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UCLA Football: Being real about the Bruins’ success in 2018

By James Puryear

PASADENA, CA - SEPTEMBER 09: Caleb Wilson
PASADENA, CA - SEPTEMBER 09: Caleb Wilson /
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WESTWOOD, CA – NOVEMBER 27: Chip Kelly speaks to the media during a press conference after being introduced as the new UCLA Football head coach on November 27, 2017 in Westwood, California. (Photo by Josh Lefkowitz/Getty Images)
WESTWOOD, CA – NOVEMBER 27: Chip Kelly speaks to the media during a press conference after being introduced as the new UCLA Football head coach on November 27, 2017 in Westwood, California. (Photo by Josh Lefkowitz/Getty Images) /

Key Departures

To begin with, UCLA’s QB Josh Rosen is going to the NFL as a potential top-5 pick and odds are there’s going to be some drop off at that position.

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I don’t want this to be seen as a knock on our next guy, but Josh was as good as they come and leaves some big shoes to fill especially for the first year in Kelly’s system.

Other notable departures include OL Scott Quessenberry, OT Kolton Miller, WR Jordan Lasley, WR Darren Andrews, DL Matt Dickerson, LB Kenny Young and DB Jaleel Wadood, all of whom were major contributors for the Bruins.

In particular, there’s cause for concern at several offensive line position. There’s an article written by Go Joe Bruin author Mike Crawford that goes in-depth about the situation, but in summary there’s major questions about depth and experience going into the 2018 season.

So in all, if you heard that a 6-7 team was going to lose a top-5 the best quarterback in the country plus a number of other key players, have major questions at offensive line and on top of that have maybe the most difficult schedule in the country, well… you’d probably pick them to go under .500 too.   However I don’t quite agree.

Why UCLA will probably go better than 5-7

I think UCLA will finish at .500 or better for a couple of really simple reasons.

1.  The defense will likely get better.  – Last season UCLA’s defense was bad, like really bad.  Bruins were 122nd out of 129 teams in total defense, 127th in first down defense and dead last in rushing defense.

UCLA recruits well, so on paper it should be able to put together a pretty stout defense, which UCLA has had in years past. But even if the defense is just average next season, it’ll be a huge improvement from the year before.

And if that happens, it’ll go a long way in making up for personnel departures.

2. UCLA hired Chip Kelly–  Elite coaching matters in college football. To put things into perspective Kelly went 46-7 at Oregon with a 33-3 conference record.  Furthermore he did it without having the “best” talent

So with that in mind, lets break down the season…