The UCLA Bruins are ranked 21st in the country in the AP Top 25 coming into the season after winning the Pac-12 South and making it to the conference championship game and despite losing that to Stanford, the team is ready to open the season and they have championship expectations with Jim Mora at the helm and Nevada is the first game on the schedule.
UCLA has plenty of talent coming back on offense starting with quarterback Brett Hundley and the Bruins come back after defeating the Trojans, who were ranked number one heading into last season, winning for the first time since 1999. The team finished the year losing three straight games and despite that, the Bruins are ranked higher than the Trojans in the rankings and after losing the Pac-12 title by just a field goal, Mora and company will be ready to get back to the championship again.
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Hundley was prolific last season and could be a dark horse Heisman candidate this season depending on how the Bruins play as a whole. Last year Hundley had a combined 4,095 yards and over 35 touchdowns, including 29 in the air and this season he should get even better after having an offseason of development. The Bruins lost some talent to the NFL draft at running back, but a year after getting sacked over 50 times, Hundley should have an improved offensive line and improved defense with Anthony Barr coming back at linebacker.
Nevada is coming back after going 7-6 and the team will open on the rod against an opponent from the Pac-12 for the third straight time and it comes after the team defeated California to open last season and they are hoping for a solid game on Saturday night. Nevada went 4-4 in the MWC last season and 0-1 vs. the top 25 and they will get an early shot against a good opponent with the Bruins opening the season and other tough games on the schedule include BYU, Hawaii, Florida State as well as Boise State later in the year and Fresno State.
The Bruins start tough with Nevasa, Nebraska and New Mexico State before playing Utah and Cal and then it doesn't get any easier with Stanford and Oregon after that. The team then will play Colorado and Arizona along with Washington and Arizona State before finishing with USC. The team went 9-5 last season and 6-3 in the Pac-12 and 3-2 against the top 25.
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