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UCLA Football: 5 reasons why the Bruins will struggle in 2017

By Matthew Bartlett

TEMPE, AZ - OCTOBER 08: Head coach Jim Mora of the UCLA Bruins reacts during the second half of the college football game against the Arizona State Sun Devils at Sun Devil Stadium on October 8, 2016 in Tempe, Arizona. The Sun Devils defeated the Bruins 23-20. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)
TEMPE, AZ - OCTOBER 08: Head coach Jim Mora of the UCLA Bruins reacts during the second half of the college football game against the Arizona State Sun Devils at Sun Devil Stadium on October 8, 2016 in Tempe, Arizona. The Sun Devils defeated the Bruins 23-20. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images) /
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The 2016 season didn’t turn out how Bruin fans had hoped. Could UCLA football be in store for a repeated poor performance in 2017?

More: Projected 2-deep 2017 UCLA depth chart

The margin for error in college football continues to be increasingly thinner and thinner. A few bad bounces can turn a 10-2 season into a 8-4 season. An untimely injury could take that 8-4 record and flip it upside down. All of a sudden a great season becomes tragic.

UCLA is in danger of such a perilous season in 2017. The Bruins are already stuck in the lower tier of the PAC-12 South. Even if everything goes right they’ll be aiming for a bowl invitation, not a College Football Playoff appearance. It won’t take much for those bowl hopes to go up in flames. Here are five reasons why the 2017 UCLA football season could end up becoming a reprisal of the Bruins’ dismal 2016 campaign.

5. Jim Mora is ready to go back to the NFL

Jim Mora spent the first 25 years of his coaching career in the NFL. During that time he made stops in San Diego, New Orleans, Seattle, San Francisco and with the Atlanta Falcons. He primarily coached defensive backs and served as a defensive coordinator before being named the head coach in Atlanta in 2004.

When Mora was fired after the 2006 season in Atlanta he spent a few years with the Seahawks organization before joining the college ranks. The move seemed be a product of opportunity more than desire and the “fit” has never seemed quite right between Mora and the university.

Rumors of Mora’s willingness to move on from college have circulated since he set up shop in Los Angeles in 2012. If the team gets off to a rough start and the hot seat talk begins it’s entirely possible that he could mentally check out from the team and start fielding calls from the professional ranks.

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