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The original was posted on /r/cfb by /u/jimbobbypaul on 2023-07-30 19:59:48.
Main hub thread with the full 131 rankings
Some programs have it all. With UCLA you have top tier academics, a stunning campus, one of the best athletics programs in the country, great uniforms, a great location, massive alumni base, I can go on. Despite a so-so 21st century, UCLA ranks all the way up as the 26th best program of the last 40 years, thanks to College Football Hall of Fame coach Terry Donahue, a couple seasons from Bob Toledo, and Jim Mora Jr. carrying the 2010’s. UCLA was the only team remaining not to have a season with 11+ wins, but make up for it with many great seasons, i.e. 7 top 10 finishes and 13 top 20 finishes.
Best Seasons and Highlights
1. 1988: 5. UCLA: 10-2 (37.476) 2. 1998: 7. UCLA: 10-2 (36.604) 3. 1997: 8. UCLA: 10-2 (34.326) 4. 1987: 8. UCLA: 10-2 (32.606) 5. 2014: 11. UCLA: 10-3 (32.504) 6. 1985: 10. UCLA: 9-2-1 (32.301) 7. 2013: 15. UCLA: 10-3 (31.139) 8. 1986: 13. UCLA: 8-3-1 (23.446) 9. 2005: 15. UCLA: 10-2 (22.168) 10. 1993: 21. UCLA: 8-4 (21.181) 11. 1983: 14. UCLA: 7-4-1 (20.833) 12. 1991: 24. UCLA: 9-3 (18.739) 13. 2022: 20. UCLA: 9-4 (18.124) 14. 1984: 22. UCLA: 9-3 (15.405) 15. 2012: 33. UCLA: 9-5 (12.313) 16. 1995: 29. UCLA: 7-5 (11.359) 17. 2001: 27. UCLA: 7-4 (11.075) 18. 2002: 33. UCLA: 8-5 (7.801) 19. 2015: 41. UCLA: 8-5 (7.768) 20. 2021: 38. UCLA: 8-4 (7.189) 21. 2006: 39. UCLA: 7-6 (5.246) 22. 2000: 46. UCLA: 6-6 (-2.069) 23. 2007: 54. UCLA: 6-7 (-2.203) 24. 2009: 54. UCLA: 7-6 (-2.413) 25. 2020: 56. UCLA: 3-4 (-4.115) 26. 1996: 44. UCLA: 5-6 (-4.260) 27. 1992: 47. UCLA: 6-5 (-5.620) 28. 1990: 53. UCLA: 5-6 (-6.784) 29. 2004: 54. UCLA: 6-6 (-8.381) 30. 1994: 57. UCLA: 5-6 (-9.976) 31. 2017: 68. UCLA: 6-7 (-10.352) 32. 2003: 66. UCLA: 6-7 (-12.144) 33. 1999: 71. UCLA: 4-7 (-15.596) 34. 1989: 67. UCLA: 3-7-1 (-17.170) 35. 2011: 80. UCLA: 6-8 (-19.645) 36. 2019: 86. UCLA: 4-8 (-20.824) 37. 2016: 85. UCLA: 4-8 (-21.260) 38. 2018: 99. UCLA: 3-9 (-26.281) 39. 2010: 88. UCLA: 4-8 (-26.853) 40. 2008: 94. UCLA: 4-8 (-28.019) Overall Score: 29352 (26th)
- 276-202-4 record
- 6 conference titles
- 13-13 bowl record
- 21 consensus All-Americans
- 157 NFL players drafted
UCLA only has 5 top 10 finishes and 11 top 20 finishes in my rankings (7 and 13 in the AP Poll, respectively), but it’s still good enough to get UCLA this high. 3 conference titles came in the 1980’s, 3 in the 1990’s, and none since 1998. UCLA’s consensus All-Americans include 5 kickers (John Lee 1985, Bjorn Merten 1993, Justin Medlock 2006, Kai Forbath 2009, Ka’imi Fairbairn 2015), the 6’9 345 lb OT Jonathan Ogden (1995), TE Marcedes Lewis (2005) who won the Mackey Award, and AP Maurice Jones-Drew (2005). UCLA’s biggest source of pride in football is likely their alumni, the 157 NFL draftees being the most we’ve seen from a team so far. Top NFL players include QB Troy Aikman, OT Jonathan Ogden, DB Carnell Lake, LB Ken Norton Jr, RB Maurice Jones-Drew, LB Anthony Barr, LB Eric Kendricks, DT Kenny Clark, LB Myles Jack, TE Marcedes Lewis, QB Steve Bono, OT Kolton Miller, and QB Tommy Maddox.
Top 5 Seasons
Worst Season: 2008 (4-8 overall, 3-6 Pac-10)
UCLA was the talk of the town heading into 2008, reinvigorated with the hire of head coach Rick Neuheisel, who previously had 10-11 win seasons at both Colorado and Washington. With a season-opening 27-24 OT upset over #18 Tennessee, they became the talk of the country. They even moved up to #23 before dropping back out of the Top 25 after a BYE week. The next time they were back on the field, it was at #15 BYU, looking for their 2nd upset in as many games. Welp. It was 59-0 BYU by the end of the 3rd quarter. UCLA ran for 9 yards the whole game, and BYU QB Max Hall threw a school-record 7 TD passes in the first 37 minutes. With season-ending injuries to QBs Patrick Cowan and Ben Olsen in the preseason, 3rd stringer Kevin Craft started the entire year, throwing just 7 TD and 20 INT. UCLA had some respectable losses early like 31-36 to #25 Fresno State and 24-31 on the road against Oregon, but ultimately 3 of their last 4 games were losses of 6-34 to Oregon State, 9-34 to Arizona State, and 7-28 to #5 USC. Wins over Washington, Washington State, and Stanford were bright spots, but the 2 Washington teams finished a combined 2-23. RB Kahlil Bell had an injury plagued season, rushing for just 397 yards on 141 carries (2.8 YPC). Eventual 2009 Pac-10 Defensive POTY, DL Brian Price, had 4.5 sacks and 9.5 TFL. Neuheisel put together the 5th ranked recruiting class in the country for 2009, and things were looking up in Westwood.
5. 2014 (10-3 overall, 6-3 Pac-12)
Fast forward to 2014, Neuheisel was long gone after a disappointing 4 year tenure, and Jim Mora Jr. had brought UCLA back to some relevance. Coming off 9-5 and 10-3 seasons, UCLA football was good again, ranked #7 in the preseason with 3rd year starting QB Brett Hundley returning along with a rising defense. Head-scratching close wins early against Virginia and Memphis dropped them to #12, and Hundley went out for the game early against Texas. With the season already trending to be a disappointment, it would be none other than Rick Neuheisel’s son and backup QB, Jerry Neuheisel, playing the role of the hero, throwing 2 TD 0 INT in a 20-17 win over the Longhorns in Arlington. Following up with a 62-27 win over #15 Arizona State, UCLA was back on track. Looking like a potential ESPN College GameDay matchup between top 10 teams UCLA and Oregon, both lost in upsets (UCLA to Utah, Oregon to Arizona), then #12 Oregon beat #18 UCLA when they did meet, knocking the Bruins out of the Top 25 at a 4-2 record. They had fallen hard, barely beating Cal and Colorado, but convincing wins over #12 Arizona, Washington, and #19 USC put them at 9-2 and #8, needing to just beat Stanford at home to make the Pac-12 title game. UCLA lost in a blowout and missed out, but still beat #11 Kansas State in the Alamo Bowl to finish #10.
UCLA finished with 10 wins despite the #1 rated strength of schedule in the country, not too shabby. Hundley was 2nd Team All-Pac 12 in his final year, completing 69% of passes for 3155 yards 22 TD 5 INT along with 644 rushing yards and 10 TD. The emergence of RB Paul Perkins was a pleasant surprise, racking up 1773 yards and 11 TD from scrimmage. UCLA had one of the best LB corps in the country with Eric Kendricks winning the Dick Butkus Award and Ronnie Lott Trophy, and the do-it-all Myles Jack logging 87 tackles, 8 TFL, and 7 PBU. A year ago as a freshman, Myles Jack had to play multiple positions due to injuries to other players, and in addition to starting at LB, ran for 267 yards and 7 TD on 7.0 YPC. The team was stacked overall, as 16 players were drafted over the next 3 NFL Drafts.
4. 1987 (10-2 overall, 7-1 Pac-10)
All of UCLA’s top 4 seasons come from 1987-88 and 1997-98, so don’t get too confused by the dates. This was 1987, the earliest year. UCLA had established themselves as a dominant program under College Football Hall of Fame coach Terry Donahue, and now with transfer QB Troy Aikman starting, they were the #3 preseason team in the country. #2 Nebraska and #3 UCLA faced off in the 2nd week of the season, one of the most anticipated games of the season heading into it. Aikman took a ton of huge shots from Nebraska rushers and went down 17-42, but still made it 33-42 by game’s end. UCLA still looked like one of the best teams in the country, winning their next 8 including wins of 17-0 over Jim Sweeney’s perennially competitive Fresno State, 49-0 over Stanford, 41-10 over #16 Oregon, 31-23 over eventual #20 Arizona State, and 47-14 over Pac-10 3rd place finisher Washington. It was #5 UCLA at USC for both the Victory Bell and Pac-10 title, and USC edged out the win 20-16, although UCLA still got a share of the title with both teams finishing 7-1 in conference play. USC headed to the Rose Bowl, and UCLA beat Florida 20-16 in the Aloha Bowl to finish #9.
UCLA had a ton of talent, combining to score 35.5 PPG while giving up just 16.2 PPG. Aikman was the Pac-10 Offensive POTY and a 2nd Team All-American, throwing for 2527 yards 17 TD 8 INT. WR Flipper Anderson was the favorite target, catching 48 passes for 903 yards and 6 TD. Flipper would go on to set the NFL receiving yard record in a game with 336 yards in 1989. RB Gaston Green and OT Dave Richards were both All-Americans on offense, while LBs Ken Norton Jr. and Carnell Lake were 1st and 2nd Team All-Americans on defense, respectively. They lost Green, Richards, Flipper, and Norton along with 10 players total in the 1988 NFL Draft, but returned Aikman and a bunch of talent for 1988.
3. 1997 (10-2 overall, 7-1 Pac-10)
Whereas 1987-88 was the Troy Aikman era, 1997-98 was the Cade McNown era. This team was dripping with talent—people just didn’t know it yet. You’d think an 0-2 start wouldn’t help, but they were quality losses, losing 34-37 to eventual Pac-10 champion Washington State and 24-30 to #3 Tennessee. That’s when UCLA’s season would turn in a BIG way. 0-2 UCLA headed to Austin to play the #11 Texas Longhorns, expected to fall to 0-3 since they were on the road against the defending Big 12 champions. What happened next was shocking: UCLA took a 38-0 lead into halftime, and ended up winning 66-3, forcing 8 turnovers. It was a complete dismantling highlighted by 5 TD…
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