UCLA edges out USC in the first Associated Press top 25 rankings

Almost every other day, as if on a schedule, an out-of-towner walks into USC’s training camp with variations on the same questions. USC Coach Clay Helton has practiced the answers by rote.

No, he says, USC isn’t worried about its punishing slate of games. Yes, he says, the Trojans believe it’s “an unbelievable opportunity.” Of course, he says, he’s already studying Alabama. Has been for weeks. He sometimes falls asleep on the couch watching film.

Such questions are the reality of drawing the most difficult schedule in the country, according to many pundits. The Associated Press top 25 poll, released on Sunday, provided confirmation.

UCLA, ranked No. 16, has two ranked teams on its schedule, USC and No. 8 Stanford.

USC, ranked No. 20, has six, the most of any power-conference team. The Trojans draw No. 1 Alabama and No. 10 Notre Dame in non-conference games, plus the other four ranked Pac-12 teams: No. 8 Stanford, No. 14 Washington, No. 24 Oregon and UCLA.

“The fact of the matter is we live in a playoff-system world, and everybody is going to be talking about building your resume,” Helton said during one of the Pac-12 media days last month. “Well, when you have the chance to play Alabama, Notre Dame, that Pac‑12 schedule, you’re building your resume.

“If you don’t like that, don’t come.”

UCLA’s place a few spots above USC was not a significant surprise. A poll of Pac-12 media members last month also picked UCLA to edge out the Trojans atop the Pac-12 South Division.

But that was unexpected to at least one Bruin: Coach Jim Mora.

“I thought that USC, Utah, Arizona State, Arizona, Colorado, I thought those teams would probably be picked ahead of us, just based on the way we finished last year in a rather disappointing fashion,” Mora said.

If the rankings prove accurate, UCLA would benefit from an easier Pac-12 schedule. The Bruins avoid two of the expected top three teams in the Pac-12 North.

Recently, though, pollsters’ prognostication skills have been wanting. The Trojans tend to attract outsized expectations. USC has earned a preseason rank in 15 straight seasons. Their ranking has plummeted by the final poll nine times in that span.

UCLA has been ranked in the preseason five times over the same period. The Bruins have bested their preseason ranking twice and jumped into the top 25 once after starting unranked.

No preseason No. 1 has ended there since USC’s 2004 team, which never relinquished the top spot.

That is not a positive sign for this season’s No. 1 team, Alabama. The defending national champion, and USC’s first opponent, took 33 of 61 first-place votes.

“They have All-Americans on both sides of the ball,” USC cornerback Adoree’ Jackson said. “Defensive line, secondary, linebackers, the O-line, running backs and receivers.”

Strictly speaking, Jackson was exaggerating, but only slightly.

Similarly loaded is No. 2 Clemson, last season’s national runner-up. The Tigers came in only slightly behind Alabama, and earned 15 first-place votes.

No. 3 Oklahoma, No. 4 Florida State and No. 5 Louisiana State rounded out a Southern-leaning top five.

The advent of the College Football Playoff has rendered the Associated Press poll moot. The College Football Playoff selection committee will deliver its own rankings beginning Nov. 1.

zach.helfand@latimes.com

Twitter: @zhelfand