LOS ANGELES — After a 44-10 win over the University of Hawaii in a season opener, the UCLA Bruins welcome in Louisiana State University for Week 1 of college football.

There is excitement to be back at UCLA football games for the first season since 2019, and the UCLA athletic department is making a push for more energy and more fans at the Rose Bowl.

It begins with winning on the field, but the school is also trying to make football games more accessible and the experience more appealing — from free tickets to more buses to and from games, and wine and beer being sold inside the stadium.

The students on campus for summer school are taking notice. Nate King is entering his junior year.

"I have the Den Pass, but they gave every student a free ticket to the game, so I have two tickets," he said. "We’ve got a bunch of alumni coming back, so giving my extra ticket to one of them. It definitely adds to the appeal, free tickets, everything. Seeing the athletic department get behind that is definitely great."

Current students aren’t the only ones receiving free tickets. UCLA has extended complimentary tickets to high school students and local youth groups across Southern California.

Twenty-four miles away from Westwood, the South Gate Aztecs are also looking forward to LSU vs. UCLA at the Rose Bowl. Henry Gonzalez founded the nonprofit youth sports program in 1990 as an outlet for young men and women ages 5-14, and UCLA has provided the Aztecs with hundreds of  free tickets for players and their parents.

"It means a lot to these kids," said Gonzalez. "A lot of these kids don’t have the opportunity to come out and see college games."

Gonzalez knows firsthand the power that seeing real role modes in a UCLA uniform can have in reinforcing the values that the Aztecs are learning on the field.

“These are life lessons, and these are things that they’ll remember in the future,” he said. “Maybe not so much who the coach was, but they’ll remember going to a UCLA game for free.”

For more information on how to get involved with the nonprofit in South Gate, visit here. It’s a grassroots campaign to create lifelong UCLA fans, and that’s how the Bruins hope their brand continues to grow — whether it’s with the kids in South Gate or with the boys at the Sigma Alpha Epsilon House.

On Saturday, the UCLA faithful will show up with their fours up, in hopes of cheering on the Bruins on to a win over LSU.