UCLA Football: Could Big Ten Opponent Struggles Open Door For Bruins to Compete?

Will the Bruins surprise the rest of the season?

Marco Garcia-Imagn Images

UCLA football is widely not viewed as a contender as they enter their first season of play as part of the Big Ten Conference. With an increase in competition and a new head coach in DeShaun Foster and several key defensive losses, expectations are largely low for the Bruins.

After all, the Bruins are part of the highly competitive Big Ten now. However, the Big Ten has fallen short of expectations through the first two weeks of the season. Multiple of the Big Ten-ranked teams have dropped in the AP Top 25 poll after two weeks of play, and have not lived up to their own expectations yet.

While Ohio State has won their first two games in dominant fashion, they have dropped to No. 3 in the rankings. Oregon, who was expected to continue where they left off a season ago with transfer Dillon Gabriel, have only narrowly won their first two games against Boise State and Idaho. They have dropped to No. 9 after starting the season at No. 3.

Penn State has stayed put at No. 8, even while only defeating Bowling Green by a touchdown in Week 2. Defending national champions Michigan has seen the biggest dropoff, with the exodus of many star players and Jim Harbaugh to the NFL clearly affecting the team. Michigan dropped to No. 17 after they were dominated by Texas. Along with Michigan, Iowa fell out of the Top 25 altogether after they were upset by Iowa State.

The biggest risers in the Big Ten have been Nebraska and USC, the latter of which UCLA would face either way. After starting the season unranked, Nebraska has risen to No. 23 as they started 2-0. USC began at No. 23 and is now No. 11 after defeating LSU and Utah State.

Meanwhile, the SEC has claimed their stake as the top conference in the country, taking the top six of seven spots in the top 25.

Even with disappointing starts for multiple Big Ten teams, the Bruins cannot consider themselves contenders yet. They have not defeated a ranked team or a conference opponent yet, and only narrowly got a win over Hawaii, a team outside of a Power-4 conference. If UCLA can upset Indiana or LSU in the coming weeks, then they could have a shot at emerging as surprise contender in the conference.