POSTGAME QUOTES
UCLA 45, California 24
Berkeley, Calif. (California Memorial Stadium)
September 5, 2026
UCLA’s Bob Chesney
The Angelo M. Mazzone III UCLA Head Football Coach
on how much fun that game was for him
“A lot of fun – it was a lot of fun. I think that was a battle. You’re looking at that right before halftime, and there was a shot to open this up a little bit an then we threw an interception, and they go right down and you’re like, ‘All right, now what?’ We get the ball back, so let’s go do something exciting with it. And that doesn’t work out. It’s a dog fight. And this running back [Adam Mohammed] ran as hard as I think any that we’ve seen. He’s going to be a problem in this league. He’s really good. So hats off to the style of play. We needed to get pressure and we needed to put him in a position where he was a little uncomfortable. He gave us a couple, and fortunately enough, Ta’Shawn [James] was on the receiving end of two of them. Those were big plays right there to ice it.”
on the status of quarterback Nico Iamaleava
“Yeah, he’s good. He just got his calf kind of got cleated, at the end there. He tried and it just kept cramping up, because of how he got cleated. We’ve got to do some work on that and get him cleaned up.”
on the play-calling by Bruins’ offensive coordinator Dean Kennedy
“I thought he did a good job. There was a little more in the run game, as you saw there at the end, that we were able to expose. We came back out at halftime, after turning it over, and thinking that, ‘Let’s go get a big one there right away.’ We had a little trick play called. It didn’t work out like it should have. We got into some penalties that you do not want to see ever, and they ended up stalling out drives. It put us into a situation where, we felt like there were moments that we could run by them. I think we could. It wasn’t a blocking issue, but it was more of a protection … but I thought that our run game, when it was on it was on, you just can’t run the ball all day long.”
on building this team’s depth and his impression of that
“I think that you’ve watched it for a while. You guys have been a part of seeing all of these recruits come in. We started school on January 3, and we had 17 kids show up that same day as the portal opened. A lot of guys stuck with us and did the right thing. We said to these guys, to every single one of them, ‘The only reason you’ll come here is if you intend to win a championship.’ And then the only other reason that you will come here is if you put the team first, your teammates second, and yourself third – team, teammates, self. That is the only way that you could do this. Those are all things that everyone agreed on, that everybody believed in. That is what you saw here today. They battled and they fought hard for each other. We have a ton of work to do, to clean up, and we’re just not there yet. But that was a good battle.”
on his team being able to pull out a victory and the team’s resolve
“Yeah, that’s it. That’s the word, it’s the resolve of this team. You felt it shift a little bit on the sideline at one point. It got into a tight game. It’s not like we were in a tough spot. We just needed to make sure that we maximized our next opportunity. These guys never wavered. You saw these guys on the sideline – these guys smiled, they were in a game that they loved to play with people they love to play it with.”
on a game with a lot of explosive plays
“I think that there were a couple of looks that our guys really liked … they did the right thing and played hard. And to get those X plays, you have to run the ball and stop the run and win the turnover battle and the X play battle. I thought that we did a nice job with the X play battle. We obviously won the turnover battle.”
on incorporating a big number of new players and if all feels surprising
“What is surprising about it is that it doesn’t feel like this is the first game. And I told these guys that just now – for 37 you made your debut here, and it doesn’t feel like that, it feels like we have been applying football here for a long time. To watch the joy on their faces at the end of it, and the belief that they have in it – I told these guys a long time ago, you have to believe it before you see it. And they did just that. And just hats off to our fans, to make the trip and travel and I’m sure a bunch of them live up here. But a bunch of others traveled. Now that was pretty special to have the band out there, singing the fight song, and being present with them. It’s a good start. We have a ton of work to do but it is a good start.”
Senior Quarterback Nico Iamaleava
on how if he’s feeling alright
“Mhm. I’m good. My cleat got caught on the bottom of the pile.”
on if he was in pain
“There was a bit. I tried to get back up to get into the huddle. I had to sit down for a bit. I’m going to be good.”
on the offensive line
“I think the O-Line did a great job overall. As a whole, the offense made my job easy out there tonight. Credit to them. We’re still working. We’ve seen our potential out there in this first game. It’s on us to put in the work.”
on his completion to Mikey Matthews after his interception in the first half
“Yeah, I mean, it was a dumb interception for me from my standpoint. Defense just got us the ball back. Our job is to go out there and score and put seven (points) up on the board and go up 28-10. I made a bad read. When I got to the sideline, the whole thing for me was to bounce back. Once we saw that we had 13 seconds on the clock, we had a shot to get into field goal range. I saw Mikey get open … and tried to get him the ball.”
on having the trust of the staff in those situations (described above)
“They’ve shown that trust to me once I first got in during spring camp and fall. I knew they were going to come out and call a shock play for me and it was up to me to execute it from there.”
on how good this team can be
“A lot of potential, man. Sky is the limit, I think. If we continue to buy into what Coach Ches has, then sky is the limit. It’s our job to focus on going 1-0 every week. We started off 1-0, and now we’re focused on the next week.
5th Year Running Back Wayne Knight
on how the team dug deep in the fourth quarter to pull away
“I would just say the togetherness that we have as a whole unit, as a whole team, it really showed in that third quarter. Like you said, we had a little bit of a down third quarter, (but) we just got back to playing like we do and know we can. I think that was the biggest thing for us.”
on how great tonight’s run game was
“It was amazing. It’s a testament to the O-Line. It’s a testament our QBs being able to run on the ground and our running back room. We got a lot of guys in there that can make plays. There’s never a drop-off. That’s going to be huge in a lot of games that we win this season.”
on how he was able to create explosive plays in the running game
“Trusting my training going back to all the drills we do with Coach (Steward) and all the work that we’ve put in this far up until this point. You just go back to trusting your training (and) being poised in those situations and make big plays and be ready in that moment.”
on what makes Coach Chesney different from previous coaches he’s had
“He loves his players. You can truly see it in the interviews or when you meet him as a person. He truly loves his players. He buys in. He gets his players to buy in. That’s just a huge testament to how he approaches every single day. He shows up as the same leader every single day. He expects a lot out of us and we bring it forward.”
on what this performance at the Power 4 level means to him
“I think it’s a testimony to trusting the process. Everybody’s story is different. I could have been in many places or had a different kind of journey, but when you really focus on your own journey and tune out the outside noise, good things can happen for you, regardless.”
on splitting reps with UCLA’s running back room
“It’s amazing. We got a lot of guys that can go, and it keeps fresh legs. Any given chance, in the moment, it’s your chance to shine. I think it’s going to be huge moving forward, and it showed today.”
on Ta’Shawn James’ interceptions
“Those were momentum changers, bro. That brought a spark to the whole entire team and the fans as well. Everyone is engaged and it’s exciting for everyone. It motivates the offense a little more to go punch it in because we want to have our brothers’ backs at the end of the day.
Senior Wide Receiver Mikey Matthews
on what’s different about this team compared to his previous teams
“I just feel like we all came together with a lot of transfers and Coach Chesney, we trust him. He’s leading us and we trust him with all of our hearts. We just play for him and play extra hard.”
on how it felt to return to California and win
“It was good. Student section was talking crazy, so I’m happy we were able to silence them and make them go home early.”
on Coach Chesney’s pregame message
“Win every quarter. First quarter is every quarter. Be aggressive.”
on how despite there being 37 UCLA debuts, this team didn’t feel new
“We’re just tight knit. We came together during the offseason. All of us, offense and defense. We gel well together. We all trust each other. During fall camp we were competing every day. So we just know that once we play against a different team, we were going to put it on tape.”
Senior Defensive Back Ta’Shawn James
on what was said before his first interception
“We were in the huddle and two of my teammates told me we need a play. I just had to do my job and let the play come to me, just fall back and catch the ball.”
on if he’s had two interceptions in a game
“This was my first one. This is my first career interception.”
on how it felt making the big plays
“It felt great because we truly needed it. Just to be able to step up and be that guy to make a play is just a feeling that I really can’t describe.”
on stepping up after not starting
“It means a lot to me because, (Tao Johnson), that’s my guy. He’s a great leader. It was tough to see him go down, but I knew that if he was down, then I had to step up. I was ready for my moment regardless of what happened. I wanted to go out there and make plays, not only for the team, but for (Tao), too.”
on Malik Hartford
“Malik had a great game. He’s another good leader. Very well-spoken, vocal leader on the field. He makes the game easy knowing I have him out there with me to my left or right.”
on if the defense feels pressure when the offense stalls
“Honestly, we’ve been going up against (the offense) for a minute. We know they can turn it on and turn it off. We just know we got to do our jobs and go out there and make plays. It’ll translate and all the energy will flow into the offense at some point.”
on if the ball was in slow motion when he picked it off
“Man, yeah, it honestly is unreal. Like I told you, this was my first career interception, and going back-to-back, man, it really just felt like a movie. I caught the ball on the first one and was like, ‘Ooo.’ And I had to run up the sideline a bit and get a few yards for the offense. It felt like a movie.”