Every now and then you will see someone (while defending Dorrell or making excuses for his mediocrity) asserting that the expectations of UCLA alums. from Karl Dorrell (to win the Pac-10 and beat SC) is totally unreasonable because UCLA is basketball school. They claim UCLA is not really a big deal when it comes to college football so it is not fair to expect KD to beat SC and make legit runs for the Pac-10 titles.
Well these guys are not well versed on the history of UCLA football. You see we have already debunked the ridiculous notion that UCLA is not a football school. Our football history which includes 18 Conference Championships, and 1 National Championship indicates that we are not like Duke, Carolina, or Kentucky, elite basketball schools with no football tradition. Now check out these all time rankings from AP, which ranks college football teams since the poll was first released on October 19, 1936. It further bolsters the point we have made all along on BN that UCLA has a history of being one of the better college football programs in the country. At least the all time rankings history backs up that claim:
| School | Times Ranked | Times Ranked #1 | Last Time Ranked #1 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Michigan | 729 | 34 | January 3, 1998 |
| 2 | Ohio State | 703 | 73 | January 4, 2003 |
| 3 | Notre Dame | 689 | 95 | November 16, 1993 |
| 4 | Oklahoma | 628 | 95 | December 1, 2003 |
| 5 | U$C | 623 | 81 | December 5, 2005 |
| 5 | Nebraska | 623 | 70 | October 23, 2000 |
| 7 | Texas | 607 | 42 | January 5, 2006 |
| 8 | Alabama | 605 | 31 | January 2, 1993 |
| 9 | Tennessee | 533 | 18 | January 5, 1999 |
| 10 | Penn State | 532 | 21 | October 13, 1997 |
| 11 | UCLA | 473 | 7 | October 25, 1988 |
| 12 | Florida | 452 | 25 | October 7, 2001 |
HT to CFR for pointing us to this list.
So UCLA is ranked no. 11, higher than powerhouses such as Miami, FSU, Georgia, Auburn, LSU etc. when it comes to being ranked by AP. Last time we were ranked no. in the AP poll was in October of 1988, before Aikman and Donahue choked away a home game against Rosenbach and Mike "It's Rolling Baby" Price. Since 1988 UCLA was also ranked no. 1 in another poll that matters (these days). UCLA was the no. 1 team in the inaugural BCS poll in 1998, before we crashed and burned against Miami on December 5, 1998.
Anyways didn't mean to bring up the painful memories of that Melsby "fumble." But I did want to bring up the poll to show how we have a history of being a football school. We have a rich history of Rose Bowl wins, big wins in meaningful bowl games, the 8 game win streak over USC, and top-10 rankings, which Dorrell's mediocrity (last year's fluke 10 win season notwithstanding) has turned into a distant memory. As I have said before if there is no discernible progress this year, he will need to go away (resign or get fired).
GO BRUINS.