Bob Chesney Sends Strong Message as UCLA Stays Undefeated

Saturday delivered one of the wildest days of the 2026 college football season so far. Five of the top seven teams in the AP Top 25 lost, marking the first time ever that had happened on the same day. Auburn stunned No. 1 Georgia 27-24, No. 8 BYU took down No. 2 Notre Dame 28-24, and Florida rallied to beat No. 7 Texas 27-24. No. 14 Tennessee also dominated No. 6 Alabama 26-10, while No. 4 Ohio State ended No. 5 Indiana's 22-game winning streak with a 19-15 victory.

Meanwhile, UCLA quietly kept its perfect season alive with a 17-7 win over Wisconsin. Starting quarterback Nico Iamaleava was sidelined with an injury, but backup Ty Dieffenbach stepped in and threw for 264 yards in his first FBS start. The Bruins improved to 6-0, becoming the last undefeated team in the Big Ten, and now sit No. 2 in the AP Top 25 rankings.

Head coach Bob Chesney reacted to his team being the last undefeated Big Ten team standing after the win.

"We never put like limits on what we did or what we could or could not do. And we also didn't make excuses like, 'Hey, let's just hopefully get bowl eligible.' That was never a thing either. That's preordaining an excuse, right, for why you might have success. And I never wanted to try to define anything and instead just go out there and play and be the best that we possibly can be each and every single day," Chesney said. "Be better today than we were yesterday, ultimately. And our guys understand that. You know, they're trying to move this program from good to great ... It's a build, and it's a slow process, and it's got to be done the right way. It's got to be done the hard way. And I love where our guys did it."

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UCLA has become one of college football's biggest surprises. The Bruins have beaten California, San Diego State, Purdue, Maryland, Oregon, and Wisconsin, with the 17-15 road win over the Ducks standing out as their biggest statement so far.

UCLA now finds itself firmly in the College Football Playoff conversation and has all the momentum in the world. Next up, they'll face Michigan State and Nevada at home before traveling to Minnesota, hosting Illinois, and going to Michigan before their season closer against USC.

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The Bruins have a perfect record, one of the best defenses in the country, and signature wins. They're more than just a feel-good story at this point. Michigan and USC remain their two biggest remaining tests. But if they win those, they could enter the CFP as one of the top seeds, a scenario nobody could have imagined a few months ago.