It’s been a dream start to the season for the UCLA Bruin defense. Not only has UCLA defensive coordinator Colin Hitschler established himself as the perfect fit for the UCLA defense, he’s led one of the best defenses in the entire country.

While Hitschler has been great, it’s been the UCLA players as well. Sahir West, Sammy Omosigho, Jalen Woods, Rodrick Pleasant, Ta’Shawn James and Scooter Jackson have all been great, leading to a mammoth turnaround for the unit.

In 2025, UCLA had the worst scoring defense in the entire Big Ten, allowing 33.4 points per game in their 3-9 season. It took Hitschler and Bob Chesney exactly one offseason to turn things around. This season UCLA has the sixth-best scoring defense but have been even better at creating turnovers. Since the start of Big Ten play, the Bruins defense vaults up to the No. 2 scoring defense.

UCLA has forced the second-most turnovers in the entire country with 19 through their first six games of the season. Forcing over three turnovers per game is unlikely to continue but it’s been a controlled chaos for the Bruins this season.

Linebacker Sammy Omosigho doesn’t just lead the country with five forced fumbles, he also is the highest-graded linebacker in college football according to PFF, grading Omosigho at a 91.2, just edging out Notre Dame linebacker Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa at 91.0.

Next UCLA’s defense will face Michigan State, who owns the worst scoring offense in the Big Ten Conference. Just because the Spartans have put up 21.3 points per game doesn’t mean that UCLA will dominate but the Bruins have pummeled Maryland, Wisconsin and a Dante Moore-less Oregon offense.

Even if the turnovers don’t come in bunches like they have in some games this season, the UCLA defense has a chance to feast against sophomore quarterback Alessio Milivojevic and a rushing attack led by seniors Jaziun Patterson and Cam Edwards.