ESPN labels UCLA as one of the most underachieving programs in college football
The Bruins haven't won a Rose Bowl since 1985, or even appeared in one since 1998. They're riding a streak of five straight losing seasons, and they've only appeared in the final AP poll three times in the last 22 years.
UCLA football fans aren't the only ones who have taken notice.
ESPN Senior Writer Adam Rittenberg published a list of the most underachieving college football programs in the country over the last 40 years on Monday, separating the teams into six tiers. The top tier is just one team deep, Georgia, while UCLA is one of the three teams in Tier II alongside Texas and Texas A&M.
Here is what Rittenberg wrote about the Bruins' lack of success over the past four decades on the gridiron:
If there was a SimCFB game, you might build UCLA, a top public university with a broad and powerful tradition of athletic success, located in one of the nicest parts of Los Angeles. Anyone who has walked UCLA's campus in Westwood knows that the place sells itself. And yet UCLA hasn't won a conference title in 23 year! The Bruins have only two Pac-12 division championships, one AP top-10 finish and zero New Year's Six bowl appearances during the plan. There has been some laziness involved, as UCLA until recently had some of the worst facilities in the Power 5. The lack of an on-campus stadium hurts, but UCLA also plays its home games at the Rose Bowl, not some soulless NFL venue. Other than a stretch under coach Terry Donahue in the 1980s, UCLA hasn't been a consistently relevant program.
Rittenberg isn't wrong – UCLA is among the most attractive universities in the nation thanks to its premiere location, pristine campus and reputation of winning NCAA titles. With all of that in its back pocket, in addition to a brand new Wasserman Football Center and highly-paid, high-profile coach in Chip Kelly, the Bruins still haven't been a title contender in recent years.
The secret ingredient to reaching the heights of national relevancy that Donahue and Bob Toledo – in his early days – achieved is still to be determined. Coaching, recruiting, conference perception and rivalry failures have all played a part in knocking UCLA down, and now it's just a matter of which of those can be turned around and which ones are baked into the team's DNA.
Other Pac-12 schools recognized by Rittenberg are Arizona State in Tier III, USC in Tier IV and California in Tier VI.
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