The UCLA Bruins didn’t even need to play to move up in the AP rankings this week. UCLA enjoyed a bye but climbed to No. 21 in this week’s rankings, up two spots from last week’s No. 23 ranking.
UCLA was assisted by Houston, Boise State and SMU all dropping in the rankings while the Bruins got to rest up and prepare for an important showdown with the Oregon Ducks on Saturday.
Heading into this week’s ranked showdown, UCLA remains as the No. 4 rushing offense in the entire nation with 281.5 rushing yards per game. Only the Army, the Air Force and West Virginia have more. The next closest Big Ten Conference team is the Indiana Hoosiers, who are ninth in the country with 252.6 yards on the ground per game.
Indiana is the second-highest Big Ten team
in this week’s AP ranking, behind just the No. 5 Ohio State Buckeyes. Defending champion Indiana sits at No. 7, with Oregon climbing to No. 13, USC falling to No. 19, Iowa dropping to No. 20 and then the Bruins at No. 21.
Wisconsin, Northwestern, Nebraska and Minnesota all received votes this week, as did Bob Chesney’s former team, with James Madison snagging 12 votes after moving to 5-0 with a 45-17 win over Marshall.
Both Chesney’s new, and old team, teams are undefeated but that might be short-lived for the Bruins, as they’re set to face a very talented Oregon team in Autzen Stadium as 12.5 point underdogs.
This article originally appeared on UCLA Wire: UCLA football moves up to No. 21 in this week's AP rankings
