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It’s time for the weekly Fan Pulse poll.
As usual, I’m going to start by discussing the UCLA Fan Confidence poll. After Theo Howard announced he was going to transfer during the Bruins’ bye week, the fan confidence poll dropped to a season-low 4.7%.
Then, on Thursday, the UCLA Bruins beat the Stanford Cardinal for the first time in 12 tries over 11 years.
And, so, today’s fan confidence poll has jumped.
If you’ve followed along this season, you expected it to jump. After the Washington State game, it jumped from 12.8% to 45.6%. Frankly, I found that jump to be pretty ridiculous since a quarter and a half of playing well shouldn’t have erased the memory of every Bruin fan or at least half of all Bruin fans, following three bad games to start the season.
So, the question I waited all weekend to see answered was how high today’s fan confidence poll would jump after the Stanford game. Specifically, I wanted to see if beating a bad Stanford team would push it past the post-Washington State poll or not.
Well, the results are in.
After the win over Stanford, the UCLA Fan Confidence poll has jumped to 28.9%.
So, while I continue to personally vote “No” each week, I’m glad that this week’s results seem tempered by a desire to see some consistency before voting “Yes.”
The Bruins Nation FanPulse is a survey of more than 100 Bruins Nation readers who have agreed to take a weekly survey on college football. I want to encourage our readers to have their voice heard on a weekly basis by signing up to be a part of the FanPulse.
Of course, the question about the direction of the program is just one part of this week’s FanPulse. The other part is the Top 25 where fans are asked to rank the top 25 college football teams.
So, this week, we have the seventh Bruins Nation Top 25 poll along with the SB Nation national Top 25 poll. The Alabama Crimson Tide remain in the top spot in both while the LSU Tigers are now #2 in both polls. The Clemson Tigers fell to #4 in the SB Nation poll behind the Ohio State Buckeyes, but Clemson remains ahead of the Buckeyes in the BN poll. Rounding out the top five in both are the Oklahoma Sooners. The undefeated Penn State Nittany Lions are now ranked #6 in both polls.
As far as Pac-12 schools go, the same three Pac-12 schools who were in the polls last week remain there this week. The Oregon Ducks have moved up to 13th in both while the Utah Utes didn’t move after beating the Arizona State Sun Devils and remain 16th in both. The Sun Devils slipped to 21st after losing to the Utes.
Let’s look at the Weekly FanPulse Top 25 polls.
FanPulse Top 25 Polls, Week 8
| Rank | BruinsNation Top 25 | SB Nation Top 25 |
|---|---|---|
| Rank | BruinsNation Top 25 | SB Nation Top 25 |
| 1 | Alabama (7-0) | Alabama (7-0) |
| 2 | LSU (7-0) | LSU (7-0) |
| 3 | Clemson (7-0) | Ohio State (7-0) |
| 4 | Ohio State (7-0) | Clemson (7-0) |
| 5 | Oklahoma (7-0) | Oklahoma (7-0) |
| 6 | Penn State (7-0) | Penn State (7-0) |
| 7 | Georgia (6-1) | Georgia (6-1) |
| 8 | Auburn (6-1) | Auburn (6-1) |
| 9 | Notre Dame (5-1) | Florida (7-1) |
| 10 | Florida (7-1) | Notre Dame (5-1) |
| 11 | Oregon (6-1) | Oregon (6-1) |
| 12 | Texas (5-2) | Wisconsin (6-1) |
| 13 | Minnesota (7-0) | SMU (7-0) |
| 14 | SMU (7-0) | Minnesota (7-0) |
| 15 | Wisconsin (6-1) | Texas (5-2) |
| 16 | Utah (6-1) | Utah (6-1) |
| 17 | Cincinnati (6-1) | Baylor (7-0) |
| 18 | Baylor (7-0) | Cincinnati (6-1) |
| 19 | App State (6-0) | App State (6-0) |
| 20 | Wake Forest (6-1) | Wake Forest (6-1) |
| 21 | Arizona State (5-2) | Arizona State (5-2) |
| 22 | Boise State (6-1) | Boise State (6-1) |
| 23 | Virginia (5-2) | Virginia (5-2) |
| 24 | San Diego State (6-1) | San Diego State (6-1) |
| 25 | Virginia Tech (5-2) | Michigan (5-2) |
What do you make of this week’s results? What do you think about the confidence level of the direction of the UCLA football program? Let us know in the comments!
Go Bruins!