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UCLA Football: First 2017 Top 25 Amway Coaches Poll released

By Michael Chavez

PASADENA, CA - NOVEMBER 14: Head coach Jim Mora of the UCLA Bruins looks at his team prior to a game against the Washington State Cougars at Rose Bowl on November 14, 2015 in Pasadena, California. (Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images)
PASADENA, CA - NOVEMBER 14: Head coach Jim Mora of the UCLA Bruins looks at his team prior to a game against the Washington State Cougars at Rose Bowl on November 14, 2015 in Pasadena, California. (Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images) /
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While the UCLA Football program may have plenty of potential, it still has plenty to prove on the field in 2017. The first Amway Coaches Poll of 2017 was released today. Did the Bruins make the top 25?

Let’s cut right to the chase. With the way that the UCLA Football program ended the 2016 season it shouldn’t come as any surprise that the coaches didn’t vote the Bruins into the top 25. In fact the Bruins only received one vote to enter the top 25.

While those results aren’t exactly encouraging, they aren’t a death sentence either nor were they unexpected.

This UCLA Football team has a number of questions to answer before they’ll start earning their way back into the top 25. How healthy and effective will Josh Rosen be? Can this offensive line protect him in 2017? How much better will the running game be? How quickly will the talented but young defense start to gel?

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The coaching staff and the players will get their first chance to start earning votes on Sept. 3 when they take on the Texas A&M Aggies. That game will be on a Sunday with only one other game airing. This means there will be plenty of viewers tuning in looking to get their football fix.

Listed above you can see the top 10 and there aren’t too many surprises there. It would also be hard to argue for taking any of these teams out of the top 10. One of the only major question marks in that group is how will Oklahoma handle the loss of Bob Stoops as head coach?

Jumping down into the 20-25 range where the Bruins would first enter the poll, there are many more questions. West Virginia comes in at 20 but has to answer QB questions with new starter Will Grier coming in after transferring from Florida. Number 22 Virginia Tech will also be answering their own QB questions but will have a talented defense to lean on.

Both Texas and South Florida, numbers 23 and 21 respectively, will be under new head coaches and obviously that is a major hurdle in itself.

Tennessee and Utah round out the top 25 but the Vols will need to find a new starting RB and QB after both left for the NFL. Utah lost almost the entire offensive line and essentially their entire secondary.

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This UCLA Football team has the talent to get into the top 25 and with a strong showing against the Aggies we could begin to see more votes going the Bruins’ way especially with so much instability in the back end of the poll.