Looking back at Cal and UCLA's last meeting on the gridiron in 2023

We’re one week away from the start of the 2026 season for the UCLA Bruins, where Bob Chesney and the Bruins will head north to face a fellow first-year head coach, Tosh Lupoi and the Cal Bears.

It will be the first Cal-UCLA meeting since 2023. Currently the Bruins lead the all-time matchup 58-35-1 but it was Cal who won the last meeting between the two programs. The 2023 showdown was an ugly one for Chip Kelly and the Bruins, as they lost 33-7 on the road to a Fernando Mendoza-led Cal team.

Mendoza led the way for the Bears, tossing for two touchdowns and two interceptions but the reigning No. 1 pick still found a way to out-perform UCLA quarterback Dante Moore. Moore threw two picks with just one touchdown while getting sacked six times.

If Moore winds up going first overall in next year’s draft, the 2023 game will go down as a historical anomaly, where two first picks faced off where neither player had a strong statistical game, before both players transferred elsewhere to turn into No. 1 overall prospects.

The game’s leading rushers were Carson Steele and Jaydn Ott, with Steele finishing with 53 yards while Ott ended up with 80. Cal wideout Jeremiah Hunter was the leading receiver, hauling in both of Mendoza’s touchdowns and finishing with eight catches for 101 yards.

For UCLA, it was Logan Loya who led the way, grabbing nine receptions for 88 yards and a touchdown. There were several future NFL defenders on the UCLA defense in action for the Bruins, with Jay Toia, Gabriel Murphy, Oluwafemi Oladejo and Laiatu Latu all appearing in the game.

Perhaps Cal-UCLA games will become a more common occurrence in future years, but next Saturday’s matchup will be the next chapter in a rivalry that is nearly a century old.

This article originally appeared on UCLA Wire: Looking back at Cal and UCLA’s last meeting on the gridiron in 2023