USC Rises, UCLA Falls in Week 7 Pac 12 Power Rankings
Saturday Blitz Pac 12 Power Rankings Week 7
It’s hard to sell keeping UCLA above Stanford right now. But the Bruins at least have a major quality win with their blowout over Arizona State, and as of right now, that looks more impressive than any of the Cardinal’s wins. That’s why we’re doing this, but we can’t say we’re definitively right about it after the way the Bruins embarrassed themselves against Oregon on Saturday.
UCLA has proven it has some serious issues on defense, even if Brett Hundley is a good quarterback who deserves the credit he gets. Jim Mora is building a great program over there in the LA area, and the Bruins have a lot to be excited about. But the order of business over the next couple years has got to be shoring up this defense. It’s been awful so far, and while allowing 42 points to Oregon is one thing, it’s another thing to allow 35 points to Memphis and to allow the Utah Utes to have a game-winning drive against you entirely on the ground.
Essentially, these Bruins have a lot to prove about this year. And the brutal Pac-12 South schedule sets up for that this year. While Cal and Colorado are up the next two weeks, Arizona, Washington, USC, and Stanford are the games to close out the season. Those are the four games that will determine this UCLA team’s season.
For now, they’re one of the better teams in the Pac-12, but it’s by a hair.