No. 9 UCLA football aims for 1st place in Pac-12, entry into CFP conversation

This post was updated Oct. 20 at 10:24 p.m.

The Bruins and Ducks will battle Saturday for sole possession of first place in the Pac-12, but the matchup holds even greater implications.

While still only halfway through the regular season, a win for either side could represent a true entry into the College Football Playoff conversation.

After ESPN’s “College GameDay” hypes up the matchup for hours live from Eugene on Saturday morning, No. 9 UCLA football will play in its first top-10 showdown since 2001 against No. 10 Oregon. In their last matchup of that caliber 21 years ago, the then-No. 7-ranked Bruins blew out then-No. 10 Washington 35-13 at the Rose Bowl and immediately leaped to a No. 4 national ranking for the first and only time in the 21st century.

While ranking in the top four didn’t mean anything back then, it could now mean an appearance in the four-team CFP.

Ahead of the highly anticipated matchup, redshirt senior quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson said Saturday’s game will have everything a football player dreams about experiencing.

“It’s going to be a special moment for everybody – we live for games like this,” Thompson-Robinson said. “When you get a sold-out crowd (and) it’s on ‘College GameDay’ – anything and everything you could ask for, it’s going to be at this game.”

The blue and gold became the only undefeated and highest-ranked team in the Pac-12 after then-No. 7 USC fell last Saturday to a then-No. 20 Utah team that UCLA defeated 42-32 the week prior.

Whether the Pac-12 standings, CFP implications or scouting of USC were on his mind, Thompson-Robinson admitted to watching the Trojans’ loss multiple times during the Bruins’ bye week and even shouted out the Utes for the victory.

“I watched it from start to finish,” Thompson-Robinson said. “(I) rewatched the highlights and all the film and everything, so I’ve watched it multiple times for sure.”

The result places the Bruins as the new favorite out of the Pac-12 to make the CFP, given that the blue and gold is now the only undefeated team in the conference and one of just nine unbeaten teams in the entire country.

Adding to the magnitude of this Saturday’s showdown is the blue and gold’s favorable schedule that follows.

Following the Oregon contest, USC is the only team currently with a winning record left on UCLA’s schedule. The blue and gold will play Stanford, Arizona State and Arizona after this week’s battle in Eugene and will follow its Nov. 19 rivalry game against the Trojans with a season finale against a California team that just fell to previously winless Colorado.

With a victory over the Ducks, the Bruins would be favored in their next three games and, barring an unexpected defeat, earn a perfect 10-0 record when they host their crosstown rivals.

And they would arguably have a resume good enough to be in at least the top six but maybe even the top four in any national poll.

UCLA is currently a six-point underdog in its matchup against Oregon, meaning a win Saturday would be the blue and gold’s third straight win against a ranked opponent as the betting underdog. No team would have more wins against top-15 teams than the Bruins.

Redshirt senior defensive back Stephan Blaylock said the team is thriving off the opportunity to put its improvements on display against top teams.

“(It’s) real exciting to just go out there and show people what the Bruins are made about,” Blaylock said. “Elevate our game, keep climbing up the ranks and just showing people what (we’re) about.”

The Bruins are 6-0 for the first time since 2005, 3-0 in their conference for the first time since 2007 and ranked in the top 10 nationally for the first time since 2015.

If they keep winning, they’ll play in their first conference championship game since 2012, with a chance to earn their first conference title since 1998. Accomplish those feats, and UCLA will be a legitimate CFP contender for the first time since the system’s inception.

Hypotheticals aside, redshirt senior offensive lineman Atonio Mafi said the Bruin program has come a long way from the struggles that led to the firing of Jim Mora and the 10-21 start to the coach Chip Kelly era.

“All I know is we started off 0-5 my freshman year, and now we’re 6-0,” Mafi said. “So definitely, I took the time to realize how far we’ve come. … But obviously, we’re on to the next. The main focus is to go 7-0.”

Going 7-0 could mean legitimate conversations about the Pac-12 championship and CFP are in order for UCLA.