UCLA Football: Bruins Snubbed Again in Expert Bowl Game Predictions

Valentina Martinez | Sep 9, 2024

Aug 31, 2024; Honolulu, Hawaii, USA; UCLA Bruins place kicker Mateen Bhaghani (94) makes a field goal against the Hawaii Rainbow Warriors during the third quarter of an NCAA college football game against the UCLA Bruins at the Clarence T.C. Ching Athletics Complex. Mandatory Credit: Marco Garcia-Imagn Images / Marco Garcia-Imagn Images

Once again, UCLA football was snubbed in another media poll, only this time it was in Action Network's College Football Bowl game predictions.

Among Big Ten teams, Ohio State, Oregon, Penn State, and USC were the programs to be included in Brett McMurphy's projected playoff field.

UCLA wasn't included in the projection for all other Bowl games. After the Bruins' rocky start to the season in their 16-13 win over Hawaii, the team evidently has a lot to work on.

Ahead of the Blue and Gold season opener, the program was projected to finish 15th in a preseason Big Ten Conference media poll. Furthermore, a number of media polls already projected UCLA to finish in the bottom five.

Following the lackluster win, the performance just fueled doubts about the Bruins this season.

The first half was a complete disaster for the Bruins. Ethan Garbers threw two interceptions and the Bruins' backfield averaged a lowly 1.8 yards per carry. At halftime, UCLA was down 10-0.

“We didn’t really start the first half the way that we wanted to, but I was just glad with the way that they came out in the second half,” UCLA first-year coach DeShaun Foster told the media. “They came out and executed. It was about us more than exactly what they were doing to us, so I just liked that my guys came out and fought hard and continued to play and we were able to get the victory.”

Even Foster acknowledged there were a number of concerns after the the ugly win against Hawaii.

“There’s most definitely concerns, but I’m glad that we have a bye week so we can go into the week and try to address some of those issues that we had,” Foster said. “I think we addressed some of those in the second half, that’s where we were able to execute, but a lot of stuff, you know, guys’ emotions were playing, they were just getting caught up in the emotion of the game and we just weren’t able to execute the way that we wanted to, but in the second half they kind of settled down.”

Season openers never usually go as seamlessly as a team would hope, but the performance was important to showcase the abilities of the new Westwood regime.

Foster wants to win over the city of Los Angeles, but is that possible in his first year as head coach?