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Well, it was a victory. But if you bet on the once-high-powered UCLA offense to blast through a weak Colorado defense and easily cover the 28 point spread, you left pretty disappointed (and with your wallet a bit lighter). UCLA came out completely asleep in the first quarter, allowing Colorado to dominate on both sides of the ball: fortunately for Jim Mora, Colorado is just not a very good team and weren't able to take advantage of the Bruins' lethargic opening. The up-tempo RichRod-led Arizona offense won't be as forgiving to UCLA.
The game opened with all the makings of being #Mazzoned for the third straight week, with UCLA unable to do anything but go three-and-out on offense, but the Bruins finally got in gear and someone finally got our under-fire offensive coordinator to let Brett Hundley throw the damn ball down the field (perhaps the chorus of boos had something to do with that), and to no one's surprise, it led to UCLA scoring points thanks to the dynamic WR duo of Shaq Evans and Devin Fuller.
So, with an in-conference win, the Bruins are still in control of their own destiny: they'll need to win the rest of the slate from here to grab control of the Pac-12 South and return to either Eugene or Palo Alto for their third straight Pac-12 title game appearance. Coming up short will be unacceptable, especially given how beatable and mediocre the rest of the division has looked at times - make no mistake, except for Stanford and Oregon, no other Pac-12 team has as much talent as UCLA. Youth is an excuse being trotted out by Dorrellian losers content with another 7 win season and a trip to the Nobody F**king Cares Bowl.
But it was a win, and the Bruins gained a spot in the polls. Beginning with the USA Today/Coaches' Poll, courtesy of the mothership at SB Nation:
| RANK | TEAM | RECORD | POINTS | FIRST PLACE VOTES | PREVIOUS RANK | CHANGE | HI/LOW |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alabama Crimson Tide |
8-0 | 1540 | 54 | 1 | 1/1 | |
| 2 | Oregon Ducks |
8-0 | 1475 | 5 | 2 | 2/3 | |
| 3 | Florida State Seminoles |
8-0 | 1436 | 3 | 3 | 3/12 | |
| 4 | Ohio State Buckeyes |
9-0 | 1369 | 0 | 4 | 2/4 | |
| 5 | Baylor Bears |
7-0 | 1299 | 0 | 5 | 5/NR | |
| 6 | Stanford Cardinal |
7-1 | 1222 | 0 | 7 | 1 | 4/13 |
| 7 | Clemson Tigers |
8-1 | 1121 | 0 | 8 | 1 | 4/10 |
| 8 | Oklahoma Sooners |
7-1 | 971 | 0 | 9 | 1 | 8/18 |
| 9 | Missouri Tigers |
8-1 | 961 | 0 | 10 | 1 | 7/NR |
| 10 | Auburn Tigers |
8-1 | 959 | 0 | 11 | 1 | 10/NR |
| 11 | Oklahoma State Cowboys |
7-1 | 864 | 0 | 12 | 1 | 11/20 |
| 12 | LSU Tigers |
7-2 | 835 | 0 | 13 | 1 | 6/13 |
| 13 | Texas A&M Aggies |
7-2 | 800 | 0 | 14 | 1 | 6/15 |
| 14 | Miami Hurricanes |
7-1 | 747 | 0 | 6 | 8 | 6/NR |
| 15 | South Carolina Gamecocks |
7-2 | 722 | 0 | 16 | 1 | 6/20 |
| 16 | Louisville Cardinals |
7-1 | 569 | 0 | 17 | 1 | 6/17 |
| 17 | Fresno State Bulldogs |
8-0 | 567 | 0 | 18 | 1 | 17/NR |
| 18 | UCLA Bruins |
6-2 | 494 | 0 | 19 | 1 | 10/21 |
| 19 | Michigan State Spartans |
8-1 | 446 | 0 | 24 | 5 | 19/NR |
| 20 | Northern Illinois Huskies |
9-0 | 409 | 0 | 20 | 20/NR | |
| 21 | Central Florida Knights |
6-1 | 340 | 0 | 22 | 1 | 21/NR |
| 22 | Wisconsin Badgers |
6-2 | 333 | 0 | 23 | 1 | 18/NR |
| 23 | Texas Tech Red Raiders |
7-2 | 217 | 0 | 15 | 8 | 9/NR |
| 24 | Arizona State Sun Devils |
6-2 | 130 | 0 | NR | 23/NR | |
| 25 | Notre Dame Fighting Irish |
7-2 | 108 | 0 | 25 | 11/NR |
And, here's the AP Top 25 Poll (which doesn't impact the BCS standings, which will be released later today), which has us also moving up one spot:
| Rank | Team | Record | Votes | Previous |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alabama (52) | 8-0 | 1,491 | 1 |
| 2 | Oregon (2) | 8-0 | 1,418 | 2 |
| 3 | Florida State (6) | 8-0 | 1,409 | 3 |
| 4 | Ohio State | 9-0 | 1,315 | 4 |
| 5 | Baylor | 7-0 | 1,234 | 5 |
| 6 | Stanford | 7-1 | 1,214 | 6 |
| 7 | Auburn | 8-1 | 1,082 | 8 |
| 8 | Clemson | 8-1 | 1,059 | 9 |
| 9 | Missouri | 8-1 | 956 | 10 |
| 10 | LSU | 7-2 | 863 | 11 |
| 11 | Texas A&M | 7-2 | 861 | 12 |
| 12 | Oklahoma | 7-1 | 816 | 13 |
| 13 | South Carolina | 7-2 | 769 | 14 |
| 14 | Miami (FL) | 7-1 | 737 | 7 |
| 15 | Oklahoma State | 7-1 | 662 | 18 |
| 16 | UCLA | 6-2 | 515 | 17 |
| 17 | Fresno State | 8-0 | 493 | 16 |
| 18 | Michigan State | 8-1 | 478 | 24 |
| 19 | UCF | 6-1 | 472 | 19 |
| 20 | Louisville | 7-1 | 385 | 20 |
| 21 | Wisconsin | 6-2 | 342 | 22 |
| 22 | Northern Illinois | 9-0 | 322 | 21 |
| 23 | Arizona State | 6-2 | 197 | 25 |
| 24 | Notre Dame | 7-2 | 164 | NR |
| 25 | Texas Tech | 7-2 | 102 | 15 |
| Others Receiving Votes: Texas 34, Georgia 32, Brigham Young 28, Mississippi 17, Houston 9, Minnesota 7, Michigan 6, Washington 6, Ball State 4, Duke 1 |
Well, we've learned that Jim Mora and his staff can bounce back after a pair of losses to a tough top-ten conference opponent (the last time that happened, Baylor bent our Bruins over in San Diego), but UCLA has a lot of work to do to get back to their third straight conference title game, but it's a path that the Bruins should be expected to travel - except for Arizona State, who we get to play at the Rose Bowl, there is no other real challenge to the division title, especially not with the talent we have on the roster.
Let's see how the Bruins gear up for this next big game, a chance for UCLA to erase the nasty taste of the Bruins' last trip to Tucson.
GO BRUINS