Temperatures are expected to climb above 100 degrees for UCLA’s opener on Saturday against Bowling Green. Head coach Chip Kelly has a solution to manage the heat.

He joked with reporters on Monday that they could just look to put a dome over the Rose Bowl. Problem solved. 

The high in Pasadena for Saturday is forecasted at 102 degrees. UCLA will begin the game at 11:30 a.m. PT and play through the heat of the day.

But playing in a less-than-ideal Rose Bowl environment isn’t new. Kelly, entering his fifth year with the program, says they’ll be able to lean on depth to keep guys fresh.

“You’ve got to deal with it,” he said, per All Bruins’ Sam Connon. “Especially early, you’ve got to play a lot of depth. You’ve got to play a lot of guys. I think what’s beneficial to us is that we do have a lot of guys that we can play. 

“We practice at the time that we’re going to play, so we’re usually on the field at that point and time. It’s obviously a little cooler here than it is up there, but you can’t manufacture it. It’s not like we can get reflective mirrors out there and make it a little bit hotter for our training sessions today. The one thing is both teams have to play in the same weather, so they’ll be in the same situation that we are. The key to it is depth, and our team does a really good job of it from a hydration standpoint, so we’ll see how that goes.”

It has to be asked: if Chip Kelly is in more of a chipper mood (sorry not sorry) and joking around with members of the media, that can only mean good things for the Bruins, right?