Bob Chesney gets first signature win at UCLA with upset of Oregon

Only five games into his tenure at UCLA, head coach Bob Chesney is putting the program back on the map.

He got his first major test of the 2026 season on Saturday afternoon at No. 13 Oregon, and he passed it by walking out with a 17-15 win that will almost certainly send his team even further up the rankings this week.

Bob Chesney gets first signature win at UCLA

There might be some people who try to put an asterisk on this win because Oregon did not have starting quarterback Dante Moore, but the Ducks are paying Dylan Raiola a lot of money this season for games like this and situations like this.

UCLA not only shut Raiola down, but it forced Oregon head coach Dan Lanning to make a quarterback change because he was so ineffective.

Raiola was just 6-of-19 for 43 yards and two interceptions before being benched in favor of Brock Thomas. 

No matter the quarterback, going on the road to Oregon is always going to be a tough game, and nobody should apologize for coming out with a win.

Especially when it's a program like UCLA trying to build itself back into national relevance. 

This is a program that hasn't won more than nine games since 2014 and has won more than eight just one time. It is a program that won eight games over the previous two years combined and is ranked for the first time since 2023. 

Now it is not only 5-0, but it has a road win, at a ranked opponent, that it can plaster on the front of its resume for the season.

It is also a big reminder that circumstances can change rapidly in the modern era of college football thanks to the transfer portal and NIL. If you have the right financial backing and get the right coach, it is not going to take you years to get back on top. UCLA might become one of the next examples.