UCLA’s climb has reached rare air.
The Bruins moved to No. 5 in the latest AP poll released Sunday, coming off a 27-0 shutout of Nevada on Saturday at the Rose Bowl. At 8-0, UCLA is back inside the top five for the first time since 2001.
The program last finished a season in the AP top five in 1997, when it ended the year at No. 5.
The road ahead gets more demanding from here. UCLA heads to Minnesota in Week 10 for a 9 a.m.
PT kickoff against a Gophers team that is 5-3 after an overtime loss to No. 6 Indiana last week.
Minnesota has shown it can tighten things up on defense, holding Indiana to 16 points in regulation, but the Gophers have also had uneven stretches. Two weeks earlier, they were on the wrong end of a 41-point outing by 3-5 Purdue.
After that, the Bruins still have Illinois at home, a trip to Michigan, and a season finale against No. 18 USC.
Even with the unbeaten start and the new ranking, UCLA head coach Bob Chesney made it clear there’s still work to do, particularly on offense, after the win over Nevada.
"We're 8-0 with a shutout," Chesney said. "We had some really good defensive plays, things we needed to be able to do showed up in there.
And then there was a lot to be desired in moments on the offensive side. But I thought overall to get yourself to 8-0 is a big deal and to shut a team out at any level is a big deal.
Wins are not the easiest thing to come by. I like where we're at.
And there's a whole lot more that we've got to continue to step up."
In Other News...
UCLAs Defense Is Changing What November Could Mean For The Bruins
Through the first eight games, UCLAs defense has started to look like the kind of unit that can change the tone of a season. Under Bob Chesney, the Bruins have been sturdier, faster and far more disruptive, and the recent win over Nevada was another reminder of how much the group has progressed. Sahir West, Aiden Gobaira and Trent Hendrick were among the players who helped set the edge and control the game, giving UCLA a defensive foundation it has lacked at times this fall.
The bigger question now is whether that improvement can travel into the tougher stretch ahead. Chesney has already pointed to the need for more growth, which is what makes the next few weeks so important for a team trying to turn a strong defensive trend into something more lasting. If the Bruins keep forcing opponents into uncomfortable, low-efficiency football, November could look a lot different than it did a month ago. [Read more 🡒]
UCLA Gets An Early Reality Check Against A Familiar Rival
UCLA is getting an immediate measuring stick against a familiar Pac-12 rival, with Arizona set to meet the Bruins in a neutral-site basketball game at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. It is the kind of early-season matchup that can tell a lot about where a team stands before the schedule settles in, and this one carries extra weight because both programs arrive with national expectations attached.
Arizona comes in ranked No. 5 in the preseason AP poll, while UCLA opens at No. 22, giving the game a clear spotlight even before the ball is tipped. As part of the Hall of Fame Series opening-night slate, the matchup offers both teams a chance to make an early statement, and for UCLA it is a chance to see how far along it really is against one of the sports most established powers. [Read more 🡒]
UCLA Is Climbing Fast But One Playoff Reality Still Looms
UCLAs unbeaten start has pushed the Bruins into the thick of the national conversation, with the latest AP Top 25 placing them at No. 5 after another week of steady momentum. Across town, USC also found its way back into the rankings at No. 18, giving Southern California a pair of teams sitting inside the poll and adding more weight to every result as the season moves deeper into November.
The bigger picture, though, is that the Bruins are still chasing the kind of national respect that comes with being treated like a true title threat, not just a hot team with a clean record. Their odds have improved after recent games, but the path ahead remains crowded, with several other contenders still sitting ahead of them in the market and the playoff math only getting tighter as injuries and losses reshape the race. [Read more 🡒]