UCLA returns to CFP rankings and might stick this time

See you back at the Rose Bowl in December?That could be the case for UCLA’s resurgent football team after the Bruins checked in at No.8 in the initial College Football Playoff ranking released Tuesday afternoon.The top eight teams in the final CFP rankings will host first-round home games, with the top four teams in the 12-team field getting first-round byes.

USC was ranked No.20 in the initial ranking, meaning the Trojans have some significant work to do in the coming weeks.The Bruins’ ranking represented another milestone for a skyrocketing program under new coach Bob Chesney – for the first time in the history of the CFP, the Bruins are ranked in a spot that would put them on track to make the field.UCLA’s highest previous CFP ranking, in November 2014, was No.

8 – back when the CFP included only four teams.The Bruins’ last CFP ranking came in late October 2023, when they were No.19.

Before Tuesday, they had not been ranked since the playoff field expanded to 12 teams for the 2024 season.UCLA (8-0 overall, 5-0 Big Ten) could certainly lose one game and probably two and still make the CFP, though there will be those who contend their strength of schedule might be an issue with two losses.The Bruins have beaten only one ranked team – Oregon – and the Ducks have since fallen out of the rankings.Any team failing to get a first-round bye might consider itself fortunate.

Since the playoff expanded to 12 teams, teams that achieved the first-round bye are only 1-7 in their playoff openers, with eventual national champion Indiana being the outlier in 2025.Apparently being off for more than three weeks doesn’t do teams any favors.UCLA’s new lofty status comes just as it enters the toughest part of its schedule.On Saturday, UCLA faces Minnesota (5-3, 3-2) in Minneapolis at Huntington Bank Stadium, where the Golden Gophers have beaten Michigan and Iowa this season and have not lost a Big Ten game since 2024.Then the Bruins will face Illinois (5-3, 3-2...