UCLA Football: Realistic expectations for 2018 season

College football is back and one of the most intriguing teams to watch is the UCLA Football Bruins in the program’s first season under Chip Kelly.

Cancel all of your Saturday plans for the next four months. The first Saturday of college football is officially underway. The players, coaches, bands, cheerleaders and fans are ready to go — including the UCLA Football Bruins.

The mascots are ready to jump around on the sidelines. It is that time of the year to sit on the couch and watch as many games as you can. The beauty of college football is that starting on September 1st, every game matters.

There is no need to sit through four meaningless preseason games which means teams must be on their ‘A’ game immediately or at least play just good enough to win.

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Is this THE year for the Bruins? Ever since Chip Kelly has stepped onto the UCLA campus, there has been a sense of renewed hope and commitment to winning. However, let’s not get ahead of ourselves.

UCLA is breaking in a new coaching staff, a new system, and not to mention a new quarterback (see here). Coach Kelly will need time to recruit ‘his’ guys. Kelly has inherited the majority of this team from Jim Mora. UCLA nation must be patient.

As expected in the first game, UCLA was sloppy. There were unnecessary penalties and a number of throws that were missed by Wilton Speight (who left the game due to a back injury) and Dorian Thompson-Robinson. 

Looking at the 2018 UCLA schedule, I see UCLA going 5-7 this year with a ceiling of 6-6. The schedule is brutal. The Bruins will be traveling to Norman next week to take on a top ten team in Oklahoma.

Fortunately, for UCLA, most of their tough Pac-12 games will come at the Rose Bowl (Washington, Arizona, Utah, USC, and Stanford). If they can win three of those five games, that would be considered a success in my book.

Chip Kelly was the right hire and he will eventually take this program to new heights, but Bruin fans have to be patient. Do not panic. Let’s set realistic expectations. Wins are on the way.