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BERKELEY, Calif. — With UCLA football’s season-opening game against Cal underway, question marks around positional battles were answered.
On defense, Scott Taylor played the majority of the snaps over Aiden Gobaira, lining up and pressuring the passer from both sides of the line. Amier Washington started at defensive tackle.
Cole Martin started at cornerback, and UCLA lined up across the board with Martin heavily covering the slot. Rodrick Pleasant and DJ Barksdale played outside of him.
Trent Hendrick entered the game, but played behind Jalen Woods and Samuel Omosigho at linebacker. On offense, Anthony Woods received the first carry and Wayne Knight worked in on passing downs.
Brian Rowe Jr., Mikey Matthews and Landon Ellis lined up out wide, and Rowe showcased his speed, earning back-to-back first downs. Knight also returned kickoffs, while Matthews handled punt return duties.
UCLA had the opportunity to take an 18-point lead into the half and receive the second half kickoff. Samuel Omosigho forced Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele to fumble, setting up an instant scoring opportunity.
The Bruins got into the red zone, but Nico Iamleava underthrew Rowe and Kingston Lopa intercepted the pas s. Cal got the ball back with 51 seconds left and drove 80 yards for a touchdown to cut the margin to 21-17.
With 13 seconds remaining in the first half, UCLA took back possession on the 30-yard line. Instead of kneeling out the half, they took a risk and threw it downfield.
Iamaleava found a wide-open Matthews in the middle of the field. The Bruins called a quick timeout and Mateen Bhaghani nailed a 38-yard field goal to restore a 24-17 lead.
On UCLA’s first defensive drive, Washington and safety Tao Johnson each sustained minor injuries. Washington was replaced by A.J.
Fuimaono, while Donovyn Pellot came in at safety. Washington returned after missing one series.
Ford also sustained a lower-body injury, but returned shortly after. Ben Gilmore headed south in his Winnebago, taking the trip from Berkeley to Los Angeles twice as an undergrad student at Cal in the early 2000s.
Each time, he returned “super sad” as the rival UC school defeated the Golden Bears. Gilmore then attended UCLA for graduate school and settled down in Southern California.
So the Winnebago wasn’t necessary to watch Cal’s 33-7 drubbing of the Bruins in the Rose Bowl in 2023. It collected dust in the garage for the last two years as UCLA and Cal didn’t play each other during a season for the first time since 1932.
With UCLA leaving the Pac-12 for the Big Ten and Cal responding with a move to the ACC, the rivalry ceased to exist.
But with the Bruins and Golden Bears meeting in their 2026 season opener Saturday, Gilmore drove back up north, carpooling with his buddy, Dave Merrell, for a rivalry that’s lost some of its luster, but remains alive.
“I think it’s just different because we’ve kind of had this rivalry for decades at that point, and really a shame when the Pac-12 broke up.
This is something we used to do all the time,” Gilmore told the Southern California News Group while enjoying the Week 1 college football slate at Raleigh’s in Berkeley. Ken Greenstadt went to UCLA at the start of an 18-year streak in which the Bruins beat the Golden Bears in football.
He reminisced about the days when coach Mark Almon and quarterback Pepper Rodgers would dominate Cal. “We were their little brothers down south,” Ken’s wife, Jean, told the Southern California News Group.
UCLA recreated the Golden Bears’ chants, wore the same colors, and had their number in football. Ken and Jean never went a fall without visiting the Bay Area — one year for UCLA’s game at Cal, the next to watch the Bruins play at Stanford.
“Those were traditional rivalries back when we were all in the same league,” Ken said.
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1. Theo dõi thông báo từ cơ quan địa phương tại California.
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