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The UCLA Bruins will be a team to monitor in the Big Ten Conference this season. UCLA brought in a new coaching staff and over three dozen new transfers after a horrendous showing in the Big Ten in 2025.
Will the big changes lead to better results in 2026? It’s hard to imagine the Bruins doing worse than 3-9 but how much will UCLA be able to improve in a very strong Big Ten in just one offseason?
UCLA likely aren’t threatening Ohio State, Indiana or Oregon at the top of the Big Ten, but new head coach Bob Chesney didn’t come to Westwood just to have the team get pummeled. USA TODAY writer Paul Myerburg isn’t quite sold on the new-look UCLA program for 2026, ranking the Bruins No. 15 in a ranking of Big Ten football programs, ahead of only Rutgers, Maryland and Purdue..
“One of the biggest frustrations in college football, there's tremendous potential with the Bruins that has largely been unfulfilled in this century with just three seasons of double-digit wins,” Myerburg said. “The hope is Bob Chesney can do what a run of recent UCLA head coaches could not: install an explosive offense, deliver multiple winning seasons in a row and pop into College Football Playoff contention if everything goes right.”
While a winning season seems within reach for Chesney and the Bruins in year one, it’ll likely take multiple years before UCLA is able to climb towards the top of the conference standings, something that the school has yet to do in the Big Ten.
This article originally appeared on UCLA Wire: UCLA placed near the bottom in USA TODAY's ranking of Big Ten programs
