Book it: UCLA will make the College Football Playoff under Bob Chesney
Start an eight-clap.Sing the “Sons of Westwood.” Put on your Wayne Knight jersey.UCLA is going to the College Football Playoff.It’s a heady notion, this program moored in mediocrity since the turn of the century suddenly appearing on college football’s biggest stage.But holy Bob Chesney, it’s happening.
We’re calling it with more than a week to go in October.Six wins down, five or six to go before the end of the regular season.Yes, this team is that good.The Bruins can maul you with physicality.They can run you over.
They keep getting better as the game goes on.Starting quarterback goes down? No worries.The backup might be even better.Then there’s the coach who is quickly showing himself to be among the best in the business.He took James Madison to the CFP a year ago and now is on the verge of doing it at a place better known for inventing the internet than appearing on the ESPN college football home page.Not settling for wins on Saturday, Chesney holds Sunday scrimmages to develop players who need more reps before getting their own opportunities.This is why Chesney refuses to put limits on what his team can accomplish – because there are none.UCLA’s standing among the big boys will be revealed soon enough in the initial CFP rankings.Let’s dispense with any notion of suspense.The Bruins will be among the top 12 teams on Nov.
3, when the first rankings are released.They will be in every week that follows.They will be in for the first round of games beginning Dec.18.After UCLA’s most scintillating 6-0 start in decades, it isn’t a matter of if the Bruins will make the CFP but where they will play and when.The schedule sets up favorably.
At this rate, the Bruins might compete for a first-round home game that could conceivably lead to a quarterfinal appearance back in Pasadena in the Rose Bowl game on Jan.1, 2027.How’s that for a happy New Year?Right about now, some of you reading this are skeptical.
It’s OK.Go ahead, scrunch up your fac...