Way Too Early Michigan Football Opponent Preview: Week 11 vs. UCLA

Michigan opens the 2026 college football season with games against Western Michigan, Oklahoma, and UTEP in the non-conference portion of their schedule. After that, they will get into Big Ten play with games against Iowa at home, Minnesota on the road, Penn State and Indiana both at home, a road trip to Rutgers, a home date with Michigan State, and another road trip to Oregon.

In week eleven they host UCLA under new head coach Bob Chesney, who came over from James Madison after he led the Dukes to the college football playoff in 2025. Let's dive more into how that matchup looks pre-season below.

2025 Recap

Last season UCLA did not have a great season, and it led to the firing of head coach DeShaun Foster. He was fired very early on after an 0-3 start, and the Bruins would go on to finish 3-9. They did have a bright spot in game five, beating the Penn State Nittany Lions and it spurred them on towards a three game win streak. After that however the wheels fell off and they lost their last five games.

Statistically, UCLA was horrible all the way around. They ranked 126th in scoring offense, and 120th in total offense. On defense it wasn't much better, ranking 127th in scoring defense and 85th in total defense. They were just flat out bad pretty much all the way around when you look at their statistics.

Personnel wise, UCLA was led by former 5-star recruit and high-profile Tennessee transfer Nico Iamaleava. He didn't have a great season but he also didn't have a lot of help around him, as he threw for 1,928 yards while completing 64.4% of his passes with 13 TD's and 7 INT's. He also ran for 505 yards and 4 TD's, showcasing some nice dual threat ability.

UCLA never could get their ground game going, as their leading rusher was Nico Iamaleava and the highest running back total was 364 yards. They also only had one wide receiver only 500 receiving yards, in Kwazi Gilmer with 535 and 4 TD's.

To continue highlighting the struggles, on defense UCLA didn't have a single player with more than 6 tackles for loss or 1.5 sacks. All around, 2025 was a big struggle for the Bruins and it'll be up to Bob Chesney to try to revive this team and program as they head into 2026.

James Madison Dukes running back Wayne Knight rushes during the third quarter against the Oregon Ducks at Autzen Stadium | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Moves made for 2026

As mentioned, Bob Chesney came over from James Madison and he brought with him both of his coordinators from JMU so there will be a lot of continuity with the coaching staff.

Nico Iamaleava returns as the starting quarterback this season, and they brought in the James Madison star running back Wayne Knight. Last year he ran for almost 1,400 yards and 9 TD's, and also caught 40 passes too. He's a dynamic player and might immediately be UCLA's best player.

UCLA's pass-catchers are still a big question mark, as they lost Kwazi Gilmer to Nebraska. They did bring in some players at wide recevier and tight end from JMU, but none of them have performed at the Big Ten type level as of yet.

On defense, UCLA is undergoing a massive overhaul. They brought in two solid pass-rushers from James Madison in Sahir West and Aiden Gobaria. Last year they combined for 12 sacks, and they brought in some other defensive line transfers as well for depth purposes.

At linebacker they brought in Sammy Omosigho from Oklahoma, and kept a returner in Jalen Woods who led them in tackling last season. In the secondary they have a bunch of experienced players, as they brought in DJ Barksdale who was an All-Sun Belt player at cornerback. They also kept Roderick Pleasant and Scooter Jackson as returners from 2025.

While they brought in a bunch of new defensive players, most of them who played under defensive coordinator Colin Hitschler last year at James Madison, they had a really long ways to go before they can become a competent unit. On paper UCLA should be much better this year than they were last year, but how good can they actually be is the question.

UCLA Bruins coach Bob Chesney reacts during the spring game at the Rose Bowl | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Why Michigan should handle the Bruins

Even with UCLA expected to be much improved from last year, they were one of the worst teams in the conference in 2025. They could have a huge improvement last year and still only be middle of the road in the Big Ten this season.

Michigan also gets this game at home, but it is sandwiched between games against Oregon and
Ohio State. It could end up being a tricky game for the Wolverines as they likely will have to lick some wounds from their road trip out west where they played the Oregon Ducks, and with Ohio State on deck, it'll be fair to wonder how much focus the Wolverines will have on this game.

Head coach Kyle Whittingham though is a very experienced coach so I believe he'll have the team focused week in and week out for the most part, and that would lead me to predict something similar to a 35-17 type Michigan win in this game.

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