Bob Chesney draws Curt Cignetti comparison amid UCLA's remarkable turnaround

The UCLA Bruins are rolling on the gridiron, and they look like a program that could make College Football Playoff noise.

When was the last time that could be said about UCLA football? Certainly never in the CFP era.

New head coach Bob Chesney has quickly put the Bruins back on the map, though. His team is 5-0 and coming off a huge road win over the No. 13 Oregon Ducks. The Bruins were double-digit underdogs heading into the game, but they won, 17-15.

UCLA is now ranked No. 12 in the country, and there's a chance the Bruins can compete with the Indiana Hoosiers and Ohio State Buckeyes at the top of the Big Ten.

Last season, the Bruins were 3-9.

How has Chesney turned this thing around so quickly?

According to anonymous quotes from college football insiders speaking to Antonio Morales of The Athletic, it's all about how Chesney and his staff are carrying themselves.

It feels a lot like how Curt Cignetti walked into Bloomington and instantly made the Hoosiers a title contender by just confidence alone.

“You can see by looking over at their sidelines they expect to win, the same way Cignetti did when he took over Indiana,” a college football general manager told Morales, speaking about UCLA.

Bob Chesney and UCLA Bruins have a chance to go undefeated

Looking at UCLA's remaining schedule, there's a solid chance the Bruins can walk out of this season undefeated. 

The Wisconsin Badgers are playing good football at 4-1 but they lost earlier this season to the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, 41-13. They're more than beatable, especially in Pasadena.

Then it's Michigan State, Nevada, Minnesota, Illinois, Michigan and No. 19 USC. Those are all winnable games for the Bruins as long as they play up to par.

The big issue for UCLA is that quarterback Nico Iamaleava is likely to miss the rest of the season with a knee injury.

The Bruins' bread and butter offensively is the run game, but Iamaleava played a big role in that. Still, they do have the ability to lean on Wayne Knight, who has 548 yards and 11 total touchdowns this season. UCLA also has two strong backup running back options in Anthony Woods and Jaivian Thomas.

The offensive line is led by two players who transferred with Chesney from James Madison in center Riley Robell and guard Carter Sweazie. It's the offensive line as well as the running game, led by Knight, that gives UCLA a chance to keep winning moving forward.

“They did a really good job with making sure they were in a good spot there, a lot better than I thought it’d be,” an assistant general manager said of UCLA's interior of the offensive line. “And it’s what’s popping their run game.”