Chip Kelly infamously proclaimed the best part about football is football.
Of course, that probably didn’t sound the best coming from a coach who went 3-9 in his first campaign leading UCLA football and had a record of 10-21 after two full seasons and the shortened, seven-game 2020 season.
But the Bruin faithful are likely to have a much different take on coach Bob Chesney’s devotion to football, with his program boasting a perfect 6-0 record.
The endless 24/7 climb to the peak of the college football mountaintop is not condemnation, Chesney said Tuesday at Spaulding Field. Instead, for himself and the team, it’s paradise.
“We built this team with people that gain energy from each other and from being out here and playing a game that they love,” Chesney said. “You can do a lot here by uplifting people and uniting people and finding a way to be able to maybe have a little fun at the same time.”
It wasn’t until Kelly’s fifth season at the helm that he had UCLA off to a 6-0 start – and just a season and a half later, he’d leave Westwood of his own accord.
Not only does Chesney in year one have the Bruins at the same record that they had in year five under Kelly, but he has matched Kelly’s best national ranking at UCLA after slotting in at No. 9 on Sunday.
“I’ve been a part of a winning program – we (Michigan) went 15-0 and won a national championship,” said senior wide receiver Semaj Morgan. “As soon as I met coach Chesney, I could tell he was a winner. … Once he got that in everybody’s head and everybody understood, like, ‘Bro, we’re going to play for a Big Ten championship.’”
Morgan totaled 566 receiving yards in his three years as a Wolverine, including a 223-receiving-yard campaign in 2025.
As a Bruin, Morgan has already set a career high with 313 receiving yards – and if he can reel in another touchdown, he would set a career best in that category too.
After collecting their sixth win Saturday, the Bruins still have at least six games to play this season – and chances are they’re hoping to play a couple more than that.
No. 16 USC is UCLA’s only ranked regular-season opponent remaining.
Chesney has matched Kelly’s best as a Bruin so far – now, remaining on course would mean accomplishing something Westwood hasn’t really seen this century.
After their six-win start, the 2022 Bruins split their remaining six regular season games before falling to Pittsburgh in the Sun Bowl.
The Bruins hardly seem scared of a climb into uncharted territory, however.
“We understand that our goal is never 6-0,” said senior linebacker Sammy Omosigho. “There’s a whole half of the season left. So our goal is to continue to get better every week because we know that we are nowhere near our finished product.”
Omosigho added that UCLA students’ perceptions of their football program have changed dramatically since he arrived in the spring. People now stop him on the sidewalk to compliment him.
It’s another way to see his hard work pay off beyond standings and box scores, the Oklahoma transfer added.
“They’re playing a brand of football they love here,” Chesney said. “They come out here and get recharged, not beat down from football. And that’s the way I’ve always wanted a program to look.”
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