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The original was posted on /r/cfb by /u/Academic-Inside-3022 on 2025-07-20 17:21:00+00:00.
You could say it was historic, but normally when someone describes a season as being historic, we think of a team achieving a huge milestone.
Did UCLA win the BCS Championship game? Nope.
Did UCLA win their bowl game? Nope.
Did UCLA win the Pac-12 Championship? Nope.
But UCLA did manage to make it to the both the conference championship game and a bowl game, which should’ve been considered impressive. Only they made the Conference Championship game with a 6-6 record. This is partly because the USC Trojans were still under their bowl ban, otherwise USC’s 7-2 conference record would’ve put them in the Championship game.
The only reason the Bruins got in was Colorado defeated Utah to give UCLA the division crown, and the right to play Oregon in the CCG.
I do remember UCLA being granted a waiver to remain bowl eligible in this season when they finished the regular season. Their argument was they were going to be punished if they were to lose the CCG. I remember this being the center of debate amongst sportswriters too.
Welp, Oregon beat UCLA in the CCG, and UCLA fell to 6-7. They got invited to play in the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl against Illinois…
If you guys don’t remember, this was the Illinois team that started out 6-0 and ended the season 0-6.
Illinois would end up beating the Bruins and UCLA would end up making history, becoming the first bowl eligible team to have 8 losses at the end of the season.
Rick Neuheisel was also fired at the end of the regular season, but was allowed to coach in the CCG against Oregon.
Also one other lowlight in this season was a bench clearing brawl that was sparked by a fan posing as a referee. Which resulted in ejections and suspensions, and that included several key UCLA players.