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UCLA football will be serious Pac-12 title contender in 2021

By Connor Muldowney

Dec 19, 2020; Pasadena, California, USA; UCLA Bruins quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson (1) sets to throws a pass in the first half of the game against the Stanford Cardinal at the Rose Bowl. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports
Dec 19, 2020; Pasadena, California, USA; UCLA Bruins quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson (1) sets to throws a pass in the first half of the game against the Stanford Cardinal at the Rose Bowl. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports /
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Believe it or not, UCLA football was just a few plays away from a special 2020 season. The Bruins finished 3-4 in an unconventional shortened season and didn’t lose a single game by more than six points.

In fact, they started the year with a tough six-point loss to a surprisingly competitive Colorado team. Then they lost by just three points at Oregon two weeks later before ending the season with a five-point loss to USC and a one-point overtime loss to Stanford.

It was a season of inches as each of these games could have gone the other way and could you imagine the headlines if Chip Kelly led UCLA to a 7-0 record? Kelly would have gone from hot seat to national coach of the year front-runner in just a couple of months which would have shocked everyone and added some time onto his tenure.

Instead, Kelly is fighting to keep his job after a 10-21 start to his coaching career in Los Angeles, but the 2020 season was a good sign that things are close to turning around.

UCLA is hoping to have better luck this season in those close games, but the Bruins have a fairly tough schedule that kicks off in Week 0 against Hawaii. The Bruins also face LSU in non-conference play before getting one of the toughest gauntlets in the Pac-12 later in the season.

What can we expect from the Bruins this season?

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