The 2026 Lou Groza Award Preseason Watch List was announced on Friday and it was a bit of a surprise to see that UCLA Bruins kicker Mateen Bhaghani was not chosen as a member of the list after making the list in 2025.
Bhaghani has had an impressive collegiate career as a kicker, as he enters his third season with UCLA after beginning his career with one season with Cal. As Bhaghani enters his senior season, he’s connected on 83% of his career field goal attempts and has not missed a single extra point throughout his career.
The success hasn’t come in a limited sample size, Bhaghani has been a starting kicker throughout his 34-game career in the NCAA. Last year, Bhaghani was a solid piece on an otherwise disappointing Bruin team, hitting 16 of his 20 field goal attempts. The 80% success rate on field goals was actually the lowest of Bhaghani’s career, but that was related to UCLA trusting Bhaghani to attempt deep field goals.
The San Diego, California native had hit 14-straight field goals before missing a 56-yard field goal in UCLA’s upset win against Penn State.Bhaghani’s longest field goal of the season was a 54-yarder in the win versus Penn State. Bhaghani’s career-high was a 57-yarder he hit in 2024 with UCLA against Iowa, which was the second-longest field goal in school history.
Even if Bhaghani’s success rate on field goals was down slightly in 2025, it’s hard to imagine there being 35 better kickers than him across college football. The expectation is that UCLA will be playing in more close games this season under Bob Chesney, which could allow for Bhaghani’s value to be fully realized.
This article originally appeared on UCLA Wire: UCLA’s kicker snubbed from Lou Groza Award Preseason Watch List
Reporting by Dylan McNeill, UCLA Wire / UCLA Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Dylan McNeill, UCLA Wire | USA TODAY Network
