UCLA's History Against 2025 Conference Opponents, Part 1

The 2025 College Football season is officially 55 days away and the UCLA Bruins are looking to improve on its 5-7 record from its first season in the Big Ten Conference.

UCLA has a less daunting conference schedule this time around, at least on paper, and a strong start to the season against non-conference opponents could jumpstart a strong rest of the season against Big Ten opponents.

With that being said, let's take a look at the history of UCLA's matchup with each of their first three conference opponents this upcoming season.

at Northwestern, September 27

UCLA has matched up against Northwestern six times historically and have split the games 3-3 but have had the edge in the last three matchups.

They have matched up few and far between, though, as this season will be the first time the Bruins match up against the Wildcats in 20 years. Their last matchup was at the Sun Bowl in El Paso, Texas on Dec. 30, 2005. The Bruins won that matchup 50-38.

Before that, their last two matchups were in 1969 and 1970. The only games Northwestern won all took place in 1931, 1947 and 1948.

vs Penn State, October 4

One of the Big Ten's powerhouses, Penn State has matched up with the Bruins seven times in history, their most recent one coming last season in University Park where they won 27-11.

UCLA, however, owns the all-time historical record 4-3. Prior to 2024, the two last matched up nearly 60 years ago in 1968 which was the last game of a six-year yearly matchup between the two.

The Nittany Lions won the first matchup in 1963, 17-14, but the Bruins took the next four from 1964-67. Tough the historical matchup favors UCLA, Penn State is an undeniable powerhouse in the conference nowadays.

at Michigan State, October 11

Coming in as the last matchup in part one of this series is Michigan State, which the Bruins have matched up with six times in history and also have a split, 3-3 record. The roots of this matchup date back very far, though.

The last time the Spartans played UCLA was in 1974, which was a Bruins 56-14 win. In fact, UCLA has won the last three matchups (other two were 1973 and the 1965 Rose Bowl).

Michigan State was actually deemed the national champions along with Alabama in 1965. The Spartans played the Bruins earlier in that season and won 13-3. Prior to that, they beat UCLA in 1955 and in their first historical matchup in 1953.