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UCLA Football: Teams the Bruins should schedule after Rutgers backs out

By Mike Regalado

PASADENA, CA - NOVEMBER 02: The Colorado Buffaloes and the UCLA Bruins play in a general overall view of the Rose Bowl on November 2, 2013 in Pasadena, California. UCLA won 45-23. (Photo by Stephen Dunn/Getty Images)
PASADENA, CA - NOVEMBER 02: The Colorado Buffaloes and the UCLA Bruins play in a general overall view of the Rose Bowl on November 2, 2013 in Pasadena, California. UCLA won 45-23. (Photo by Stephen Dunn/Getty Images) /
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Yesterday, the UCLA football team received word that Rutgers has backed out of their home-and-home series with the Bruins for 2020 and 2021. That prompted us to ask UCLA fans what teams they  should schedule in the future?

The UCLA football team is going to have to fill a spot in the non-conference for the 2020 and 2021 season as Rutgers has backed out of their commitment. According to the Los Angeles Times, no reason was given by Rutgers athletic officials, so thats happening.

RELATED: UCLA’s biggest recruiting needs for National Signing Day

UCLA was set to play at Rutgers in 2020 while they welcome them to the Rose Bowl in 2021. Now UCLA has to fill two spots in the first year (only a road game at San Diego State is scheduled) and one in the second (both LSU and Fresno St. are slated to play at the Rose Bowl).

So with Rutgers vacating those dates, as well as a few other future dates UCLA needs to fill, we went to social media (both Twitter and Facebook) to ask what teams UCLA football fans would like to schedule in the future, though we slightly moved away from the Rutgers vacancy and wanted to get a general feel for all the teams Bruins’ fans wanted UCLA to face.

Before we get into the selections, there are some things to consider. There were a few schools named that UCLA already has on their future schedules, but we still kept them with our results to give the general feel of the fan’s wants.

Additionally, because UCLA has never scheduled an FCS school, those selections were left out. Other than that, out of the 173 selections, we broke the poll down by percentage among the 48 schools named. Here are the results:

Who should UCLA football schedule in the future?

More from Go Joe Bruin

  • Notre Dame 10.4%
  • Miami 8.1%
  • Florida State 5.8%
  • Penn State 5.8%
  • Auburn 5.8%
  • Ohio State 5.2%
  • Florida 5.2%
  • Michigan* 3.5%
  • Wisconsin* 2.9%
  • Clemson 2.9%
  • Alabama 2.9%
  • Georgia* 2.9%
  • Ole Miss 2.3%
  • 7 schools^ tied at 1.7%
  • 14 schools+ tied at 1.2%
  • 14 schools• tied at 0.6%

It was interesting how much “revenge” came up with the fan suggestions on Twitter and Facebook, which explains why Notre Dame and Miami are at the top of this list.

Back in 2006, the Karl Dorrell-led Bruins visited South Bend and put up a fight in a game that UCLA was dominating… and then the Bruins played conservatively on defense in the final moments, allowing Notre Dame to win 20-17. It was a heartbreaker, but the Bruins had another chance for victory… and it didn’t go well.

It was interesting how much “revenge” came up with the fan suggestions, which explains why Notre Dame and Miami are at the top of this list.

It got worse in 2007. The no. 25 UCLA Bruins welcomed 0-5 Notre Dame and promptly lost 20-6 to one of the worst Irish teams in recent history, so you can understand why Bruins’ fans want another shot at the Fighting Irish.

As for Miami, well, everyone wants to forget 1998. A real hurricane pushed the UCLA-Miami game to the end of that season. The Bruins were 10-0 heading into that final regular season game. A win would have put UCLA in the BCS National Championship Game.

They lost. What is worse is that Wisconsin ran over UCLA in the Rose Bowl Game a few weeks after, completing the major let down from an almost perfect season. So you can see why fans would like a shot at revenge with The U.

As for other teams, it appears that UCLA fans really want to schedule high-profile home-and-home series. The next requested teams (Florida State, Penn State, Auburn, Ohio State and Florida) are big time programs which would draw massive attention to a series with UCLA, especially if Chip Kelly is in Westwood for a long time.

To be the best, you need to play the best. Hopefully UCLA can get a few matchups with these teams to have a shot at being the best themselves as the Bruin brand booms.

Next: The 30 Greatest UCLA Football Players of All-Time

* – denotes teams UCLA is scheduled to play in the next 10 years

^ – schools include Arkansas, Boise State, Boston College, Georgia Tech, Kentucky, Oklahoma*, Texas

+ – schools include Duke, FAU, Hawaii, Michigan State, Nebraska, Northwestern, Oklahoma State, Pitt, San Diego State*, Syracuse, Texas A&M, TCU, Vanderbilt, Virginia Tech

• – schools include Army, Indiana,  Iowa, Kansas, Louisville, LSU*, South Carolina, Tennessee, Tulane, UNC, West Virginia, UCF, UNLV*, USF