The first 2026 CFP rankings were released today and UCLA got absolutely no respect from the CFP Selection Committee. The Bruins were ranked eighth in today’s rankings.
Three teams which were ranked below UCLA in this week’s Top 25 Polls were ranked ahead of the Bruins including two two-loss teams, which, frankly, is ridiculous.
Believe me, I get that UCLA’s strength of schedule this year is not very good, but no two-loss team should be ranked ahead of an undefeated Power Four team. Period.
Of course, the good news is that there is a little over a month to fix this.
If UCLA wins out, the Bruins will have the top seed for the Big Ten Championship Game and they would likely end up playing either Ohio State or Indiana, and winning their remaining games and the Big Ten title should move them into the Top Four.
As Coach Chesney keeps saying, they just need to keep doing what got them to this point. The next five weeks will determine how this finally plays out. Personally, I’d rather be ranked highest after the Big Ten Championship Game than now anyway.
Of course, Miami was ranked first, followed by Georgia then Utah. Indiana was ranked fourth. After that is when things got questionable. Alabama, whose record is 6-2, sits at fifth, which is a joke.
The Crimson Tide is followed by 7-1 Kentucky. The 6-2 Texas Longhorns are ranked seventh, even though they have no business being ranked that high.
If the CFP field were set today, the final spots four spots would go to BYU, Ole Miss, Notre Dame and Boise State, with the Broncos supplanting 12th-ranked Ohio State as the highest-ranked Group of Six school after being ranked 25th.
Here are this week’s CFP rankings:
UCLA’s next game will be this Saturday, November 7 against the Minnesota Golden Gophers at Huntington Bank Stadium in Minneapolis. Kickoff time is set for 9:00 am PT and the game will be broadcast on Fox with Gus Johnson and Joel Klatt calling the game.
Go Bruins!!!
Thanks again for supporting The Mighty Bruin. Your paid subscriptions make this site possible. Questions, comments, story ideas, angry missives and more can be sent to @TheMightyBruin on Twitter.
It’s mind blowing that Texas and Alabama have two losses and they are above us and why is Utah number three and we’re number eight? The bottom line is the next four weeks are key. We do our business like we’ve been doing our business. There should be no problem. I’m convinced that this team is on the threshold of greatness.
We may need to win out to get any respect.