UCLA football will play Boise State in LA Bowl at SoFi Stadium

Coach Chip Kelly and the UCLA football team will spend the coming days preparing to play Boise State in the LA Bowl on Saturday, Dec. 16.

The game will be held at SoFi Stadium, which means the Bruins (7-5 overall, 4-5 Pac-12) will take a short 13-mile trip from campus for the 4:30 p.m. kickoff. The game will air on ABC.

The Inglewood venue is a shorter trip than the usual 26-mile trip to the Rose Bowl for home games.

The Bruins became bowl-eligible for a third consecutive year but finished their final Pac-12 season losing three of the last four games.

Kelly and the Bruins are 0-1 in bowl games after losing to Pittsburgh in the Sun Bowl last year. UCLA had to back out of the Holiday Bowl appearance against North Carolina State in 2021 due to COVID-19.

Interim coach Spencer Danielson and Boise State earned a spot in the bowl game after handling UNLV 44-20 in the Mountain West Championship game on Saturday.

This will be the second meeting between the two programs. The Bruins earned a 38-7 victory against the Broncos in a nonconference game to open the 1999 season.

UCLA’s defense will have to prepare for a Boise State (8-5, 6-2) offense led by quarterback Taylen Green and running back Ashton Jeanty.

It remains unclear who will lead the defense after defensive coordinator D’Anton Lynn’s departure to USC earlier this week.

The Bruins are ranked fifth in the country with 41 total sacks. Edge rushed Laiatu Latu added 13 sacks to that total. Boise State is ranked 12th after allowing just 14 sacks in 13 games played.

It also remains unclear who will start at quarterback for the Bruins. Quarterback Ethan Garbers made the start in the regular season finale against Cal but was injured in the first half of the game.

True freshman Dante Moore finished out the game but is expected to enter the transfer portal and may not be available for the game.

More to come on this story.