College Football

2013 UCLA football's 10 things to know: Ready to become the new kings of L.A.?

Jim Mora, Jr., engineered a hell of a turnaround in Year 1 at Westwood, and he's laying a potentially tremendous long-term foundation. But can his Bruins overcome a rough road schedule and a sketchy secondary to make their third straight Pac-12 title game? For more UCLA, visit Bruins Nation.

By Bill Connelly@SBN_BillC Jul 1, 2013, 12:00pm EDT

Confused? Check out the glossary here.

1. A hell of a debut

Remember when, upon hiring Rick Neuheisel, UCLA took out an ad in the L.A. Times proclaiming that, "The football monopoly in Los Angeles is officially over"? Remember how Neuheisel went 21-30 in four seasons and was fired? Remember how fans reacted when Neuheisel was replaced by Jim Mora, Jr.? Hell, remember how I reacted? Things always turn out exactly how we think they will, don't we?

I wrote that last year, right before UCLA went out and beat USC, 38-28 (its first win over USC by double digits since 1998), to claim the Pac-12 South title.

UCLA was incredibly up and down in 2012. Despite winning nine games and looking absolutely awesome at times, and despite coming within three points of stealing the Pac-12 title from Stanford on the Cardinal's home field, the Bruins also got whipped by California and Baylor and finished just 35th in the F/+ rankings. They were all over the map in 2012, inconsistent in both the inexperienced and just-damn-unstable varieties. The offense was inefficient on the ground, the quarterback took too many sacks, the offensive line was average at best, and the defense struggled versus the pass and was an outright sieve in the red zone.

Jim Mora, Jr., still has some work to do, in other words. But of course he does.

Remember where UCLA was before Mora took over? The Bruins ranked 79th or worse in three of Rick Neuheisel's four seasons in charge; they were 52nd in Off. F/+ and 99th in Def. F/+ in 2011. They had finished with one winning record in five years, and that one winning record was 7-6. UCLA was frustrating at times, but it's hard to deem Mora's first season in Westwood anything other than a colossal success. The team surged on the field, and Mora seems to be shoring up some of last year's weaknesses with steady recruiting. UCLA beat USC, reached the conference title game for the second straight year (and actually earned it this time, as opposed to 2011, when USC was banned from the postseason and everybody else in the South stunk), and won at least nine games for the first time in seven years.

Typically a team regresses a bit in the year following a major surge in the rankings, but with recruiting and better experience, UCLA has at least a shot of bucking that normal progression. Can the Bruins maintain their monopoly on conference title game bids?

2012 Schedule & Results

Record: 9-5 \| Adj. Record: 9-5 \| Final F/+ Rk: 35
Date	Opponent	Score	W-L	Adj. Score	Adj. W-L
30-Aug	at Rice	49-24	W	46.7 - 23.2	W
8-Sep	Nebraska	36-30	W	42.3 - 25.8	W
15-Sep	Houston	37-6	W	31.6 - 15.5	W
22-Sep	Oregon State	20-27	L	33.5 - 29.6	W
29-Sep	at Colorado	42-14	W	22.1 - 27.4	L
6-Oct	at California	17-43	L	20.8 - 38.6	L
13-Oct	Utah	21-14	W	27.1 - 28.4	L
27-Oct	at Arizona State	45-43	W	46.3 - 27.4	W
3-Nov	Arizona	66-10	W	37.8 - 10.4	W
10-Nov	at Washington State	44-36	W	28.0 - 39.3	L
17-Nov	USC	38-28	W	30.8 - 30.8	W
24-Nov	Stanford	17-35	L	26.4 - 25.4	W
30-Nov	vs. Stanford	24-27	L	42.9 - 23.0	W
27-Dec	vs. Baylor	26-49	L	15.0 - 26.3	L

Category	Offense	Rk	Defense	Rk
Points Per Game	34.4	31	27.6	58
Adj. Points Per Game	32.2	37	26.5	52

2. Will the real UCLA please stand up?

A new coach can sometimes benefit from the element of surprise. Opponents cannot scout you when they don't really know what you are going to do, and for the first month of the 2012 season, UCLA took full advantage. Mora inherited a roster that was both underachieving and athletic, made some relatively risky moves (starting a redshirt freshman at quarterback, moving a receiver to starting outside linebacker), and watched them pay off handsomely. And then he watched things fall apart and come back together again.

Adj. Points Per Game (first 4 games): UCLA 38.5, Opponent 23.5 (plus-13.0)
Adj. Points Per Game (next 3 games): Opponent 31.5, UCLA 23.3 (minus-6.2)
Adj. Points Per Game (next 6 games): UCLA 35.4, Opponent 26.1 (plus-9.3)

A super-thin defense wavered then rallied, and three tremendous offensive performances -- 486 yards and 45 points in a win over Arizona State that eventually made the difference in the division race, 611 yards and 66 points versus Arizona, and 461 yards and 24 points against a wonderful Stanford defense -- both won the Pac-12 South for the Bruins and nearly landed a Rose Bowl bid. Aside from running back and defensive back, the Bruins were young almost everywhere, and it showed in general inconsistency.

The story was ruined a bit by a poor ending versus Baylor, but the ending doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things. If UCLA really is the team that it suggested it could be in September and November, the Bruins could do some damage in 2013.

Offense

Category	Yards/ Game Rk	S&P+ Rk	Success Rt. Rk	PPP+ Rk
OVERALL	24	33	31	30
RUSHING	37	40	52	26
PASSING	34	32	15	35
Standard Downs		33	38	30
Passing Downs		36	27	39
Redzone		56	45	57

Q1 Rk	9	1st Down Rk	24
Q2 Rk	47	2nd Down Rk	20
Q3 Rk	83	3rd Down Rk	89
Q4 Rk	18

3. Balanced balance

With a backfield of quarterback Brett Hundley and running back Johnathan Franklin, UCLA certainly could have been excused for trying to run and run and run and run last year; but it didn't. Offensive coordinator Noel Mazzone utilized every weapon he had, used every inch of the field, gave his young quarterback some easy throws to make, and achieved nearly perfect balance, no matter how you define it, in 2012. UCLA was almost equally successful running (40th in Rushing S&P+) and throwing (32nd in Passing S&P+), and its run-pass splits almost exactly mirrored the national averages.

UCLA's pass ratings were almost certainly aided by the threat of Franklin in the backfield -- he had some absolutely ridiculous games in 2012 (214 yards versus Rice, 217 versus Nebraska, 164 versus Arizona State, 162 versus Arizona, 171 versus USC, 194 versus Stanford the second time) -- but now that Franklin is gone, the frequency with which UCLA passed last year could help the Bruins quite a bit. Hundley and Shaquelle Evans developed a nice rapport last year, though Hundley will have to find a new red-zone threat with the departure of Joseph Fauria. The receiving corps is awfully young after Evans, but lord knows there is potential here; there are seven former four-star recruits in the unit.

Meanwhile, it's not as if the running game is guaranteed to fall apart. Franklin was special, but Jordon James and Damien Thigpen were at least average, and redshirt freshman Paul Perkins could work into the mix. Still, there might be more talent out wide than in the backfield this time around. And Mazzone will likely attempt perfect balance again.

Quarterback

Note: players in bold below are 2013 returnees. Players in italics are questionable with injury/suspension.

Player

Ht, Wt

2013
Year

Rivals

Comp

Att

Yards

Comp
Rate

INT

Sacks

Sack Rate

Yards/
Att.

Brett Hundley

6'3, 227

So.

**** (5.9)

318

478

3,740

66.5%

9.8%

6.5

Richard Brehaut

105

44.4%

0.0%

11.7

T.J. Millweard

6'3, 218

RSFr.

*** (5.6)

Jerry Neuheisel

6'1, 191

RSFr.

*** (5.6)

Asiantii Woulard

6'3, 205

Fr.

**** (5.9)

4. Throw the ball, Brett

For most of 2012, Hundley looked the part of a talented dual-threat quarterback. His 6.1 highlight yards per opportunity proved his explosiveness on the ground, and his 67 percent completion rate (on mostly easy passes, yes) showed his potential for efficiency through the air.

But he lived up to the dual-threat stereotype in his inability to avoid sacks, as well. One of every 10 Hundley pass attempts ended in a sack; that sack rate is about twice as high as it should be. That UCLA still ranked 15th in Passing Success Rate+ tells us how efficient the Bruins were when Hundley actually got the ball off, but sacks are just so incredibly damaging to a drive. Throw the ball away, Brett.

(And yes, some more help in blitz pickup wouldn't be a bad thing; UCLA's passing-downs sack rate of 16.2 percent was 124th, dead last, in the country.)

Brett Hundley. Jayne Kamin-Oncea, US Presswire.

Running Back

Player	Pos.	Ht, Wt	2013 Year	Rivals	Rushes	Yards	Yards/ Carry	Hlt Yds/ Carry	TD	Adj. POE
Johnathan Franklin	RB				282	1,734	6.1	6.4	13	+27.5
Brett Hundley	QB	6'3, 227	So.	**** (5.9)	108	666	6.2	6.1	9	+10.2
Jordon James	RB	5'9, 193	Jr.	**** (5.9)	57	193	3.4	2.6	2	-8.5
Damien Thigpen	RB	5'8, 180	Sr.	**** (5.8)	50	262	5.2	4.9	2	+1.7
Melvin Emesibe	RB	5'9, 191	So.	NR	16	40	2.5	0.8	1	-3.2
Steven Manfro	WR-F	5'9, 193	So.	** (5.4)	8	70	8.8	4.4	2	+3.8
Eric Kendricks					5	21	4.2	2.0	0	-0.6
Malcolm Jones	RB	6'0, 220	Sr.	**** (5.9)
Paul Perkins	RB	5'10, 198	RSFr.	*** (5.6)

Receiving Corps

Player

Pos.

Ht, Wt

2013
Year

Rivals

Targets

Catches

Yards

Catch Rate

Yds/
Target

Target
Rate

%SD

Real Yds/
Target

RYPR

Shaquelle Evans

WR-Z

6'1, 211

Sr.

**** (5.9)

877

65.9%

9.6

19.8%

68.1%

9.3

100.7

Joseph Fauria

620

71.4%

9.8

13.7%

50.8%

10.0

71.2

Jerry Johnson

WR-X

428

53.4%

7.4

12.6%

60.3%

7.4

49.2

Steven Manfro

WR-F

5'9, 193

So.

** (5.4)

287

63.6%

6.5

9.6%

59.1%

6.5

33.0

Johnathan Franklin

323

80.5%

7.9

8.9%

51.2%

7.7

37.1

Jordon James

5'9, 193

Jr.

**** (5.9)

176

71.4%

5.0

7.6%

71.4%

5.2

20.2

Jordan Payton

WR-Z

6'1, 210

So.

**** (5.9)

202

69.2%

7.8

5.7%

57.7%

7.7

23.2

Devin Fuller

WR-F

5'11, 194

So.

**** (6.0)

145

90.9%

6.6

4.8%

45.5%

6.1

16.7

Damien Thigpen

WR-F

5'8, 180

Sr.

**** (5.8)

211

85.7%

10.0

4.6%

57.1%

10.1

24.2

Devin Lucien

6'0, 192

So.

**** (5.8)

188

83.3%

15.7

2.6%

66.7%

14.9

21.6

Kenneth Walker

WR-F

5'9, 175

So.

*** (5.7)

70.0%

3.9

2.2%

50.0%

3.7

4.5

Darius Bell

5'11, 216

Sr.

*** (5.5)

143

77.8%

15.9

2.0%

44.4%

15.3

16.4

Tyler Scott

WR-X

6'2, 205

So.

Ian Taubler

6'4, 252

So.

*** (5.6)

Thomas Duarte

6'3, 225

Fr.

**** (5.8)

Eldridge Massington

6'3, 205

Fr.

**** (5.8)

Offensive Line

Category	Adj. Line Yds	Std. Downs LY/carry	Pass. Downs LY/carry	Opp. Rate	Power Success Rate	Stuff Rate	Adj. Sack Rate	Std. Downs Sack Rt.	Pass. Downs Sack Rt.
Team	106.4	2.86	3.82	43.4%	64.3%	20.7%	66.6	4.3%	16.2%
Rank	40	80	12	18	86	90	111	54	124

Player	Pos.	Ht, Wt	2013 Year	Rivals	Career Starts/Honors/Notes
Xavier Su'a-Filo	LG	6'3, 304	Jr.	**** (6.0)	14 career starts; 2012 1st All-Pac-12
Jeff Baca	RG				45 career starts; 2012 2nd All-Pac-12
Torian White	LT	6'5, 282	So.	*** (5.6)	14 career starts
Jake Brendel	C	6'4, 276	So.	*** (5.6)	14 career starts
Simon Goines	RT	6'6, 320	So.	*** (5.7)	13 career starts
Alberto Cid	RG	6'2, 325	Sr.	** (5.2)	8 career starts
Brett Downey	RT				2 career starts
Alexandru Ceachir	RG	6'5, 302	Jr.	*** (5.6)
Kody Innes	C	6'3, 275	Jr.	**** (5.8)
Christian Morris	LT	6'6, 293	Fr.	**** (5.9)
Caleb Benenoch	LG	6'5, 321	Fr.	**** (5.8)
Poasi Moala	RT	6'5, 270	Fr.	**** (5.8)
Lacy Westbrook	OL	6'4, 320	Fr.	**** (5.8)
John Lopez	OL	6'6, 315	Fr.	**** (5.8)
Kenny Lacy	OL	6'6, 270	Fr.	**** (5.8)

5. The reinforcements arrive up front

Hundley attempted 38 passes and eight rushes per game. Mazzone and Mora put an incredible amount of responsibility on the redshirt freshman, and it paid off quite a bit.

It could have paid off even more if the line weren't both green and held together with chicken wire and duct tape. The UCLA line was perilously thin in 2012 and started three freshmen (of either the true or redshirt variety) and a sophomore.

The line was brilliant at creating opportunities for Franklin, Hundley, and company, but it suffered quite a few breakdowns as well. Not only was Hundley sacked an incredible 52 times (including once every 6.3 passing-downs pass attempts), but opponents made run stops behind the line 21 percent of the time as well. Once a runner got past the line, great things tended to happen, but line breakdowns led to quite a few passing downs (which often led to third-and-long sacks).

This year, the reinforcements arrive. They are young, of course, but six four-star freshmen will be in uniform to spell six returnees with starting experience (77 career starts). All-conference guard Xavier Su'a-Filo is great, and even though relying on true freshmen up front is a dicey proposition, the depth here is possibly better than it was last year, and it will only get better in 2014 and beyond.

Defense

Category	Yards/ Game Rk	S&P+ Rk	Success Rt. Rk	PPP+ Rk
OVERALL	78	47	45	50
RUSHING	68	40	30	44
PASSING	87	58	59	54
Standard Downs		66	53	80
Passing Downs		24	36	17
Redzone		98	109	69

Q1 Rk	32	1st Down Rk	43
Q2 Rk	47	2nd Down Rk	52
Q3 Rk	18	3rd Down Rk	25
Q4 Rk	74

6. UCLA toed the line with injuries and depth

Only four linemen and four linebackers logged even 15.0 tackles in 2012. The front seven of Lou Spanos' 3-4 defense came together incredibly well -- much better than should have been expected, really -- but the Bruins were a little bit lucky, too, in escaping any major injuries (the nature of luck was then made apparent by expected 2013 starting defensive end Owamagbe Odighizuwa's possible season-ending injury). There was some luck involved in UCLA's defensive surge, but it's difficult to argue with the product up front: 32nd in Adj. Line Yards, 12th in Adj. Sack Rate. The Bruins were fantastic on passing downs, in part because of the pressure they generated on opposing passers.

The margin for error was minimal, however. First of all, the depth showed in the per-quarter splits above: UCLA got worse as each half progressed. Beyond that, UCLA was also mediocre when it couldn't be aggressive. The Bruins were a big-play sieve on standard downs; it doesn't matter how good you are on passing downs if you can't force any.

The depth up front could be better this year if a couple of many four-star freshmen come through with solid play, but with the secondary hitting the reset button, opponents will be unafraid of passing on standard downs.

Defensive Line

Category	Adj. Line Yds	Std. Downs LY/carry	Pass. Downs LY/carry	Opp. Rate	Power Success Rate	Stuff Rate	Adj. Sack Rate	Std. Downs Sack Rt.	Pass. Downs Sack Rt.
Team	108.3	2.97	2.65	37.6%	61.0%	17.5%	138.7	7.1%	11.2%
Rank	32	70	19	48	23	87	12	12	6

Name	Pos	Ht, Wt	2013 Year	Rivals	GP	Tackles	% of Team	TFL	Sacks	Int	PBU	FF	FR
Datone Jones	DE				14	53.5	6.6%	19	6.5	0	0	2	0
Cassius Marsh	DE	6'4, 268	Sr.	**** (6.0)	14	40.5	5.0%	10.5	8	0	2	2	3
*Owamagbe Odighizuwa*	DE	6'3, 265	Sr.	***** (6.1)	14	34.5	4.3%	6	3.5	0	3	0	2
Seali'I Epenesa	NT	6'1, 316	Sr.	*** (5.6)	14	17.5	2.2%	0	0	0	0	1	0
Donovan Carter	DE				13	11.0	1.4%	0	0	0	1	0	0
Ellis McCarthy	DE	6'4, 330	So.	***** (6.1)	9	9.5	1.2%	1	1	0	1	0	0
Keenan Graham	DE	6'1, 246	Sr.	**** (5.8)	11	7.5	0.9%	1	1	0	0	0	0
Brandon Willis	DE	6'1, 268	Jr.	**** (5.9)	6	3.5	0.4%	0	0	0	0	0	1
Brandon Tuliaupupu	NT	6'1, 302	So.	*** (5.6)	5	2.0	0.2%	0	0	0	0	0	0
Kylie Fitts	DE	6'4, 260	Fr.	**** (5.9)
Kenneth Clark	DT	6'2, 275	Fr.	**** (5.8)

Linebackers

Name

Pos

Ht, Wt

2013
Year

Rivals

Tackles

% of Team

TFL

Sacks

Int

PBU

Eric Kendricks

ILB

6'0, 228

Jr.

*** (5.6)

120.0

14.8%

Anthony Barr

OLB

6'4, 245

Sr.

**** (6.0)

71.5

8.8%

21.5

13.5

Jordan Zumwalt

ILB

6'4, 230

Sr.

**** (5.8)

61.5

7.6%

Damien Holmes

OLB

44.0

5.4%

5.5

Ryan Hofmeister

ILB

6'0, 222

Jr.

*** (5.6)

12.5

1.5%

Aaron Wallace

OLB

6'2, 228

So.

*** (5.6)

3.0

0.4%

Kenny Orjioke

ILB

6'4, 229

So.

*** (5.6)

2.0

0.2%

Aaron Porter

ILB

6'0, 230

RSFr.

**** (5.8)

Nate Iese

OLB

6'3, 241

RSFr.

*** (5.6)

Jeremy Castro

6'2, 243

Fr.

**** (5.8)

Isaac Savaiinaea

ILB

6'3, 235

Fr.

*** (5.6)

Deon Hollins, Jr.

6'2, 225

Fr.

**** (5.8)

Myles Jack

6'2, 215

Fr.

**** (5.8)

7. The ultimate "ATH" recruit

Anthony Barr missed most of his senior season in high school with an injury, but he was still rated the No. 50 player in the Class of 2010 by Rivals.com. He was the No. 5 player in the country in the Athlete position, No. 1 ATH by MaxPreps. Scout.com listed him as a linebacker, but most recruiting services had no idea what position he should play. Neither did Rick Neuheisel. In two seasons as a big receiver and short-yardage back, he had 12 catches for all of 82 yards, 15 carries for 54 yards, and two total touchdowns. He didn't warrant a mention among the 3,000 words I wrote about UCLA last summer.

But then Mora and Spanos decided to listen to Scout.com, evidently. In desperate need of warm bodies to fill out the two-deep at linebacker, they moved Barr to OLB ... and he became potentially the best 3-4 outside linebacker in the country. He sacked quarterbacks more times than Miami or Iowa did, more times than Eastern Michigan and Boston College combined. He broke up passes, he forced fumbles, he nearly broke USC's Matt Barkley in half ... he was the tone-setter for this active, aggressive front seven. And he also decided to return for his senior season.

UCLA has a couple of interesting pieces to replace up front -- namely, OLB Damien Holmes and end Datone Jones -- but with Barr anchoring the pass rush, Erick Kendricks vacuuming up every tackle, and a wealth of four- and five-star talent ready to crack the rotation on the line, it's hard to fear much of a dropoff here ... at least, as long as the injury bug stays away.

Secondary

Name	Pos	Ht, Wt	2013 Year	Rivals	GP	Tackles	% of Team	TFL	Sacks	Int	PBU	FF	FR
Tevin McDonald	FS				13	68.0	8.4%	0	0	1	9	1	2
Andrew Abbott	SS				14	56.0	6.9%	3	0	4	3	0	0
Aaron Hester	CB				14	37.5	4.6%	2	0	1	7	1	1
Sheldon Price	CB				13	33.5	4.1%	0.5	0	4	5	0	0
Randall Goforth	CB	5'10, 187	So.	*** (5.7)	14	33.0	4.1%	1	0	1	3	0	1
Dietrich Riley (2011)	SS	6'0, 200	Jr.	**** (5.9)	8	29.5	3.8%	2	0	0	3	1	1
Dalton Hilliard	SS				13	28.5	3.5%	5.5	1	1	2	2	0
Stan McKay	FS	6'0, 198	Sr.	*** (5.6)	14	27.5	3.4%	3	3	2	3	1	0
Fabian Moreau	CB	6'0, 182	So.	*** (5.5)	11	4.0	0.5%	0	0	0	0	0	1
Anthony Jefferson	SS	6'1, 184	Jr.	**** (5.8)	8	4.0	0.5%	0	0	0	0	0	0
Marcus Rios	CB	5'11, 185	So.	**** (5.8)	9	2.5	0.3%	0	0	0	0	0	0
Brandon Sermons	FS	5'11, 195	Sr.	**** (5.8)	9	2.0	0.2%	0	0	0	0	0	0
Ishmael Adams	CB	5'8, 185	RSFr.	**** (5.8)	3	0.5	0.1%	0	0	0	0	0	0
Dylan Price	FS	5'10, 195	So.	NR
Priest Willis	CB	6'2, 185	Fr.	**** (6.0)
Tahaan Goodman	SS	6'2, 185	Fr.	**** (6.0)

8. A new secondary

There is, however, ample reason to fear the defensive backfield. The secondary was easily the weakness of the 2012 defense, and that was with senior corners Aaron Hester and Sheldon Price, senior safety Andrew Abbott, and recently dismissed ball-hawk Tevin McDonald. In all, five of last year's top six DBs are gone.

When a unit stinks, a little bit of new blood is sometimes a good thing, and lord knows there are some four-star youngsters who could turn out alright. But there is no immediate reason to think that last year's weakness will be any different in 2013. If opponents can still pass at will on standard downs, and if opponents can once again avoid passing downs, UCLA's defense will be on its heels even more frequently than it was last year.

Special Teams

Punter	Ht, Wt	2013 Year	Punts	Avg	TB	FC	I20	FC/I20 Ratio
Jeff Locke			77	43.3	7	36	34	90.9%

Kicker	Ht, Wt	2013 Year	Kickoffs	Avg	TB	TB%
Jeff Locke			89	64.2	68	76.4%

Place-Kicker	Ht, Wt	2013 Year	PAT	FG (0-39)	Pct	FG (40+)	Pct
Ka'imi Fairbairn	5'11, 181	So.	56-59	14-16	87.5%	2-6	33.3%

Returner	Pos.	Ht, Wt	2013 Year	Returns	Avg.	TD
Damien Thigpen	KR	5'8, 180	Sr.	14	26.9	0
Devin Fuller	KR	5'11, 194	So.	9	18.6	0
Steven Manfro	KR	5'9, 193	So.	8	22.0	0
Steven Manfro	PR	5'9, 193	So.	15	8.8	0

Category	Rk
Special Teams F/+	73
Net Punting	14
Net Kickoffs	2
Touchback Pct	1
Field Goal Pct	60
Kick Returns Avg	55
Punt Returns Avg	55

9. The ultimate field-position weapon is gone

Despite sack issues on offense, and despite standard downs softness on defense, UCLA ranked 15th in Field Position Advantage last season, and it isn't hard to see why: Jeff Locke was just awesome. Locke boomed unreturnable 44-yard punts and sent three of every four kickoffs into the end zone, repeatedly pinning opponents deep and forcing them to work the full distance of the field. Without him, UCLA could lose a few yards per possession.

2013 Schedule & Projection Factors

2013 Schedule
Date	Opponent	Proj. Rk
31-Aug	Nevada	74
14-Sep	at Nebraska	20
21-Sep	New Mexico State	123
3-Oct	at Utah	52
12-Oct	California	68
19-Oct	at Stanford	5
26-Oct	at Oregon	2
2-Nov	Colorado	115
9-Nov	at Arizona	30
15-Nov	Washington	45
23-Nov	Arizona State	34
30-Nov	at USC	17

Five-Year F/+ Rk	66
Two-Year Recruiting Rk	10
TO Margin/Adj. TO Margin*	+7 / +6.0
TO Luck/Game	0.4
Approx. Ret. Starters (Off. / Def.)	12 (7, 5)
Yds/Pt Margin**	-1.5

10. What a road schedule

UCLA gets Nevada, New Mexico State, California, Colorado, Washington, and Arizona State at home. That is about as winnable a home schedule as you could ever hope to have. But to make the Pac-12 title game for a third straight year, the Bruins are going to have to steal some road wins as well. Beating Utah is reasonably likely, but ... who else are they going to beat? They get both Stanford and Oregon on the road in back-to-back weeks (yuck) and have to face revenge attempts at both Arizona and USC.

In Brett Hundley, Anthony Barr, end Cassius Marsh, Xavier Su'a-Filo, Shaq Evans, and others, UCLA quite possibly has more star power than USC this year. But the tendency to regress after a surge, the rebuilt and terrifying secondary, potential issues at running back, and the loaded road slate could hold them back.

Jim Mora, Jr., engineered a hell of a turnaround, and he is putting the pieces in place for a long stay in the Top 25, but matching last year's nine wins might be as good as one can expect from the Bruins in Mora's second year. Still, after UCLA's recent history, that's pretty impressive.