On Sun, Oct 18, the post Week 7 AP Top 25 poll for college football in the FBS was released and after a lot of ranked teams lost, there was some major reshuffling done. A new number one team was selected for the third straight week while other teams moved up or down the list of top college football teams. One of the teams who moved up into the top ten of the rankings were the UCLA Bruins, who are now the ninth-ranked team in the country following a hard-earned 17-7 victory over Wisconsin at the Rose Bowl. The Bruins are only one of five remaining unbeaten FBS programs in the nation, joining the Miami Hurricanes(the new #1 team), BYU Cougars(#2), Utah Utes(#10) and James Madison Dukes(who are 7-0 in their first season under Billy Napier). With a strong defensive showing and good enough offense with Ty Dieffenbach at QB, UCLA is now 4-0 in Big Ten Conference play in being tied with the Ohio State Buckeyes(#3) at the top of the standings.
The Bruins are looking good to appear in the first College Football Playoff rankings list on Tues, Nov 3. With two more home games coming up against mediocre teams in Michigan State and Nevada, UCLA could very well hold a record of 8-0 and could be featured in the top 12 teams in the first rankings reveal. The current position of the Bruins is tied for the highest ranking they have held in the past ten years along with a poll ranking of ninth in Oct 2022. Under Bob Chesney, this UCLA football squad is using a perfect combination of solid defense and a strong running game to propel them to victories. The timing could not be more perfect for the Bruins, who could be one of many Power-4 programs that would benefit from an expanded College Football Playoff in the near future. With the current format at 12 schools and including the conference champions from all the Power 4 conferences and the highest-ranked conference champion from the “Group of 6”, the College Football Playoff Selection Committee is set to vote on expanding the format from 12 to 24 starting in the 2027 season.
With the first half of their schedule being finished, the Bruins will seek to maintain their high position in the Big Ten as their schedule following the three-game homestand in Pasadena will test them. A road game against the Minnesota Golden Gophers(4-2 overall, 2-1 in conference) on Sat, Nov 7 will be a legitimate test, and then playing a Friday Night Football game against the Illinois Fighting Illini(3-3, 1-2) will be a tough turnaround. UCLA will benefit from an extra day to prepare for a road game at the Big House against the Michigan Wolverines(4-2, 1-2) that will happen on Sat, Nov 21. Their regular season finale is a “Bell Game” matchup against the USC Trojans(6-1, 3-1, currently ranked 16th in the AP poll) at the Rose Bowl that could be the highest stakes rivalry game between both big-name Los Angeles programs in more than 20 years. The Trojans’ remaining schedule is demonstrably more difficult than the Bruins, with road games against Wisconsin and Indiana and home games against Ohio State(who just saw its starting QB in Julian Sayin suffer a shoulder injury to his throwing arm) and Maryland. So, a collision course could happen that determines if one of the two rivals has a chance to make it into the Big Ten title game in Indianapolis.
With Nico Iamaleava still sidelined for the near future with his knee injury(that still hasn’t been fully disclosed by the UCLA training staff), the Bruins won against the Badgers with meager rushing from Wayne Knight, Anthony Woods and Jaivian “Jet” Thomas and strong defensive play from defenders such as Sammy Omosigho, Sahir West and Jalen Woods. Dieffenbach also performed well in his first FBS start as he completed 22 of his 33 passes for 264 yards. The good work from the players and coaching staff will look to continue for the next six weeks as a potential CFP berth could be in the cards for this UCLA football squad. Their next game against Michigan State will have a 12:30 p.m PDT kickoff and will also be the Homecoming game for the Bruins. A win over a Spartans team that the team last year defeated in East Lansing would be a good way to celebrate for all the alumni present at the Rose Bowl. It would be another feather in the cap for Chesney, who is the only coach in program history to start out 6-0 in his first season at UCLA. Under his leadership, that record could continue to have an 0 in the loss column for a good stretch.
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