Michigan State (2-5, 0-4 Big Ten) at No. 9 UCLA (6-0, 4-0 Big Ten). Saturday, Oct. 24, 12:30 p.m. PT / 3:30 p.m. ET, Rose Bowl, Pasadena, Calif., CBS.
Your hosts are Shay Kowalczyk, a former East Lansing softball catcher who frames every defensive call like a pitch sequence, and Kenzie Rhee, a Westwood film-school producer who storyboards every drive.
Shay: Hey, Kenzie. Fastball inside, change-up away, and then you get 'em. Green and white, all day.
Kenzie: Hello, darling! This season's logline: first-year coach, unbeaten team, backup quarterback in the spotlight. I'd greenlight it.
Players to watch
UCLA running back Wayne Knight has 571 yards and 11 touchdowns, with a rushing score in all six games. Wide receiver Semaj Morgan leads with 24 catches for 313 yards. Sammy Omosigho has three sacks, and Jalen Woods has 50 tackles. UCLA runs for 231 yards per game, 12th in FBS, and opponents convert only 25.9% of third downs, third-best.
Michigan State quarterback Alessio Milivojevic has 1,263 yards, seven touchdowns and three interceptions. Running back Jaziun Patterson has five touchdowns. Wide receiver Jayden Savoury leads with 27 catches. Eli Coenen has 3.5 sacks, and Devin Vaught has 46 tackles. The Spartans average just 36.3 penalty yards per game, seventh in FBS.
Kenzie: Knight scoring in every episode? That's a franchise player.
What happened last week
UCLA beat Wisconsin 17-7 with a backup quarterback. Ty Dieffenbach went 22 of 33 for 264 yards in his first start as a Bruin. "It's another game, not making the moment too big," he said. The opening drive went 16 plays and took 8:42. Omosigho made a fourth-down stop that held up on review.
Northwestern beat Michigan State 24-21 on a field goal with two seconds left. MSU led 21-13 early in the fourth. Milivojevic went 19 of 30 for 216 yards and two touchdowns and ran for another on fourth-and-1. Coenen blocked a field goal.
Shay: Framed it. We just needed one more strike.
Injuries and availability
No official conference availability report has been published for this game yet. UCLA starting quarterback Nico Iamaleava (982 yards) missed the Wisconsin game, and UCLA hasn't announced his status for Saturday.
What the coaches are up to
Bob Chesney is UCLA's first-year coach and the first in program history to start his tenure 6-0. He won five straight Patriot League titles at Holy Cross and also coached at James Madison. His one blooper: UCLA averages 83.2 penalty yards per game, 133rd.
Pat Fitzgerald is also in his first season, at Michigan State. He coached Northwestern from 2006 to 2023 and is in the College Football Hall of Fame. After the last two losses, by one point in overtime to Illinois and on a last-second kick at Northwestern, he said the staff has to "coach better to get over the hump".
Player storylines
Knight against an MSU run defense ranked 67th is the main plot. MSU's red-zone defense ranks 135th. Milivojevic faces a UCLA defense that is plus-10 in turnover margin, fifth in FBS. Its pass defense, 47th, is more hittable than its run defense, 20th.
What's happening on campus
It's Homecoming at the Rose Bowl. UCLA will recognize its 1966 Rose Bowl team, the one that beat Michigan State 14-12. The Alumni Networks Welcome Tunnel, Scout Day and a halftime celebration of the UCLA Athletic Hall of Fame Class of 2026 are also on the schedule. MSU's alumni tailgate is at Brookside with President Kevin Guskiewicz, the MSU Cheer team and Sparty.
Anything else fun and true
This is MSU's first game in the Rose Bowl since beating Stanford in the 100th Rose Bowl Game on Jan. 1, 2014. The Spartans' last regular-season game there was against UCLA in 1974. UCLA leads the series 4-3. Three of those meetings were Rose Bowl Games: MSU won after the 1953 and 1955 seasons, and UCLA won after 1965.
Kenzie: The 1966 team at halftime against Michigan State? That's a callback, darling.
Shay: Callbacks are cute. We're here for a new scene. Two Rose Bowl wins over these guys, Kenzie. Our catcher's mitt remembers.
The Cover Window
My call: UCLA Bruins 31, Michigan State Spartans 18.