Where Does UCLA Rank in Big Ten Preseason Media Polls?

It's almost time for the 2025 Big Ten Media Days, which means a ton of preseason media polls are coming out ranking how teams will finish this upcoming season.

Although the Big Ten doesn't do an official media poll like some leagues, a few media outlets constructed their own. We took a look at two different sites' media polls and where they ranked the Bruins.

Cleveland Dot Com released one of its annual preseason media polls and UCLA ranked 15th in the conference, behind Michigan State and Rutgers, who were tied for 13th, and just ahead of Maryland at 16th.

Despite ranking 15th, UCLA's average rank among the sites' 25 voters was 13.64. Here's what On3's Nick Kosko had to say about UCLA's ranking in the poll:

"DeShaun Foster hopes for more success in Year 2, which would include getting to a bowl game. Right now, they’re in the bottom third of the Big Ten per Cleveland Dot Com. Nico Iamaleava is at QB after transferring from Tennessee. How that translates is anyone’s guess, but the Bruins certainly have a talented player at the position."

The Kings of The North Podcast compiled it's own rankings as well, gathering 34 beat writers and 20 national media members to create their own preseason media poll.

The Bruins placed 14th in the poll and were ahead of Rutgers and behind Michigan State. The full poll results are below:

1. Penn State
2. Ohio State
3. Oregon
4. Illinois
5. Michigan
6. Indiana
7. USC
8. Nebraska
9. Iowa
10. Washington
11. Minnesota
12. Wisconsin
13. Michigan State
14. UCLA
15. Rutgers
16. Maryland
17. Northwestern
18. Purdue

DeShaun Foster and the UCLA Bruins have a lot to prove going into their second season in the Big Ten.

After finishing their inaugural season in the conference with a lowly 5-7 record, the Bruins acquired redshirt sophomore quarterback Nico Iamaleava after he departed from Tennessee.

Bill Connelly, college football writer for ESPN,previewed the upcoming Big Tenand UCLA season and where the Bruins are projected to end up. According to ESPN's football power index (FPI), UCLA is projected to win 5.2 games this season, but Connelly thinks they are closer to a run than that.

"UCLA began 2024 horribly in alumnus Foster's first season, barely beating Hawai'i, then losing five straight," he wrote. "But starting with a respectable Week 6 performance at Penn State, the Bruins figured some things out. They overachieved against SP+ projections by an average of 10.7 points in their last eight games and won four of their last six. They finished the season a genuinely intriguing team.

"None of this matters because Foster has an almost completely different team. The defense was responsible for a lot of that overachievement, but only two of 15 players with 200-plus snaps return, and Foster added 15 transfers. The offense discovered a decent, efficient passing game but lost quarterback Ethan Garbers and most of his skill corps. Foster brought in App State quarterback Joey Aguilar for the spring, then basically traded him to Tennessee for Nico Iamaleava.

"It's like a second first year for Foster. The Bruins will have about 18 new starters and will face seven projected top-40 opponents. Just hope for another year with late-season improvement, I guess."