UCLA Football: How hard will the Bruins’ 2018 schedule be?

WESTWOOD, CA – NOVEMBER 27: Chip Kelly speaks to the media following a press conference which introduced him as UCLA’s new Football Head Coach on November 27, 2017 in Westwood, California. (Photo by Josh Lefkowitz/Getty Images)

Go Joe Bruin looks at the UCLA football team’s 2018 schedule and tries to answer the question, “how hard will the Bruins season really be?”

Hard. Its going to be friggin hard. Chip Kelly hits the ground running as he begins his UCLA football career this fall with a schedule that would break most teams. Luckily, the Bruins have talent and now coaching to help them navigate this treacherous schedule.

Athlon Sports recently ranked the Pac-12’s toughest non-conference schedules which put UCLA at the top. Bleacher Report has UCLA with the 6th toughest schedule in 2018. ESPN’s football power index (FPI) gives the Bruins the toughest strength of schedule (SOS) in the nation. Needless to say, there is overwhelming evidence that the bruins will have a tough time next season.

So to help analyze just how tough 2018 will be, we will use the numbers ESPN has broken down in their FPI, last season’s records and UCLA’s Pac-12 matchups from 2017.

But before we do that, let us remind you of what the Bruins will be dealing with next season:

UCLA Football 2018 Schedule

Sept 1 vs Cincinnati Bearcats
Sept 8 at Oklahoma Sooners
Sept 15 vs Fresno State Bulldogs
Sept 28 at Colorado Buffaloes
Oct 6 vs Washington Huskies
Oct 13 at California Golden Bears
Oct 20 vs Arizona Wildcats
Oct 26 vs Utah Utes
Nov 3 at Oregon Ducks
Nov 10 at Arizona State Sun Devils
Nov 17 vs USC Trojans
Nov 24 vs Stanford Cardinal

A few quick notes about the schedule:

The games against Colorado and Utah will be on a Friday night
UCLA plays seven games at the Rose Bowl, but they include some of their tougher opponents
Last season, UCLA was 6-0 at the Rose Bowl, 0-7 on the road/at a neutral site
UCLA misses Oregon State and Washington State in 2018
UCLA’s bye is on September 21 (between Fresno State and Colorado)
ESPN FPI Rank: 48 | Projected W-L: 5.0-7.0 | SOS Rank: 1
UCLA finished 6-7, 4-5

Now let us look at the teams on an individual basis to see what kind of threat they pose to the Bruins.