LSU among Bruins’ seven home games
UCLA will open the 2021 football season with three straight home games at the Rose Bowl, and the Bruins will play seven home games in all, it was announced on Tuesday.
UCLA’s season opener will be Aug. 28 against Hawaii at the Rose Bowl, which represents the earliest start day in UCLA history.
The Bruins follow with home games against 2019 national champion LSU on Sept. 4 and Fresno State on Sept. 18, before opening the Pac-12 season with its first road game on Sept. 25 at Stanford.
It will be the first meeting between UCLA and LSU. The Tigers struggled to a 5-5 record in the coronavirus-shortened season in 2020 but just a year earlier went 15-0 in winning the national title under coach Ed Orgeron.
UCLA’s last game against an SEC team was in 2017 when the Bruins overcame a 34-point deficit to beat Texas A&M.
The Bruins will have the first of two bye weeks between the LSU and Fresno State game. UCLA coach Chip Kelly didn’t read much into the early off week or what advantage it may or may not carry.
“The only reason why we have two bye weeks is because we are the only (conference) team that opens up in Week 0,” Kelly said.
UCLA will play five games in October, starting with a home game against Arizona State on Oct. 2, followed by road games at Arizona (Oct. 9) and Washington (Oct. 16).
UCLA returns to the Rose Bowl to take on Oregon (Oct. 23) and closes out the month by visiting Utah (Oct. 30) before
Aug. 28: Sept. 4: Sept. 18: Sept. 25: Oct. 2: Oct. 9: Oct. 16: Oct. 23: Oct. 30: Nov. 13: Nov. 20: Nov. 27:
its second bye week.
The Bruins took their biggest hit of the 2020 season, losing multiple players such as starting quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson due to coronavirus contact tracing, ahead of their game against Oregon. The Bruins held their own in a 38-35 loss to the then-No. 11 Ducks.
The Bruins did not play against Utah last season and the game was ruled a no contest due to several positive COVID-19 tests for the Utes.
A 12-game schedule can create some optimism and a sense of normality, but Kelly remains committed to his “focused on today” mindset for the program.
“COVID has put all of us in that world of let’s not look really far down the road,” Kelly said. “We’re almost coming up on the year anniversary of when we were shut down for a really long time.”’
UCLA will host Colorado on Nov. 13 and will take on crosstown rival USC at the Coliseum on Nov. 20. The Bruins close out their Pac12 schedule at home against California on Nov. 27.
The game against Cal will continue the streak of the two teams playing against one another every year since 1933. The teams were not originally scheduled to play last season but a game was put together quickly after both had games canceled.