The 2026 season is less than two months old but Bob Chesney has already transformed the UCLA Bruins. Chesney took UCLA from a 3-9 team last year to the No. 12 team in the country, with UCLA jumping 10 spots in the USA TODAY US LBM Coaches Poll following Week 6.
UCLA held on for the win over Oregon in a 17-15 slugfest. There were 10 total turnovers and just four touchdowns in the ranked showdown but Ty Dieffenbach were able to leave Autzen Stadium with their first win in Eugene since 2004.
Following the bout with Oregon, UCLA should feel confident about the rest of the regular season, with games against USC, Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota representing the toughest tests for the Bruins.
UCLA is the third-highest ranked Big Ten team in the Coaches
Poll, behind just No. 4 Indiana and No. 5 Ohio State. Behind the Bruins are No. 15 USC, No. 16 Iowa and No. 25 Oregon. Northwestern, Nebraska and Wisconsin all received votes this week.
Last December, the UCLA football program looked dead in the water. Perhaps we’ll look back at the 2025 season with appreciation for being such a disaster, that it led the program to Chesney. Chesney needed just four games to get UCLA ranked and following his fifth games he has the Bruins as a Top-12 team in the country. The Chesney Era simply could not have gotten off to a better start.
The win over Oregon occurred despite Nico Iamaleava playing one of his worst halves as a Bruin with Ty Dieffenbach playing the second half following an Iamaleava injury. Chesney and UCLA have found ways to win so far this season, and the rest of the college football world has taken note of it.
This article originally appeared on UCLA Wire: UCLA Bruins jump to No. 12 in this week's US LBM Coaches Poll
