The UCLA Bruins remain one of three unbeaten teams in college football this season, holding the No. 7 spot in the US LBM Coaches Poll—their highest ranking in over a decade. Their 7-0 start marks the program’s best in two decades, but questions persist about whether their record merits serious consideration in the College Football Playoff race.
On Oct. 24, former NFL player and CBS Sports analyst Bryant McFadden expressed skepticism about UCLA’s undefeated mark, comparing the team's success to “a rapper who raps with no substance in his lyrics.” While McFadden acknowledged the commendable job head coach Bob Chesney has done during his first year at UCLA, particularly with the defense and running game, he argued that the Bruins have not faced sufficient challenges to prove their readiness for playoff competition. “Where have they really been tested? ... I don’t think they’re built right now to be extremely competitive in a first-round playoff game,” McFadden said on air.
Chesney, however, dismissed the criticism, emphasizing that external opinions do not influence the team’s approach. “I’m not worried overly over what anybody else says,” he told reporters on Monday. “It really can’t help us, and it really can’t hurt us if we don’t let it. It’s irrelevant what people have to say.”
UCLA secured its undefeated status with a 28-10 win over Michigan State, showcasing another dominant defensive effort. The Bruins limited the Spartans to fewer than 20 points for the fifth time this season and held Michigan State to a season-low 156 total yards of offense, recording a season-high four sacks. Backup quarterback Ty Dieffenbach managed the offense effectively in the absence of starter Dante Moore, while senior running back Anthony Woods led a ground attack that accumulated 245 rushing yards.
The Bruins’ most notable victory came against an Oregon team missing Moore due to injury. Oregon entered the season with national title expectations that have since diminished. UCLA followed that win with victories over a solid but not elite Wisconsin squad and Michigan State, which has yet to defeat a Big Ten opponent this year. Their remaining schedule includes only one ranked opponent—No. 25 USC—set to meet them in the final regular-season game on Nov. 28. USC has struggled under coach Lincoln Riley, reducing the likely difficulty of that matchup.
Chesney emphasized that his focus remains on the team’s performance on the field rather than rankings or media commentary. “I said it from the very beginning with these guys,” he said. “You wanna start checking all the good on social media and listening to all those goods, just know that there’s a minute where the bad will show up and you gotta take that then, too. So just avoid the good, avoid the bad, focus on the work that you gotta do, and at some point, we’ll look back at the end of the year and see where we land. But now is not the time. Now is the time for us to just keep going with our work and not worry what anybody on the outside thinks.”