LSU Tigers vs UCLA Bruins: Five facts about the Week 1 matchup
The day has finally arrived, it is game day for the LSU Tigers. Head coach Ed Orgeron will lead the team onto the field as they look to open the season with a Power Five victory under their belts.
Chip Kelly and the UCLA Bruins stand in their way.
Kelly started his season 1-0 for the first time in his tenure at UCLA after the Bruins knocked off Hawaii 44-10 last Saturday. Now comes the bigger challenge with all eyes on the Rose Bowl Stadium. Kelly spoke with the media and called it a huge game.
“You get an opportunity to see a really, really good football team in LSU and obviously I think we’re off to a good start, so it should be a great game.” – UCLA head coach Chip Kelly
When asked about neutralizing the game’s top cornerback, Derek Stingley Jr, Kelly jokingly stated there isn’t a way that is legal. The 2019 Consensus All-American didn’t have the season he expected in his sophomore year, but people around the game understand he is still that same player from his freshman year. He and Eli Ricks are ready to go and hopefully shut down any form of a passing game for the Bruins.
Ahead of the huge Saturday night game in Pasadena, we debut our weekly feature with five facts on the upcoming game.
LSU will become one of four SEC teams to play in the Rose Bowl
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Once the game kicks off on Saturday night, LSU will become one of four SEC teams to have played a regular-season game in the Rose Bowl Stadium. The other three are Alabama, Tennessee and Texas A&M. Georgia played UCLA in the Rose Bowl in 1943.
Ed Orgeron will coach against UCLA for the second time
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This marks the second time Ed Orgeron will face the UCLA Bruins as a head coach. In 2013 he faced off with UCLA as the interim coach of the USC Trojans. Jim Mora bested him on that day, 35-14.
UCLA becomes the 10th Pac-12 team to play LSU
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UCLA will become the 10th Pac-12 team to play against the LSU Tigers in league history. Overall the Tigers hold a 22-4 advantage against the conference. Those losses came to Colorado, Oregon, USC and Stanford.
After UCLA, the list of schools in the Power Five that haven't played LSU
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The two Pac-12 schools yet to play LSU are California and Washington State. In the Big 12 Conference, you have Kansas. In the Big Ten, the schools are Michigan, Minnesota, Northwestern and Purdue. North Carolina State, Pittsburgh and Virginia are the only three from the ACC. That leaves a total of 10 schools in the Power Five that have yet to play the Tigers.
Chip Kelly's record vs. the LSU Tigers
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Much like Ed Orgeron is looking for his first win as a head coach against UCLA, Bruins head coach Chip Kelly is looking for his first win over the Tigers. Both coaches are 0-1 against the opposition. Kelly's Oregon Ducks faced LSU in 2011, the Tigers won 40-27. That game featured the No. 3 Ducks facing the No. 4 Tigers in the season opener at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
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