POSTGAME NOTES
UCLA 45, California 24
Berkeley, Calif. (California Memorial Stadium)
September 5, 2026<\/p>\n
Records: UCLA (1-0, 0-0 Big Ten), California (0-1, 0-0 ACC)
Up Next: UCLA vs. San Diego State – Rose Bowl Stadium (Pasadena, Calif.) – Sept. 12, 2026<\/p>\n
TEAM NOTES PLAYER NOTES
\u2022 The Bruins improved their all-time record in season-opening games to 70-33-5.
\u2022 UCLA improved to 59-35-1 all-time against Cal.\u00a0
\u2022 The Bruins improved to 26-21 against the Golden Bears in games played in Berkeley.\u00a0
\u2022 UCLA totaled six rushing touchdowns, the program\u2019s most in a single game since Sept. 23, 2023 vs. NC Central and most against an FBS-level opponent since Sept. 26, 2015.
\u2022 UCLA out-scored Cal by a margin of 21-0 in the fourth quarter. The 21 points scored were more for the Bruins than in any single quarter during the entire 2025 campaign. \u00a0
\u2022 Explosive plays: UCLA had 10 individual plays that went for 20+ yards on Saturday. The Bruins had seven such plays in the first half alone against Cal, matching last year\u2019s single-game season high (accomplished vs. Penn State).\u00a0
\u2022 UCLA head coach Bob Chesney<\/a> improved to 13-4 in season-opening games in his career. He has now won seven consecutive season openers (last loss: 2019). Chesney has now won each of his last seven season openers by at least two scores.
\u2022 Coach Chesney has now won 11 consecutive regular season games dating back to 2025.\u00a0
\u2022 UCLA\u2019s 277 rushing yards were its most in a single game since its 2023 LA Bowl victory over Boise State (280).\u00a0
\u2022 UCLA\u2019s 461 yards of total offense were the program\u2019s most since Oct. 19, 2024 at Rutgers (478).\u00a0
\u2022 UCLA averaged nearly nine yards per rush in the win (8.7 yards per carry average on 32 touches).\u00a0
\u2022 At least 38 Bruins made their official debut in a UCLA uniform on Saturday: Brian Rowe Jr.<\/a>, Wayne Knight<\/a>, Semaj Morgan<\/a>, Landon Ellis<\/a>, Harry Lodge<\/a>, Riley Robell<\/a>, Carter Sweazie<\/a>, Derek Osman<\/a>, Hall Schmidt<\/a>, Jordan Davis<\/a>, JD Dean<\/a>, Mack Indestad<\/a>, Brayden Loftin<\/a>, Josh Phifer<\/a>, Tao Johnson<\/a>, Sammy Omosigho<\/a>, Nico Davillier<\/a>, Malik Hartford<\/a>, Sahir West<\/a>, Osiris Gilbert<\/a>, Dante Lovett<\/a>, Jhase McMillan<\/a>, Trent Hendrick<\/a>, CJ Lavender<\/a>, Ta\u2019Shawn James<\/a>, Mason Rivera<\/a>, Derrick Barksdale<\/a>, Dallin Havea<\/a>, Anthony Sacca<\/a>, Drew Spinogatti<\/a>, Matt Muasau<\/a>, Amier Washington<\/a>, Darold DeNgohe<\/a>, Tyson Ford<\/a>, Aiden Gobaira<\/a>, Maxwell Roy<\/a>, Curtis Gerrand<\/a>, and Giancarlo Cereghino<\/a>.
\u2022 Seven different Bruins caught a pass, and five recorded a rushing attempt in Saturday\u2019s contest.<\/p>\n
\u2022 \u00a0RB Wayne Knight<\/a> totaled three rushing touchdowns, marking his first career performance with multiple rushing TDs. The three total TDs were also a career high.\u00a0
\u2022 \u00a0Knight also led the Bruins with 157 all-purpose yards, marking the 13th game of his career in which he eclipsed 100 all-purpose yards.
\u2022 \u00a0RB Anthony Woods<\/a> also had his best game to date as a Bruin, posting 118 yards and two touchdowns on eight carries. It was his first 100-yard game as a Bruin, and marked his first two rushing touchdowns in a UCLA uniform.\u00a0
\u2022 \u00a0DB Ta\u2019Shawn James<\/a> intercepted two passes in the fourth quarter to help the Bruins seal the win. It marked the first two picks of James\u2019s career, and he became the first Bruin with two interceptions in a game since Carson Schwesinger<\/a> did so against Iowa during the 2024 campaign.\u00a0
\u2022 \u00a0WR Mikey Matthews<\/a> reeled in a 43-yard catch late in the first half to set up a late field goal for the Bruins. It marked Matthews\u2019s longest catch as a Bruin, and was the second-longest of his career (46).
\u2022 \u00a0Matthews set a career high with 88 receiving yards. He also added 12 yards off two punt returns to hit the 100 yards of total offense mark for the first time as a Bruin.\u00a0
\u2022 \u00a0LB Sammy Omosigho<\/a> shattered his previous career high of eight tackles, posting nine tackles in the first half alone and finishing with a team-high 14.
\u2022 \u00a0Omogsigho recorded a sack and forced a fumble on the same play late in the second quarter. It was the second forced fumble of his career, and first as a Bruin. It was also his third-career sack (first as a Bruin).
\u2022 \u00a0Omosigho matched a career high with 2.0 tackles for loss (TFL).
\u2022 \u00a0DB Malik Hartford<\/a> set a career high with five tackles.
\u2022 \u00a0DB Derrick Barksdale<\/a> picked up a 10-yard sack off a blitz in the second quarter. It was his second-career sack and first as a Bruin.\u00a0
\u2022 \u00a0LB Jalen Woods<\/a> logged a career-high 11 tackles. It was his first-career double-digit tackle performance.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"POSTGAME NOTESUCLA 45, California 24Berkeley, Calif. (California Memorial Stadium)September 5, 2026 Records: UCLA (1-0, 0-0 Big Ten), California…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":455396,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7,9,8],"class_list":["post-455395","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-california","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/455395","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=455395"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/455395\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/455396"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=455395"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=455395"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=455395"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}