They opened the season at home against Tennessee under new head coach Rick Neuheisel, at the Rose Bowl stadium in Pasadena, California.

SPECIALISTS: PK – Kai Forbath (25), Jeff Locke (49); KO – Jimmy Rotstein (37); P – Aaron Perez (17), 39 Danny Reese (39); LS – Christian Yount (52); H – 17 Aaron Perez (17); PR – Terrence Austin (4), Ryan Graves (2); KOR 4 Terrence Austin (4), Raymond Carter (20).

Tennessee was scheduled to begin the season on August 30 against the University of Alabama-Birmingham, but that game was moved to September 13.

After throwing four interceptions in the first half, Kevin Craft threw a 3-yard pass to Ryan Moya in a 70-yard drive that gave UCLA the lead late in the fourth quarter.

The Volunteers were unable to match the Bruins in overtime when Lincoln's field goal attempt went wide left.

In his first career start at San Diego State, Kevin Craft completed 20 of 32 passes for 216 yards against BYU.

On a day when the Bruins were woeful in punt coverage and bad in third down conversions, the Arizona Wildcats won 31-10 in the Rose Bowl.

Arizona quarterback Willie Tuitama, who had been a thorn to UCLA for the last couple of years, threw 222 yards and a pair of touchdowns to tight end Rob Gronkowski.

The only touchdown for UCLA came from Korey Bosworth, who recovered a Wildcat fumble and rolled one yard into the end zone for the score.

Because of a knee injury, Fresno State's top defense lineman Jon Monga did not play.

A Derrick Coleman fumble in the redzone in the fourth quarter took away the Bruins' hope of keeping the Bulldogs from winning a game in the Rose Bowl stadium.

Fresno State won its first game there by five points, taking control of the final 8 minutes and 55 seconds and not allowing a UCLA comeback.

The Oregon Ducks handed UCLA a fourth loss for the season by scoring two touchdowns in the first half.

It was Homecoming, parent's weekend and high school Band Day at the Rose Bowl for the Bruins.

With ten seconds left and UCLA behind by four points, quarterback Kevin Craft passed to freshman Cory Harkey for a 7-yard touchdown in the northeast corner of the Rose Bowl to stage an upset win, 23–20, over the Stanford Cardinal.

Also for UCLA, Terrence Austin scored on a 2-yard pass from Craft and Kai Forbath kicked three field goals (37, 19, and 28 yards).

Cal quarterback Kevin Riley started for the Bears, his first since nearly a month before against Colorado State on September 27.

The Bruins took their only lead of the game at the beginning of the second quarter by managing to block a punt attempt by Bryan Anger and recovering the ball in the end zone to go up 7–3.

On the ensuing possession Jahvid Best was able to break free for 34-yard run, the only offensive touchdown in the first half for the Bears.

After getting a stop on a fake Bruins punt attempt which nearly converted a 4th and 23 with a 22-yard pass, Riley hit Nyan Boateng for a 53-yard touchdown.

UCLA got in the final score of the game when backup quarterback Chris Forcier threw a nine-yard pass to Dominique Johnson, which was set up by a kickoff return by wide receiver Terrence Austin for 81 yards.

The victory continued Cal's win streak against UCLA at Memorial Stadium, having not lost to the Bruins at home since 1998.

[7] Veterans and Armed Forces Appreciation Day at the Rose Bowl, honoring the U.S. service men and women.

The Oregon State Beavers took the game away from the Bruins in the second half by scoring 14 points after half-time in the third quarter and allowing only a field goal to UCLA.

Highlights for the Bruins included a 67-yard punt by Aaron Perez, Taylor Embree's five receptions for 64 yards and Reggie Carter's 10 tackles.

[11] UCLA coach Neuheisel had been fired in the summer of 2003 from the University of Washington in relation to his participation in a neighborhood pool for the 2003 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament and lies he told about his actions.

Before the season, this game garnered interest in seeing how coach Rick Neuheisel would perform in his battle to gain supremacy in Los Angeles.