This post was updated Aug. 24 at 6:50 p.m.

After a disappointing inaugural season in the Big Ten last year, UCLA football sought to revitalize its program. After a highly anticipated offseason, the squad is gearing up for its first game of the 2025 campaign against Utah on Aug. 30 at the Rose Bowl. Here are the opening week predictions from Sports editor Connor Dullinger and assistant Sports editor Ella Dunderdale – along with a guest prediction from people, culture and community director and former assistant Sports editor Felicia Keller.

Connor Dullinger
Sports editor
Prediction: UCLA 24, Utah 27

You know that feeling you get in your stomach when something feels too good to be true?

When all of the right things keep on piling on top of each other, making a future outcome seem sweeter and more palatable, lulling you into the illusion of inevitability.

That is how I feel about the 2025 UCLA football season.

In a matter of hours, the Bruins’ quarterback room goes from Joey Aguilar to redshirt sophomore Nico Iamaleava and his younger brother freshman Madden Iamaleava. The coaching staff happens to land one of the brightest offensive minds in Tino Sunseri, who’s fresh off a historic and unprecedented season at Indiana.

And then a tidal wave of transfers and recruits starts to roll in. The Bruins pick up juniors wide receiver Mikey Matthews and running back Jaivian Thomas, giving Nico Iamaleava all of the weapons he will need to succeed under center.

It seems like the perfect storm.

Head coach DeShaun Foster feels excited and confident about the program he has constructed in his short tenure at the helm, and he may very well have validity to that.

But I want to see the writing on the wall before they actually get there.

And the penmanship could very well read that success cannot be rushed, and it will take time to develop this program into the one Foster wants to see.

Do not get me wrong, this could be a breakout season that puts UCLA on the map in the Big Ten.

But this team is too new, and I am too precautious.

Ella Dunderdale
Assistant Sports editor
Prediction: UCLA 21, Utah 24

On paper, these two squads have striking similarities that are difficult to ignore.

Both teams stumbled to 5-7 records in their new conferences last season, finishing in the bottom four in yards per game and points per contest.

Yet they both managed to hold their own defensively, each ranking among the top five in their conferences in rushing defense.

Their offseason adjustments mirror each other just as closely, as both squads turned their focus to the signal-caller.

The Bruins landed Nico Iamaleava, while the Utes secured quarterback Devon Dampier from New Mexico.

And while Dampier may have been a less high-profile pickup, the two quarterbacks are well within the same league. Dampier ranked at No. 34 and Nico Iamaleava at No. 35 in 2024’s QBR leaderboard.

The squads even mirror each other with coaching adjustments, each bringing on new offensive coordinators in hopes of rejuvenating their offensive arsenals. UCLA hired Sunseri, fresh off a record-breaking season at Indiana, while Utah brought in Jason Beck, who led the Mountain West’s No. 1 offense in yards per game at New Mexico.

With monumental change in both programs, I wouldn’t anticipate a standout leader in this contest. It truly depends on which squad was able to gel better in the offseason, taking the theoretical talent into tangible scoring.

But at the end of the day, the Bruins carry just a bit too much novelty to pull this one off – they’ll need a larger sample of live snaps to settle in before their potential translates into wins.

Felicia Keller
People, culture and community director
Prediction: UCLA 42, Utah 17

There’s plenty of buzz surrounding the Bruins this season.

The addition of Nico Iamaleava made headlines across the country, and Foster appears to have a solid and more-than-capable arm under center.

Not since the start of Dorian Thompson-Robinson’s UCLA career back in 2018 has the Bruin fanbase been this excited about the quarterback of its team.

And there’s no denying the culture that Foster has cultivated and instilled. His hyper-focus on the pride of representing the Bruins and the four letters of UCLA is palpable.

Any time a former player comes back to coach their alma mater, it’s exciting. And UCLA is no stranger to this tradition. Water polo coach Adam Wright and softball coach Kelly Inouye-Perez have both won national championships as players and coaches in the blue and gold.

And the tradition does not stop there either. Terry Donahue – the winningest coach in UCLA football history – was a Rose Bowl legend both on the field and on the sidelines.

But few express the true excitement that Foster does to be representing the Bruins again.

And that wave of excitement surrounding the program, and seemingly within the team, is too strong to be ignored.

UCLA is going to run out of the Rose Bowl tunnel and right over Utah, with little stopping them along the way.

A dominant start to the season and a convincing win over Utah are first up for the Bruins on Saturday.