UCLA Football: Fresno State loss proves Bruins still a work in progress

UCLA football fell to 0-3 through the first quarter of their first season under Chip Kelly. Here are three takeaways from the big Fresno State win over the Bruins.

For the first time since 1971, the UCLA Bruins are 0-3 to start a season. After losses to Cincinnati and No. 6 Oklahoma, the Bruins followed that up with a home date against defending MWC West champion Fresno State.

Last year, Fresno State was going through its own transition as former Cal coach Jeff Tedford took over the Bulldogs. The coaching transition immediately restored stability in Fresno, and the Bulldogs ran to the division title and won one of their two games against rival Boise State. Now in their second season under Tedford, Fresno State is hoping to once again contend for the Mountain West title.

Getting a statement win over a Pac-12 opponent will go a long way toward boosting Fresno State’s national profile. It will have limited impact, though, considering just how bad UCLA has been to start the season. We did not learn things this week so much as have things we’d already learned over the first two weeks reinforced by the most recent performance.

With that in mind, let’s look at what we can glean from the 38-14 defeat sustained by UCLA against a Group of Five opponent at the Rose Bowl in #Pac12AfterDark action.