Go Joe Bruin
Fansided

UCLA Football: What is left for the Bruins to play for?

By Mike Regalado

BERKELEY, CA - OCTOBER 13: Dorian Thompson-Robinson #7 congratulates Joshua Kelley #27 of the UCLA Bruins after he ran in for a touchdown against the California Golden Bears at California Memorial Stadium on October 13, 2018 in Berkeley, California. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)
BERKELEY, CA - OCTOBER 13: Dorian Thompson-Robinson #7 congratulates Joshua Kelley #27 of the UCLA Bruins after he ran in for a touchdown against the California Golden Bears at California Memorial Stadium on October 13, 2018 in Berkeley, California. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit

The UCLA football team lost their seventh game of the season after a debacle against Oregon. With only three games left in the regular season, what is left to play for?

I am sure that this is not what a lot of UCLA football fans were expecting when Chip Kelly was hired almost a year ago. When the new coach was brought in to replace Jim Mora, it seemed like improvements were going to be made instantaneously.

RELATED: UCLA Beats Themselves Whilst Oregon Watches

That has not been the case as the rebuilding process looks like it will take a little bit longer than expected.

More from Go Joe Bruin

Since Kelly took over, he has had an incredible amount of turnover in personnel, playing a lot of younger individuals. He has also had to install a new system and the players have needed time to grow into it. We have seen progress throughout the season (improvements with the offensive line play, running game with Joshua Kelley, run defense… just to name a few) but it has not translated to wins.

So with that in mind, what is left to play for this season?

If Kelly is building a foundation for the next few seasons, then the experience is essential to their growth, especially for all the younger players. The problem this year has been the numerous mistakes and inexperience so having one year under their belt will help them to prepare for Kelly’s second season.

With three games left, there is also bragging rights to be attained. UCLA has games at Arizona State, and at home against USC and Stanford. Though it will be tough to pull out wins, especially against the last two, it would send a message to those rivals that UCLA is not only getting better but they can hang a win over the head of each. How bad would it make those teams look if they were to lose to this team that has struggled this season?

Lastly, as outlandish as this seems, UCLA is still in the hunt for the South Division. This is not a joke. Let us say that the Bruins win their last three games and Utah, USC, Arizona, Arizona State, and Colorado lose their last 2 or 3 of their remaining conference games, the Bruins could still go to the Pac-12 Championship Game.

Next. The 30 Greatest UCLA Football Players of All-Time. dark

Can it happen? Yes, but realistically, looking at how this team has played, it doesn’t seem likely, but they have to try. The season is not over yet and there is still a lot of learning to be done. So at the very least, UCLA needs to go out and continue to fight, fight, fight.