For UCLA Bruins football fans, the 2024 college football season has been one big bad dream. Suffering another blowout loss to Penn State, the Bruins fell to the bottom of the Big Ten standings in their first season in the conference.
The first year under head coach DeShaun Foster has resembled Murphy’s Law, where “Anything that can go wrong will go wrong.” At 1-4 and amid a quarterback change, the Bruins season looks to be lost.
That said, UCLA’s schedule does get markedly easier from here on out. With USC and Nebraska being the only remaining Top-25 teams on their schedule, the Bruins have a chance to slowly but surely change their fortunes by picking up potential wins.
Given how the Bruins have played through six weeks, it is hard to imagine their struggling offense scoring north of 20 points, but as their schedule softens Foster and Co. have a chance to start building an identity.
With Justyn Martin taking the reins of the offense, UCLA’s offense could show steady improvements and win a small handful of games.
A near .500 record for the Bruins in their first season in the Big Ten could go a long way in settling the program and establishing an identity as talented recruits make their way to Westwood in the coming years.