The UCLA Bruins are one of four new programs in the 18-team Big Ten Conference. However, they failed to make much of a statement in Week 1 despite winning the game against Hawaii.
The Bruins’ lackluster performance ended in a 16-13 survival against the Rainbow Warriors.
Phil Harrison of Buckeyes Wire dropped his Big Ten power rankings, and he put UCLA at #17.
Why the Ranking
Look, I get that going to play at Hawaii can be a little bit of a underrated road trip, but there’s no way the Rainbow Warriors should hang (loose) with the Bruins. It looks like it could be a difficult year in Westwood. At least UCLA came away with a narrow win vs. the alternative.
The only team lower than UCLA was Northwestern, who struggled to defeat Miami (Ohio) in the home opener for the Wildcats.
Jake Hamilton of UCLA Wire had UCLA at #12 in his Big Ten rankings, albeit with the hope that this was a fluke game for the Bruins.