Examining The AP Poll, UCLA Should Be Ranked #6 In The Nation

After an impressive win over then #15 ranked Arizona State, the UCLA Bruins are back in the Top 10 at #8. It was their fourth straight win to start the season, which makes it a very peculiar situation as to why they had to fight their way back to that spot in the first place. After they started the preseason ranked #7 in the AP Poll, the Bruins won two games and fell in the polls each time. True they were very unimpressive, but falling in the polls after a win (twice) seems absurd.

But what if UCLA did not move down? Where would the Bruins be then? First, let us examine the Bruins ranking each week. Here are the Top 15 in the AP Polls this year.

AP Poll, Preseason to Week 6

Ranking	Preseason	Week 2	Week 3	Week 4	Week 5	Week 6
1	FSU	FSU	FSU	FSU	FSU	FSU
2	Alabama	Alabama	Oregon	Oregon	Oregon	Oregon
3	Oregon	Oregon	Alabama	Alabama	Alabama	Alabama
4	Oklahoma	Oklahoma	Oklahoma	Oklahoma	Oklahoma	Oklahoma
5	Ohio St.	Auburn	Auburn	Auburn	Auburn	Auburn
6	Auburn	Georgia	Georgia	Texas A&M	Texas A&M	Texas A&M
7	UCLA	Mich. St.	Texas A&M	Baylor	Baylor	Baylor
8	Mich St	Ohio St.	Baylor	LSU	Notre Dame	UCLA
9	S. Carolina	Texas A&M	USC	Notre Dame	Mich. St.	Notre Dame
10	Baylor	Baylor	LSU	Ole Miss	Ole Miss	Mich. St.
11	Stanford	UCLA	Notre Dame	Mich. St.	UCLA	Ole Miss
12	Georgia	LSU	UCLA	UCLA	Georgia	Miss St.
13	LSU	Stanford	Mich. St.	Georgia	S. Carolina	Georgia
14	Wisconsin	USC	Ole Miss	S. Carolina	Miss St.	Stanford
15	USC	Ole Miss	Stanford	Ariz. St.	Ariz. St.	LSU

Now what would have happened if the Bruins never fell in the first two weeks? Here is what it could look like considering a few things:

-UCLA does not move down for a loss

-UCLA does not “leap” anybody due to performance

-UCLA only moves up when a loss knocks out a team in front of them

With those stipulations in mind, here is what the rankings could have looked like without UCLA falling.

Alternative AP Poll

Ranking	Preseason	Week 2	Week 3	Week 4	Week 5	Week 6
1	FSU	FSU	FSU	FSU	FSU	FSU
2	Alabama	Alabama	Oregon	Oregon	Oregon	Oregon
3	Oregon	Oregon	Alabama	Alabama	Alabama	Alabama
4	Oklahoma	Oklahoma	Oklahoma	Oklahoma	Oklahoma	Oklahoma
5	Ohio St.	Auburn	Auburn	Auburn	Auburn	Auburn
6	Auburn	Georgia	Georgia	UCLA	UCLA	UCLA
7	UCLA	UCLA	UCLA	Texas A&M	Texas A&M	Texas A&M
8	Mich St	Mich. St.	Texas A&M	Baylor	Baylor	Baylor
9	S. Carolina	Ohio St.	Baylor	LSU	Notre Dame	Notre Dame
10	Baylor	Texas A&M	USC	Notre Dame	Mich. St.	Mich. St.
11	Stanford	Baylor	LSU	Ole Miss	Ole Miss	Ole Miss
12	Georgia	LSU	Notre Dame	Mich. St.	Georgia	Miss St.
13	LSU	Stanford	Mich. St.	Georgia	S. Carolina	Georgia
14	Wisconsin	USC	Ole Miss	S. Carolina	Miss St.	Stanford
15	USC	Ole Miss	Stanford	Ariz. St.	Ariz. St.	LSU

As you can see, in the actual AP Poll, Georgia moved into the #6 spot in week 2, but because of their loss, they fell in Week 4. With that opening, UCLA should have been able to move up to that spot. Sure, Texas A&M is tearing it up as well, but for the sake of consistency, UCLA should have been ranked 6th in the nation… at the very least.

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If UCLA jumped three spots, imagine where they would be in the alternative AP Poll. If UCLA impressed the voters that much this last weekend, there is a possibility that they could have leapt over Auburn and Oklahoma. Can you imagine “#4 ranked UCLA Bruins”?

This is all speculation and things may have turned out this way if UCLA did not have such terrible showings in their first two games, but it also begs the question, “are the voters biased?” They reason I ask is because in week 1, Alabama did not look good in their game against West Virginia and they did not fall. The week after Michigan State was beat up by Oregon, they rightfully fell, but the next week after a bye, they moved up two spaces in front of UCLA. Two weekends ago, Florida State and Oregon had unimpressive against unranked opponents and stayed right where they were in the standings.

With this being the first year of the College Football Playoffs, it is very important to be one of the top four teams in the country and the AP Poll is a big indication of that. If the Bruins find themselves in a position to be considered, those two first weeks they dropped in the polls could affect their chances. There will be a 13-member committee selecting the best four teams at the end of the season, so hopefully they can see the merit of UCLA’s season (pending they do well enough to be in that conversation).

Still, it is no use crying over spilled milk as there is a ton of football left to be played, I just hope that ultimately, it pays off for UCLA and they do not get the shaft due to lack of knowledge of the team in the first two weeks.