USC · Big TenUSC opens ranked; UCLA opens with Chesney’s optimism untested
The crosstown programs enter 2026 from different places: USC is No. 14 after a 9-4 season, while UCLA begins Bob Chesney’s first season after going 3-9.
AUG 28, 2026
USC enters 2026 as the better-positioned side of the crosstown divide, ranked No. 14 in both the AP Top 25 and AFCA Coaches Poll after finishing 9-4 overall and 7-2 in Big Ten play last fall. But the ranking also raises the standard for Lincoln Riley, whose teams have yet to deliver major success despite strong recruiting classes.
The Trojans open Saturday, Aug. 29, against San José State at 3 p.m. ET. Their place among the Big Ten’s stronger preseason teams puts a first College Football Playoff berth in view, though it is far from assured.
Across town, UCLA begins with a different kind of momentum. The Bruins went 3-9 in 2025, including losses to UNLV and New Mexico, and finished 3-6 in their second Big Ten season. Bob Chesney has nevertheless created real optimism before coaching his first game at UCLA.
As Dan Wolken wrote, Chesney has convinced UCLA’s administration, boosters and players that he can reproduce on the West Coast the success he built before arriving in Westwood. That belief gets its first on-field test Sept. 5, when the Bruins open at California at 10:30 p.m. ET.
USC has the ranking, the recent record and the immediate expectation. UCLA has a new coach and a reset after a difficult 2025. Neither program has answered its central question yet: whether Riley can turn preseason standing into a playoff season, or whether Chesney’s early energy can become wins.