The cumulative link to the preseason rankings can be found here
Come on kiddies, gather around, the man with the goodies is here! Anybody old enough to remember that commercial might also remember that UCLA (high = 25, low = 81) used to be among the best teams in college football. In the last half of the 20th century, the Bruins won at least a share of 15 Pac-10/12 titles, appearing in 10 Rose Bowls, eight top 5 rankings and one national championship. The 21st century has been far less kind to UCLA, where every coach has been fired (Bob Toledo, Karl Dorrell, Rick Neuheisel, Jim Mora and DeShaun Foster), and yet the one who wasn’t (Chip Kelly) is probably the most reviled of the lot. Foster was hired after opening up 0-3 last season (making him 5-10 in his stint in Westwood), and finished up 3-9 under interim coach Tim Skipper, who did enough to land the head coaching job at Cal Poly. UCLA brought in James Madison head coach Bob Chesney, who led the Dukes into their first CFP appearance last season after winning the Sun Belt, the 8th conference title in his last 11 seasons as a head coach (5 at Holy Cross, 2 at Assumption). He’s a winner, Google him! It will be a tall task to make that 9 in 12, but doubt him at your own peril.
Roster Outlook
If you’re looking for a reason to believe in the Bruins, they rank 9th in the country (amazingly enough, only 4th in the B1G) in returning production, including 5th on offense and 29th on defense. Chesney brought in a top 25 portal class that included 10 of his JMU Dukes and 21 P4 transfers. But probably the biggest name on the team is returning QB Nico Iamaleava (2,400 total yards, 17 TDs, 7 INTs) is back for the Bruins after a tumultuous end to his time at Tennessee. But Chesney essentially imported the rest of the offense around Nico, including his star RB at James Madison (Wayne Knight), who amassed almost 1,700 total yards last season. He also brought in his leading WR (Landon Ellis, 36 catches, 624 yards), but he’ll be competing with 4 P4 portal guys (Florida’s Aidan Mizell, South Carolina’s Brian Rowe, Michigan’s Semaj Morgan and Washington’s Marcus Harris) along with the Bruins’ #2 leading WR Mikey Matthews for receptions. Throw in JMU TE Joshua Phifer and 4 projected OL portal starters and forecasting the Bruins becomes a serious crapshoot. Chesney brought DC Colin Hitschler with him from James Madison, and he’ll attempt to incorporate his 4-2-5 scheme in Westwood with 7 projected portal starters, but amazingly all four of the returnees (Cole Martin, Jalen Woods, Scooter Jackson and Rodrick Pleasant) are DBs, which is one of the two biggest question marks upon switching to that defense (LB being the other, where Oklahoma’s Sammy Omosigho and Notre Dame’s Anthony Sacca figure to feature prominently).
Schedule and outlook
9/5 at California
9/12 SAN DIEGO STATE
9/19 PURDUE
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Reply on Reddit9/26 at Maryland
10/3 BYE
10/10 at Oregon
10/17 WISCONSIN
10/24 MICHIGAN STATE
10/31 NEVADA
11/7 at Minnesota
11/13 ILLINOIS
11/21 at Michigan
11/28 USC
If you drew up a dream schedule for a new head coach for UCLA, this would probably be it. The Bruins are ranked ahead of each of the first 4 teams on the schedule, but the Bears are a frisky pick in the ACC, you have a potential body clock road game at Maryland, a motivated southern California G6 team and a Purdue team that’s looking to make a statement. Plenty for Chesney to keep the team focused before their bye, and a bye to fully prepare for what figures to be their toughest opponent at Oregon (who also has a bye before the game, so little chance to catch them looking too far past the Bruins). Throw in 2 more games against teams ranked below them here (Michigan State and Nevada), two more that are comparable (Wisconsin in the Rose Bowl and at Minnesota) and hosting an Illinois team that is capable of keeping any game close, and if Chesney’s capable of working his magic it’s not a stretch to imagine UCLA heading to the Big House with a 9-1 record. Of course, it’s also not a stretch to imagine they drop all of those road games, Fickell has the Badgers humming and the Illini take care of business in the Rose Bowl and suddenly the Bruins are fighting for a bowl bid. Which explains the wild differences in their preseason rankings. Should be a fun season for UCLA fans!
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