All of the khakis and polos in Pasadena aligned for the UCLA Bruins on Saturday, knocking off the San Diego State Aztecs 28-10, moving UCLA to 2-0 in the Bob Chesney Era thanks to another big fourth quarter.
It was far from the perfect showing for the Bruins in the home opener, but once again, UCLA was able to get the job done. A week after putting up 45 points, Dean Kennedy and the Bruins offense struggled mightily. The group wound up with 28 points but the group had just seven points entering the fourth quarter after being shut out in the first half.
Chesney spoke postgame to the fact that UCLA still has areas of improvement heading into Week 3, when the team will begin Big Ten Conference play.
“I thought the defense had a really nice day overall
and kept us in this game when we needed it most,” Chesney said. “That is not the way we want to play football, obviously, in the first half but at the same point in time, that’s where we found ourselves... It wasn’t pretty but it was gritty.”
To compete with the best teams in the Big Ten, UCLA will need to get more out of their passing offense. The Bruins were short-handed, playing without wide receiver Landon Ellis and seeing wideout Mikey Matthews go down in the first half. One Bruin receiver that stepped up was Semaj Morgan, with Chesney throwing Morgan some praise in his opening statement.
“I think that’s just a kid that deserves a ton of credit for today’s game because there were plays that needed to be made, and he made them,” Chesney said of Morgan. “That kid is tough, along with his punt return, along with his run blocking. It was really good to see him have the day that he had.”
2 big grabs for Semaj Morgan to set up Wayne Knight’s 2nd TD run pic.twitter.com/1qlGi2Xq4L
— 🌹 2-0 (@ChesneyEra) September 13, 2026
Now UCLA can take a deep breath, they’re 2-0 and there’s reason to believe that their best football is still ahead of them.
This article originally appeared on UCLA Wire: 'It wasn’t pretty but it was gritty' Bob Chesney sums up UCLA's win
