Various national college football publications and sites have ranked UCLA's football team for the 2025 season, and they are not ranked in the top 25 among the national college football publications.
Many of these rankings include all 136 FBS teams instead of just the traditional top 25, and most place UCLA in the middle to even lower tier. These projections are influenced significantly by the Bruins' 3-6 Big Ten record last season and their not making a bowl game.
According to Athlon Sports, UCLA ranks 62nd out of 136 teams in the FBS.
A 53rd-ranked team is the UCLA Bruins according to College Football News.
In the ESPN FPI (Football Power Index), UCLA ranks 52nd and 14th among teams in the Big Ten.
Phil Steele ranks UCLA 52nd in his well-known college football prseason preview magazine.
According to Fox Sports (RJ Young's Ultimate 136), the Bruins are ranked 48th. Compared to his ranking of 74th in 2024 for UCLA, this is a significantly higher ranking for the Bruins.
Sports Illustrated / The Athletic (Chris Vannini) from the Athletic ranks UCLA as the 66th team in the nation heading into the 2025 college football season among the 136 FBS teams.
USA Today (Paul Myerberger) has UCLA ranked 59th out of 136 FBS teams, and 13th in the Big Ten.
The consensus among these national college football publications, media members, and sites is that UCLA is not expected to be a top-tier program in the Big Ten and or in the country in the 2025 season. However, the rankings do reflect the optimism surrounding new head coach DeShaun Foster's second season and the addition of quarterback Nico Iamaleava, a transfer from Tennessee, in comparison to their preseason ranking before the beginning of the 2024 season. A common theme in the analysis is that for UCLA to exceed these preseason expectations and make a bowl game and that they will need to show significant improvement in 2025.