Given all the hype of a Pac-12 title, of playoff contention, of a #BruinRevolution, there’s really no arguing that this season of UCLA football has been a disappointing one. Much has been written about that already, both here and elsewhere, and none of it has changed much since the regular-season finale.
But, what I’m wondering now is this: Has time passed given you, the fans, a chance to reassess the season as a whole? That is, would a win over No. 11 Kansas State — one that would stand as clearly the best nonconference win of Jim Mora’s tenure — be enough to change your perception of 2014, or at least make you feel like the program is trending upward?
UCLA hasn’t ended a season in the top 10 of the Associated Press poll since its eighth-place finish in 1998. Since then, it has been unranked in 11 of the last 13 final polls. The two exceptions followed the 2005 and 2013 seasons, both of which were capped by Sun Bowl victories and a No. 16 ranking.
The Bruins are currently No. 14 in the AP poll. If they beat the No. 11 Wildcats convincingly, they have a good shot to break the 16-year streak.