Can the Bruins Go Positive This Season?

2nd-year coach DeShaun Foster, coming off a 5-7 season, is determined to lead his team to a bowl game this season. But that task is not as easy as it sounds.

First, he has upped his recruiting game. Now, UCLA will need to perform better against its Big Ten adversaries.

This offseason, Foster has made an emphasis on his recruiting. He has reached new heights and seen more success than last year. Although the record did look very pretty last year, these young guys see his passion and coaching abilities and are visibly impressed.

Foster has improved his numbers from his 2024 recruiting campaign. His 2025 recruiting class came out hot, already improving his overall ranking nationally by eight spots. Now, it is a top-20 class for 2026. It may not seem like that many spots, but not very many coaches can jump up that many places in recruiting after going 5-7 in their first season.

Two four-star recruits are suiting up as first-year students this season for the Bruins. That is one more than last year and a step toward more star players in the future. If these athletes succeed as Bruins, they could influence other top stars to consider moving to Los Angeles.

Bruins fans are optimistic about their four-star running back Karson Cox and former five-star quarterback from Tennessee Nico Iamaleava. This backfield duo should help this UCLA offense keep up with other Big Ten offenses.

The Big Ten is almost unanimously considered one of the hardest conferences in college football, and UCLA is going into its second year hoping to improve from last year, when they went 3-6 in conference play.

Having your first year as the head coach also be the first year the Bruins are in the Big Ten is rough. But Foster knows his guys returning this year will know what it's like and adjust accordingly. The Bruins have a good shot to go positive and get a bowl game this year, but they're going to need to win a few key games.

UCLA needs to win all its out-of-conference games, which is fortunate since two of them are at home. If UCLA can start 3-0, all they would need to do is win 4 of their nine games to break .500 and clinch a bowl game. Luckily for UCLA, they have four Big Ten teams who also struggled in conference play last year in Northwestern, Michigan State, Maryland, and Washington.