UCLA Football Not in the Top 25 Preseason Polls

It is no surprise that the recently released preseason polls do not include the UCLA Bruins. The 2017 Preseason Top 25 polls also did not include the Bruins. We have to go back to 2016 to find the last time UCLA showed up in a preseason poll. UCLA entered that year ranked 16th ranked team in the AP Poll and 24th in the USA Today Coaches Poll. Of course, we all remember that debacle of a year in which UCLA ended 4-8.

The 2018 AP Poll does include four Pac-12 teams in the top 25 and two more teams in the “other teams that received votes” category.

The Pac-12 North has the Washington Huskies ranked No. 6, the Stanford Cardinal ranked No. 13, and the Oregon Ducks ranked No. 24.

The Pac-12 South has the Southern Cal Trojans ranked 15th and the Utah Utes and the Arizona Wildcats receiving votes but not ranked in the AP Top 25.

Meanwhile, Washington, Stanford and Southern Cal are ranked exactly the same in the USA Today Coaches Poll. While Oregon missed the cut in that poll, they join Utah and Arizona as other teams receiving votes.

AP Poll Others receiving votes: South Carolina 96, Florida 68, Utah 60, Oklahoma St. 51, FAU 38, Arizona 28, NC State 22, Texas A&M 21, Boston College 18, Northwestern 13, Kansas St. 10, Iowa St. 8, Houston 6, Memphis 3, Troy 2, Iowa 2, Kentucky 1, Arkansas St. 1, Fresno St. 1.

Coaches Poll Others receiving votes: South Carolina 138; Florida 135; Oregon 105; Utah 81; Texas A&M 67; Northwestern 67; Kansas State 35; Florida Atlantic 27; Boston College 23; Memphis 23; NC State 22; Troy 19; Arkansas State 19; Appalachian State 16; San Diego State 15; Kentucky 8; Iowa 8; Iowa State 8; Washington State 7; South Florida 6; Duke 5; Fresno State 4; Louisville 3; Houston 2; Arizona 2; Northern Illinois 1; Army 1.

Just because you are ranked in the AP Preseason Poll does not necessarily equate to success as Brett McMurphy’s Tweet shows.

I was reading an interesting article about the overall history of the AP Poll. The article touched on the fact that teams ranked number one in the preseason poll have not finished the season number one in the history of the AP Poll very many times. According to this article, last year Alabama became just the 11th of the previous 68 preseason number one teams to finish the season where they began. So, it is clear that the preseason poll is not always a true indicator of where teams are going to finish. We definitely need to highlight that the Trojans were the last AP Preseason No. 1 to finish the season unranked. This occurred back in 2012.

In the current state of college football, the AP Poll has absolutely no bearing on the College Football Playoff Rankings; the 13-member selection committee is tasked with selecting and seeding the teams in the ranking. However, we all know that each year when the AP Poll comes out, fanbases start seeing where their teams land in the rankings. The AP Poll then adds to the hype of the season that is soon to start.

This year’s College Football Playoff Rankings will come out October 30th. The remaining dates of the College Football Playoff Rankings for 2018 are listed below:

• Tuesday, November 6
• Tuesday, November 13
• Tuesday, November 20
• Tuesday, November 27
• Sunday, December 2 (Selection Day and Playoff Semifinal teams announced)

Two of UCLA’s first three opponents do show up on the preseason polls. Oklahoma is ranked 5th in the USA Today Coaches Poll and 7th in the AP Poll, while Fresno State received four votes in the Coaches Poll and just one vote in the AP Poll. A strong showing by UCLA against their first three opponents should propel the Bruins into the rankings, unless the Sooners were to lose to Florida Atlantic and Fresno State were to lose to Idaho and Minnesota. Needless to say, the Bruins being ranked in any poll is not the focus right now for UCLA. We will all be content with quality football at this point.


Go Bruins!