Why Indiana is UCLA's 3rd-Most Important Game

We're officially one week away from UCLA's season opener, and the Bruins are one of the biggest stories in college football.

With a ton of expectations preceding them, let's rank the Bruins' most important games on the schedule, moving on to No. 3 -- Week 9 vs Indiana.

This is the last of three ranked UCLA opponents in these rankings. Indiana is 20th according to the AP Preseason Top 25 poll, and the Bruins take on the Hoosiers after two weeks against Michigan State and Maryland, two games where UCLA will be favored.

Take a walk with me.

UCLA opens up the season by upsetting Utah and defeating UNLV and New Mexico to close out conference play. The Bruins then open up Big Ten play with a win against Northwestern, a loss to Penn State, and then two wins against the Spartans and Terrapins. That is a likely path if UCLA is the team we think it can be going into the season.

This means the Bruins will be going into Indiana with a 6-1 record and a chance to upset the Hoosiers, setting a commanding tone for the rest of the season. That's the type of game I view this as -- the chance to put the college football world on notice.

Analyst Previews Indiana

Want to know more about the Hoosiers going into the season? Well, ESPN's Bill Connelly previewed them, here's what he had to say:

"In his first season in charge in Bloomington, Cignetti brought in a huge batch of transfers (including many from James Madison, his previous employer) and immediately had a CFP team on his hands. Including JMU's virtually perfect jump from FCS to FBS, basically everything Cignetti has touched in the 2020s has turned to gold.

"But the problem with leaning on a huge batch of transfers for immediate success, is that you will probably have to do it again the following year. Among last season's standouts, a few return: receiver Elijah Sarratt, three offensive line starters and high-quality defenders in end Mikail Kamara, linebacker Aiden Fisher and corner D'Angelo Ponds. But only eight starters are back, if the Hoosiers make another run at double-digit wins, it will again be because of the portal.

"At quarterback, Cignetti did well in adding Cal's Fernando Mendoza. Over 20 appearances in two seasons, Mendoza has thrown for 4,712 yards and 30 TDs; he's more efficient than explosive, but he torches zone coverage, and if opponents move to man defense, he's a good scramble threat. New running backs Lee Beebe Jr. (UAB) and Roman Hemby (Maryland) will join returnee Kaelon Black in the backfield, and among five portal additions in the receiving corps, I particularly like Makai Jackson (Appalachian State). Center Pat Coogan (Notre Dame) is the most important addition up front. This offense will be different than last season's, but I like what coordinator Mike Shanahan has to work with.

"Thanks to a combination of aggressive run defense and big-play prevention against the pass, Indiana had just about the best combination of defensive efficiency and explosiveness you could hope for in 2024.

"Yes, the Hoosiers' schedule was lighter than some others, but even against the best offenses on the schedule, they held Ohio State to its third-worst yards-per-play average of the season and its worst yards-per-successful-play average. Notre Dame got a 98-yard touchdown run from Jeremiyah Love in the CFP but otherwise averaged a paltry 4.5 yards per play. This was a good defense, and I bet it will be again. Cignetti brought in four FBS linemen who combined for 24 TFLs last season (my favorite: Western Kentucky tackle Hosea Wheeler), plus four DBs to pair with Ponds & Co.

"You can't sneak up on everybody twice, and trips to Penn State, Oregon and Iowa await (along with a huge visit from Illinois). I doubt this is a playoff team again in 2025, but it seems doable that Cignetti turns IU into a stable, top-25 program. A year ago, that would have been unthinkable."