UCLA head coach Jim Mora, late in the second half the Bruins’ 42-30 loss to Oregon at the Rose Bowl on Saturday, Oct. 11, 2014. (Keith Birmingham/Staff)

This is not the season UCLA had expected.

Popularly touted as a national title contender through most of the summer, the Bruins no longer even look like a conference contender. They started the season by stumbling through three unconvincing nonconference wins, getting by with timely plays despite some lackluster overall numbers. After a bye week, UCLA briefly found itself — storming out to a 62-27 rout at then-No. 15 Arizona State and bouncing back into the top 10 of the AP poll.

Reality hit a week later. Utah gashed the Bruins on the ground and won 30-28 at the Rose Bowl. On Saturday, Oregon followed that with a 42-30 victory over UCLA that never felt close.

Now unranked with even a Pac-12 South division title far from guaranteed, Bruin head coach Jim Mora told the media who to blame.

“Just remember whenever you write anything, that the guy that should get all the blame is me,” he said Sunday. “Not these players and not these assistants. I’m the one that gets paid to do it the most. I’ve got the big shoulders. If you’re ever in a situation where you go, ‘I need to blame someone,’ blame me. Will you please?”

“I wish you guys could see how hard these kids work. These coaches. I know it doesn’t matter if you don’t win, but remember it’s my job to shoulder the burden.”

He also admitted that all the outside hype affected the Bruins’ performance: “I don’t like to think in my simpleton mind, that that should matter. But when I think about it big-picture, I’m sure that it does.”

UCLA will travel this weekend to Cal, which is coming off a 31-7 loss to Washington but reeled off a surprising 4-1 start before that. California Memorial Stadium is the site of what was arguably the Bruins’ worst performance under Mora: a 43-17 loss in 2012 to a Bears team that finished 3-9 and fired head coach Jeff Tedford.