Two Big Ten teams that spent 2025 in the conference basement meet with brand-new head coaches and a lot to prove — whoever looks more like a program on the way up will have bragging rights for exactly one week.
Bush’s Picks
PURUCLA
PURUCLA
OverUnder
Best BetUCLA
UCLA gets the nod here mostly on coaching pedigree — Chesney's résumé is a real upgrade over what the Bruins had, and home crowd matters for a team trying to establish a new identity early in the year. Purdue's Browne is the steadier known quantity, but a 10-game losing streak and an 0-9 conference mark are hard to shake off in one offseason. This is a fade-the-recent-history game more than a full vote of confidence in UCLA.
Purdue
+Ryan Browne returns with a full year in the system
+Better offensive line and skill-position depth via portal
+Bob Chesney brings 132-51 career record, multiple titles
+Nico Iamaleava is a former 5-star with real upside
+Offensive-minded staff finally built around Iamaleava's skill set
−Coming off 3-9 season, worst-in-conference units
−Iamaleava underwhelming in year 1 at UCLA
−Third different coaching staff in three years for the QB
Purdue brings Ryan Browne back for year 2 as the starter, and that continuity matters after a 2025 season that started with real promise and then fell apart. UCLA counters with Nico Iamaleava, a former 5-star still trying to show why Tennessee and then UCLA both bet big on his arm, now playing for his third coaching staff in as many years.
New UCLA coach Bob Chesney arrives with a real track record — 132-51 for his career and multiple conference titles at Holy Cross before a stop at James Madison — and he's rebuilding the Bruins from the ground up with his own staff and portal additions. Purdue's Barry Odom is doing the same thing on a one-year head start, having already run 82 additions through the roster via the portal and high school recruiting to fix a program he inherited in rough shape.
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PUR Purdue
UCLA UCLA
Neither side has a betting line attached to this one yet since it's still 2 months out, but both programs enter the year as afterthoughts nationally — which sets up this Big Ten crossover as a legitimate measuring-stick game for two staffs trying to show early progress.
Purdue Boilermakers
Sep 12?vs Wake Forest—
Sep 4?vs Indiana State—
UCLA Bruins
Sep 12?vs San Diego State—
Sep 5?@ California—
Recent form.
Purdue's collapse last season is the story that hangs over Odom's second year: a 2-0 start made him the first Purdue coach in over a century to open that way, then 10 straight losses buried the Boilermakers at 2-10, 0-9 in Big Ten play. Browne threw for 2,153 yards and 9 touchdowns but also 10 interceptions, and fixing that decision-making is priority No. 1 with an upgraded offensive line and receiver room around him.
Purdue Boilermakers
(0)
Fully healthy — no injuries on ESPN's report
UCLA Bruins
(0)
Fully healthy — no injuries on ESPN's report
Injury report — info via ESPN.
UCLA's 3-9 finish under DeShaun Foster got him fired, and the Bruins ranked among the worst teams in the Big Ten on both sides of the ball. Chesney inherits a roster that needs talent and identity, and how quickly Iamaleava buys into an offensive-minded staff after an underwhelming debut season will say a lot about whether UCLA is actually turning a corner or just cycling through coaches.
