UCLA's new football schedule for the 2016-2017 football season has been officially released along with the rest of the Pac-12, which is known for tough football schedules with teams from other Power 5 conferences. Week 1 holds wonders and questions of teams and how good they may be during the season. What I typically do at the start of every season is check the rankings and look at the schedules of each ranked team. I try to predict the final regular season records given what I've analyzed. Usually, I predict UCLA will go through the regular season with 11 wins and 1 loss (always against Stanford, UCLA went 8-4 during last regular season). Unfortunately, with unpredictable upset losses, I am always wrong. Then, after the results of week 1, I try once again to predict the records of each ranked team. The Pac-12 had a rough start to last season during week 1. Then-#22 Arizona barely defeated struggling UTSA 42-32 at home. Then-#15 Arizona State was blown out by the SEC's Texas A&M 38-17 down in Houston. California beat up FCS Grambling State 73-14 at home. Colorado fell to Hawaii 28-20 in Honolulu. Then-#7 Oregon beat FCS Eastern Washington 61-42 at home. Oregon State defeated FCS Weber State 26-7 at home. Then-#21 Stanford lost to Northwestern in Illinois. Then-#13 UCLA defeated the ACC's Virginia 34-16 at the Rose Bowl. Then-#8 USC blew out Sun Belt foe Arkansas State 55-6 at home. Utah defeated Michigan of the Big Ten 24-17 at home. Washington fell short at then-#23 Boise State 16-13 and Washington State lost to FCS Portland State 24-17 at home (In case you didn't know what the FCS is, it is practically the group of lower division teams. The FBS is where all of the major teams are). Given that Cal beat up an FCS team, Oregon won a shootout against an FCS team, Stanford lost their season opener, UCLA cruised by a Power 5 team, and USC beat up a Group of 5 team, I thought UCLA was going to be the best team in the Pac-12. However, the Bruins kept getting hit with season-ending injuries on defense, which led to just 8 wins instead of 11.
The Bruins start fresh next season with many players back on defense, including defensive linemen Eddie Vanderdoes and Fabian Moreau. UCLA's first game of next season is at College Station, Texas, against the Texas A&M Aggies. The two teams have met four times before, with the series tied at two a piece. The last time these two teams met was in the Southwestern Bell Cotton Bowl in 1998, when former UCLA quarterback Cade McNown led the team. UCLA won that game 29-23. Last season, Texas A&M had a similar season as UCLA, also finishing 8-5. The Aggies started the season by blowing out Arizona State (same game as stated above). They cruised past Ball State (56-23) and Nevada (44-27) at home. Arkansas took the Aggies to overtime at Cowboys' Stadium, but A&M pulled off the touchdown-size win 28-21 (just like the year before). The Aggies defeated then-#21 Mississippi State and climbed into the top 10, looking like a playoff contender. However, A&M's hopes were gashed after their bye week, as eventual national champion Alabama clobbered the turnover and pick six-plagued Aggies 41-23 (Yes, I can watch more College Football than just UCLA and USC, I know what happened). This was also a home game for Texas A&M. Then-#23 Ole Miss added to their woes by nearly shutting out the Aggies 23-3. A&M fell out of the rankings once again, but rebounded with a 35-28 victory against struggling South Carolina. Sneaking back into the top 25, A&M looked to redo their streak of victories, but that was cut short as Auburn clipped the Aggies 26-10 at home. After two cupcake victories against FCS Western Carolina (41-17) and a floundering Vanderbilt (25-0), the Aggies fell short against LSU 19-7. They went to the Franklin American Mortgage Music City Bowl for the postseason against the Louisville Cardinals. But once again, the Aggies lost, this time, the score being 27-21. The Aggies lose starting and backup quarterbacks Kyle Allen and Kyler Murray, who are both transferring. In turn, A&M will get the Oklahoma quarterback that beat Alabama in the Sugar Bowl two seasons ago, Trevor Knight. Wide receiver Christian Kirk returns for the A&M offense.
Next on UCLA's schedule is the UNLV Rebels at the Rose Bowl. This will be UCLA's home opener next year. The two teams' met this past season in their first-ever football meeting. The then-13th-ranked Bruins won 37-3 behind a great game for NFL-bound UCLA running back Paul Perkins and a stifling UCLA defense. UNLV lost their season opener at Northern Illinois 38-30 before crumbling against UCLA. They were defeated at Michigan 28-7, but followed up with a walloping 80-8 victory against FCS Idaho State at home. They defeated their in-state rival, Nevada 23-17, but lost their next three games to San José State (33-27 in overtime), Fresno State (31-28), and Boise State (55-27). The Rebels' last victory of the season was against Hawai'i, 41-21. UNLV closed the season with losses to Colorado State (49-35), San Diego State (52-14), and Wyoming (35-28), with a final record of 3-9. The Rebels lose starting quarterback Blake Decker, but return backup QB Kurt Palandech, who played most of the game against the Bruins.
The Bruins finish their non-conference slate at the BYU Cougars, whom UCLA came back to beat 24-23 the past season. BYU opened the season with two last-second hail mary victories against Nebraska (33-28) and then-#20 Boise State (35-24, there was an extra pick-six after the hail mary). The Cougars lost starting quarterback Taysom Hill during the Nebraska game and went to backup quarterback Tanner Mangum, who threw both hail mary game winners. UCLA halted this streak of last-second victories as UCLA linebacker Myles Jack intercepted the late 4th down and 7 pass from Mangum. This was also Myles Jack's last play as a Bruin. BYU was ranked 19th when they lost to then-#10 UCLA. BYU was shut out at Michigan the following week 31-0. The cougars won five straight afterwards. These wins came against Connecticut (30-13), East Carolina (45-38), Cincinnati (38-24), FCS Wagner (70-6), and San José State (17-16). They lost to a flailing Missouri 20-16 to end their win streak. Missouri did not make a bowl game this past season. After blowing out Fresno State (52-10) and Utah State (51-28), the Cougars were headed to the Las Vegas Bowl, only to challenge their Holy War rival, the 22nd-ranked Utah Utes. Utah built a 35-0 first quarter lead and stopped BYU's surging comeback attempt to win 35-28. BYU finished the season 9-4, ending with a better overall record than UCLA. Taysom Hill leaves the team along with running back Adam Hiné and wide receiver Mitch Matthews. Tanner Mangum will return with wide receiver Mitchell Juergens.
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