The Week 1 win for the UCLA Bruins left the rest of the country feeling as impressed with Bob Chesney as the UCLA faithful are. Chesney’s team showed grit in the 45-24 win over Cal to begin the season.
Chesney is following the same career path as the reigning national champion Curt Cignetti, meaning expectations are sky-high for Chesney as he takes over for the Bruins.
Trojans Wire writer Matt Zemek was one of many people who was impressed by Chesney’s UCLA debut.
“If you were to imagine a perfect start to a new coaching tenure, a first game which created considerable optimism about the future and changed the vibe in and around a program and a fan base, this would be it. Yes, the skeptics are going to say "It's only Cal," and maybe the Golden Bears
won't amount to much this season. Tosh Lupoi as a head coach is less proven than Bob Chesney, and it could be that Saturday night's game was more a reflection of how mediocre the losing team is, rather than how good the winning team is, but it's still really hard to look past what Chesney did with these Bruins,” Zemek wrote. “So many college football teams played cupcake opponents at home in Week 1. UCLA played a Power Four team on the road, late at night. It was not supposed to be an easy assignment. UCLA was favored by less than a field goal. Cal had Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele, one of the most hyped quarterbacks in the country. This is not the Week 1 opponent most coaches choose to play. Curt Cignetti, the man Bob Chesney succeeded at James Madison, plays weak nonconference home games to prepare Indiana for Big Ten play. Chesney took the much harder path with this trip to Berkeley. He won by 21 points.”
The game was tied entering the fourth quarter but Chesney’s team stayed calm. It’s unclear how quickly Chesney can transform the Bruins to an elite team but it’s clear that UCLA has the right man at the helm.
“Any win would have been huge for UCLA, but the Bruins blew the doors off the Bears. Does this mean UCLA is going to be just like Cignetti's Indiana? That's too early to say... but it doesn't seem too early to say that UCLA is now likely to make a bowl game in Year 1, which really does set the table for increased enthusiasm, improved fan attendance at games, and momentum in recruiting and the transfer portal,” Zemek wrote. “Bob Chesney just might be The Guy, and that's exactly what UCLA wanted to see (and what USC did not) in Game 1.”
USC is 2-0 following their impressive 39-0 win over Fresno State and the Bruins hope to move to 2-0 next week against San Diego State.
This article originally appeared on UCLA Wire: UCLA head coach Bob Chesney is already turning heads
