UCLA’s football team will spend the first Saturday of its season on the road in Berkeley. The second, it comes home to the Arroyo Seco.
The Bruins open their 2026 home schedule against San Diego State on Saturday, Sept. 12, at the Rose Bowl, the Pasadena landmark that has hosted UCLA home games since 1982. It will be the first home game of the Bob Chesney era, and UCLA, together with the Big Ten Conference and its television partners, has now set the details: a 4:15 p.m. PT kickoff, carried on Big Ten Network, according to UCLA Athletics.
The date and time give Pasadena its first look at a team remade over the offseason. Chesney, introduced at a December 2025 press conference and previously the head coach at James Madison, takes over a UCLA squad coming off a 3-9 season. Quarterback Nico Iamaleava is among those returning. The Bruins begin the year Sept. 5 at California, a 7:30 p.m. PT kickoff on ESPN, before the Sept. 12 homecoming.
San Diego State’s visit renews a long-running intersectional series. It marks the 25th meeting between the programs and the eighth this century, according to UCLA Athletics, which also noted UCLA is hosting the Aztecs for the first time since 2019.
The Sept. 12 game is the first of seven UCLA home dates scheduled at the Rose Bowl in 2026. In a statement earlier this year, UCLA said it would play the 2026 season at the Rose Bowl, where the program has played its home games since 1982. Big Ten play begins the following week, Sept. 19, when Purdue visits for an 8:00 p.m. PT kickoff — the Boilermakers’ first trip to face UCLA since 1979. The regular season closes Nov. 28 at home against crosstown rival USC.
Need to Know: UCLA hosts San Diego State in its 2026 home opener on Saturday, Sept. 12, at 4:15 p.m. PT at Rose Bowl Stadium, 1001 Rose Bowl Drive, Pasadena, California. The game will be televised on Big Ten Network. As of publication, single-game tickets for the 2026 season were not yet on sale, according to UCLA Athletics; ticket information is available from UCLA Athletics at (310) 206-5991 or tickets@athletics.ucla.edu, and the schedule is posted at uclabruins.com/sports/football/schedule. Game-day parking arrangements for the opener had not been announced; the Rose Bowl Stadium main line is (626) 577-3100.
For a program remaking itself under a new coach, the calendar now has a fixed point: a September Saturday in the Arroyo Seco, the San Gabriels at the stadium’s back, the first home whistle of a new era.
UCLA Football Home Opener vs. San Diego State — Saturday, September 12, 2026, 4:15 p.m. | Link: https://uclabruins.com/sports/football/schedule CBS Sports
