The UCLA Bruins began the 2025-26 campaign with an 0-3 record. It's been an incredibly slow start under second-year head coach DeShaun Foster. With the program struggling early in the season and with several tough opponents ahead on the schedule, Foster shared a brutally honest revelation about his team.
After suffering a 35-10 Week 3 loss to New Mexico, the 45-year-old head coach claimed that penalties are crushing UCLA so far this season, according to The Athletic. In his statement, Foster declared that his team lacks the talent to overcome the bad penalties.
“We're not good enough to keep having the type of penalties that we're having,” said DeShaun Foster. “So we got to be almost perfect out there.”
UCLA has already accrued 30 penalties so far this season, 13 of which came against New Mexico, while 14 others were in the game against UNLV. The Bruins have had over 100 penalty yards in back-to-back games, which would be difficult for any college football team to overcome. If this program hopes to improve, then the team has to become substantially more disciplined moving forward.
DeShaun Foster was hired as head coach in the 2024-25 offseason as a replacement for Chip Kelly. Through 15 total games coached so far, Foster owns a 5-10 record after starting this season 0-3. And things likely won't get any easier as the Bruins have several tough opponents remaining on the schedule.
UCLA has notable matchups against Penn State, Michigan State, Maryland, Indiana, Nebraska, and Ohio State. And that's not even including the rivalry game at the end of the season against the USC Trojans. Things are looking a bit bleak right now, and the Bruins need to clean up the penalties, at the very least, if they hope to gain some wins this season.
The program will get a much-needed bye week in Week 4 and will return with a matchup against the Northwestern Wildcats. That contest will be played on Saturday, September 27.
