POSTGAME QUOTES
UCLA 28, SDSU 10
Pasadena, Calif. (Rose Bowl Stadium)
September 12, 2026<\/p>\n
UCLA Bruins on the strong play in the second half on walking through the tunnel to enter the Rose Bowl on the quarterback play on Wayne Knight<\/a>\u2019s performance on Jalen Woods<\/a>\u2019 performance on the message to the team at halftime on the offensive flow of the game Senior Wide Receiver Semaj Morgan<\/a> on what Coach Chesney says to the team on film after a game like this on San Diego State\u2019s running game Senior Linebacker Jalen Woods<\/a> on showing energy throughout the game on his interception\u00a0 5th Year Running Back Wayne Knight<\/a> on his ability to score touchdowns
Bob Chesney<\/a>
The Angelo M. Mazzone III UCLA Head Football Coach
opening statement
\u201cThe defense had a really nice day overall and kept us in this game when we needed it the most. I thought there were some opportunities for guys to step up and make some plays. I was pretty impressed with some of them that did it. Wayne [Knight] again, obviously with what he did, and the guys on the offensive line. And then Semaj Morgan<\/a>, I think that\u2019s a kid that just deserves a ton of credit for today\u2019s game. There were plays that we needed to make and he made them, in tight contested areas. 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. That is not the way want to play football. Especially in the first half. It wasn\u2019t pretty but it was gritty. I was proud of our guys, and we found a way to win the game.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can go back and look historically, especially last year at JMU, we were pretty dominant in the second half. It has to do with the adjustments that we make, but also our guys figuring out the speed at which things are happening. When you have 60-70 guys on the team, that ability to gel early in the season – it takes a second. You settle down when you get to half time and you have to understand what the test is at hand, then you have to trust one another and play together as a team. We have to start much, much faster, but I like the energy that we came back out with in the second half. We were able to get a stop, then put a drive together. The rest was history after that.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was cool to walk through here. I showed our team a little video on the Rose Bowl. We showed them a video about what it means to play here. I wanted them to have a full understanding of what it means to play here. Back from the historical perspective with [Maurice Jones-Drew] with the punt return against San Diego State. I think our guys all understood that. I think that our guys all understood that but it wasn’t about that history. It was about making our own for their first game. [Wayne] plays football the right way and I love watching him be patient and then he waits for it and when he sees it he just gets up to full speed within two or three steps and, you know, again, that’s nothing we haven’t seen you know before. He means a lot to this team.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI’m sure Nico will be in here for you to talk to him a little about; it’s not his best game, he knows it’s not his best game and I just think again that the grit and the toughness that he played with though when he needed to get a couple first downs that really, really mattered to keep drives alive and put his body on the line and you know peeled himself off that ground and just kept fighting for his teammates, that’s special. But there’s a whole lot we got to do in there. You know, I got to go back and just watch the tape with our coaches and ask \u2018Are we putting the guys in the best position? Yes or no?\u2019 I thought you saw that with Samaj, what an unbelievable job by him just being able to again play the game that he just played. But we need to get some bodies back that’s probably A and B. If we don’t have those bodies back it’s hard to go in with your top three of who you think might be playing and then none of them play, and it changes the game plan pretty quickly you know midway through and we just got to adjust and be a little bit better.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cObviously he had three touchdowns it was the first time he ever did it in his career, I didn’t know that, and he did it twice in a row so I think there’s probably shown something even more than you know what people thought. I think we all knew what he was pretty capable of and I thought, again \u2013 you watch Wayne but let’s just talk a little bit about the offensive line in there as well you know from [the offensive line] pulling around on that one run it was violent at the point of attack like he was and then the receiver’s blocking on the outside. Wayne [Knight] doesn’t just score by himself, you know, he needs a whole lot of help and I think that those guys played a physical tough game up front which allowed him to have the success that he had and I think he’d be the first to say that.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought he played great. You’re going to go back and watch some of the film and just some of the fits in some of the blitz game were not perfect [but] when you’re out there, we believe in you and you got to be able to do your job and we did have a couple of moments where we fell flat. But [Jalen Woods<\/a>] was phenomenal. Yes, I think he played as hard as he possibly can, but he’ll have two or three plays too that he wishes he had back but that screen was everything at that moment that was that was a major factor in this game.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah. It’s the same thing, the issue was there was no score at halftime right so, yeah \u2013 it’s, you know, you play two halves for a reason – four quarters – and we got to get better each of them every step of the way. The message at halftime \u2013 \u2018We know what they’re doing now.\u2019 We know their speed, we know what their power feels like, we understand it now. We got to be able to make these plays that we came up a little bit short on in the first half and I thought our guys did a pretty good job of that.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI think the run game sets up the pass game, as we all know, and I think there were moments for us to take a couple shots downfield today off of the run fakes, and that’s got to be part of it. You can’t just run the ball, you got to be able to loosen it back up. We had a lot of RPOs that we threw early in the game and had success with and then we just kind of you know that that success didn’t show up anymore. As far as distributing the ball, you know, where they’re all getting a chance to touch this football \u2013sometimes there’s just a hot hand that shows up, and Wayne’s [Knight] made the most of his opportunities so it would be kind of ridiculous to pull him out of that game at some point. But we’re going to need everybody, and I think this is important to just keep in mind \u2013 you watch it in the receiver room, you watch it with the offensive line, you watch it in the tight end room. The running back is a position that you’re getting a lot of hit by a lot of different sized bodies, right? If we only have one, we’re going to be in trouble, right, because there’s going to be moments where you know one can’t go and today there was moments where two couldn’t go and then they found their way back but they were they were they were a little bit nicked up and I thought they fought through it and found a way. But you need as many as you could possibly have because it’s a long season, and they’re playing against some pretty you know heavy hitters from the D-line, to the linebackers, to the safeties that wear and tear on them pretty good.\u201d <\/p>\n
on playing well late on in each game
\u201cJust being able to stick with it and keep the energy on the sideline plays a big part. The strength staff so we can be able to finish late in games, because you can\u2019t win the game in the first half. Being able to play late is very important to our success.”<\/p>\n
\u201cHe just says we can always get better. No matter what happened in the game, like, who cares if we won this game or not; we still have corrections we need to make. WE still have stuff we can be better at.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ll just say it\u2019s just in the details. Like on defense, they know what they like to do. Just being able to be correct in our fits and lining up right. Whatever we are doing, just playing fast and everyone is rallying to the ball.\u201d<\/p>\n
on playing well late on in each game
That\u2019s just how we practice every single day. Every single rep, every single period of practice is always hard. When we get to the game, you know it’s like we\u2019ve done it before.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s really easy to. That\u2019s just how we practice. At practice we have a ton of energy. Everything is good on good. We always get each other better. We go through a practice in the offseason; when it\u2019s time to get to the game, us being so connected makes it easy. That\u2019s just how we practice every single day. That\u2019s how we go about ourselves every single day.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI just know, watching film, they like to do screens when it’s third and medium or long. There\u2019s a lot of film to watch on them.\u201d<\/p>\n
on pulling together as a team in tight games
\u201cI think it’s the togetherness that we have in our culture, how connected we are with the offense. You know as a team in general, being able to be that close with guys that you’re going to war with is important and it shows up in big moments like tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI’ll just say the positions I’m putting in. We’re moving the ball to the offense, we’re making plays out there and when the light shines on you, it’s your time to make that play. I\u2019m fortunate enough, all glory to God, I’m able to make those plays.\u201d<\/p>\n