year defensive tackle Tyson Ford will be playing hungry in the trenches against his former squad, while the combination of fifth-year Trent Hendrick – assuming he plays – and senior Sammy Omosigho at linebacker in 3-4 schemes will put exactly the right amount of pressure on Cal’s signal caller.
Plus, the Bruins have their own star on the other end of this extremely hard-to-pronounce quarterback matchup.
Senior Nico Iamaleava has all the right pieces at his disposal to put on a 2,000-plus passing-yard season, and fifth-year JMU transfer running back Wayne Knight takes pressure off Iamaleava to carry the Bruins’ ground game.
The roster boasts deep wide receiver and tight end rooms as well, so I wouldn’t be surprised to see a plethora of names on the stat sheet following this matchup.
The Bruins are hitting the road to face a hostile atmosphere with potentially the highest possible expectations that could be placed on a squad that didn’t see a win until early October last season.
But given what I’ve seen so far, I say they answer the call.
Amelia Chief
Copy chief
Prediction: UCLA 24, California 20
Two new head honchos at the helm for two top UCs.
As Chesney makes his awaited debut as UCLA’s coach, so will his California counterpart Tosh Lupoi. Just as Foster was fired for his 0-3 start to the 2025 campaign, Cal’s former leader Justin Wilcox was axed following his team’s 31-10 defeat against rival Stanford. Both teams also have returning starting quarterbacks with completion rates just north of 64% and largely revamped rosters.
Amid these similarities, one squad must come out on top.
I must admit that my football knowledge ends after stats I can easily access online. I could reference UCLA’s 1-5 away record last season, compared to Cal’s 4-2 home record. I could default to ESPN’s prediction, which gives Cal a 57.9% chance to win. Yet, I chose the Bruins to win in this Pac-12 rematch.
When I told a former high school classmate I wanted to learn how football works to get the true college experience, he said he was sorry I was a Bruin. My two years at UCLA have certainly not incentivized me to become familiar with the game, even if last year’s three-game win streak gave me a glimmer of hope, which was shortly crushed by a whopping 56-6 defeat to eventual national champion Indiana.
But this time, I believe my hope will be neither foolish nor short-lived.
Chesney brings with him a roster of players and coaches from a JMU squad that went 11-1 in the regular season with a conference championship and its first-ever College Football Playoff appearance.
The hype is undeniable, and as a copy editor tasked with writing headlines, I’m starting to worry that we may run out of ideas for Chesney train wordplay. Though I’m not yet sold on throwing my hat in with the most optimistic of Bruin fans who believe the team can see a postseason run this year, it’s not too much of a leap of faith to think the new and improved Bruins can win their opener.
Get ready, because the Chesney train is making its way north.
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