UCLA has been riding high going into week 5. Its ranking at 7th in the nation is the highest in quite a while. This is odd because I feel that the PAC 12 does not get the respect it should.
In this instance though; UCLA was too highly ranked. They have some really good players. They beat a very good BYU team in week 3.
That is how unranked Arizona State was able to beat the 7th ranked team by a score of 38 – 23. The Bruins stumbled hard. This was not a valuable loss.
At one point the Sun Devils were ranked 15th in the nation. They were knocked off by Texas A&M week 1 demonstrating that they did not earn that preseason ranking. Which should cause many to question why they do a preseason poll at all?
The Sun Devils also lost to 19th rank USC in week 4. The Sun Devils play hard. I do not think they are championship caliber though. They have not made it back into the rankings. They shouldn’t until there is a track record of their quality performances.
As for the Bruins; it will be interesting to see if they can recover. If they can impress with future wins or will they fold? This has to be a turning point for them.
This is the type of intrigue that college football can really bring to sports. But it has to be a honed. And made better. That cannot happen with good and measured change.
