That was a tough game that once again was a lot closer than the scoreboard suggested. It took everything the Bruins had - all of their toughness, all of their polos and all of their khakis. Hey, Coach Bob! What will you be wearing on the sideline going forward? Ok, let’s get into the recap of the game.
The Defense
I said the defense would be better last week and I was correct. The Chesney/Hitschler defense held strong in the first half and kept the score 0-0 to give the offense time to figure it out in the second half. Sammy Omosigho did not make the same impact on the stat sheet this game but I thought he was a big factor in the game. Maybe it’s because the kid is such a physical specimen but he jumps off of the screen. Jalen Woods also had a great game registering a sack and an INT in the same game. I really loved the INT as Woods bullied the SDSU player when going for the ball. That ball was his and no one was going to stop him from getting it.
Now is this coaching staff satisfied with their performance? Heck no. Don’t get upset watching that video, that’s just some good old fashioned jawing. Also while it may appear that there were some F-bombs dropped in the clip, he was clearly telling Coach Hitschler nicely to “fix it”. Clear as day to me. UCLA is a family friendly team and Coach Chesney is a Pennsylvania salt of the earth type of person. I will not tolerate any slander.
The Running Game
While this game may have been considered boring by the modern day TikTok football standards, this is the way God intended the game to be played. Limit mistakes, play defense, run the ball and grind your opponent down in the second half until they lose their will to fight back. Hats off to the offensive line, once again UCLA rushes for 5 YPC and 214 total on the ground. If you could sign on the dotted line for that every week you sign without reading the T’s & C’s.
There was a stat going around in one of my many football group chats today that UCLA had 8 rushing touchdowns in all of 2025 and they already have 10 this year (credit John Fall). That stat is breaking my brain. Once again credit to the offensive line, but one of the key driving forces behind this is Wayne Knight (JMU transfer) who has 6 of them himself! I love the way Knight runs. He is a no nonsense runner at the line of scrimmage who rarely leaves yards on the table due to hesitation, but once he reaches the second level he has the breakaway speed to turn a 15 yard run into a 50 yard house call.
The Passing Game
Who cares? When you can run the ball like this you just throw it to keep them honest. Nico had an unfortunate INT in the first half to break a drive that would have resulted in points. Although, in a weird way, if we were going to throw an INT yesterday I am almost glad it happened in the end zone. SDSU seems to be a run the ball and play defense type of team too. While it sucked that we threw the INT at least it didn’t result in a short field for them to get easy points.
To Nico’s credit, at least he didn’t chase and make a bad situation worse like we saw with Drake Maye last Wednesday night. He stayed poised, continued to run the offense, contributed in the air and on the ground when needed, and most importantly, secured the W!
The Broadcast
It seems each week there are more and more references to Bob Chesney Sr. and I still don’t think there are enough. This guy is the best kept secret in America! He is one viral video away from becoming the darling of American football and that is exactly what this country needs. At the end of the broadcast, the coaches were shaking hands at midfield and Chesney Sr. was waiting to shake hands with the head coach of SDSU. The shot cut away before the SDSU coach shook Senior’s hand and it almost seemed like he left him hanging. I am willing to give him the benefit of the doubt but show some respect! This is Bob Chesney Sr.! The guy practically invented football and has forgotten more about the sport than you know. Shake his hand first. End of Blog.
