UCLA · Big TenUCLA's Optimism, USC's Scrutiny: Two LA Programs Open in Opposite Moods
Bob Chesney arrives at 3-9 UCLA with a 132-52 record and a James Madison playoff run behind him. No. 14 USC opens Aug. 29 with Lincoln Riley entering year five and Gary Patterson running the defense.
AUG 28, 2026
USC won nine games last season and is ranked No. 14 in both the preseason AP and coaches polls. UCLA won three. The mood around the two programs does not line up with those numbers at all.
Bob Chesney is 49, carries a 132-52 career head coaching record, and took James Madison to the College Football Playoff last season before leaving for Westwood. He is not selling patience.
"The pattern is the proof," Chesney said. "This is not the first time I've been to a place hadn't had much recent success, that maybe lost its passion and vision. I think it just takes some energy and a revival to make sure we understand that it can happen here. Let's stop putting ourselves in a position where we're constantly self-limiting. There's no reason to do that. Anybody has a shot these days."
UCLA's Jalen Woods on his new coach: "When you do your research on him, you see that he's a winner. It's not his first rodeo."
One player has already lived it. Tight end Josh Phifer was recruited to James Madison by Curt Cignetti, played there under Chesney, and followed him west. Comparing the two staffs, Phifer said they're "like opposites of each other," and that Dukes who stayed told him, "I actually love playing football again."
USC denied requests to interview Riley and new defensive coordinator Gary Patterson 11 days before the Week Zero opener, and reporters at practice were escorted to designated viewing areas and quickly led back out. Riley's most recent public framing was about internal stability: "I got a great vantage point in my years at Oklahoma of what great alignment, what steady leadership really looks like in a program. I can sit here today and say really for the first time at USC I feel all of those things are operating at a high level and are very, very steady right now."
Patterson, the former TCU coach and College Football Hall of Famer, gets his first live look with the Trojans' defense Saturday, Aug. 29 at 3:00 p.m. ET against San José State. Chesney's UCLA debut comes a week later, Sept. 5 at California, 10:30 p.m. ET.