UCLA and others feel the burn of disappointing seasons and dropping out of the rankings

With his UCLA football team in a free-fall, Coach Jim Mora is trying to put things in perspective.

“I’ve coached for a long time and I’ve come to know that coaching is very much a rollercoaster,” he said. “There are things around the corner that you don’t necessarily anticipate.”

After starting in the top 25, and being mentioned as a dark horse for the playoffs, the Bruins have hit a four-game skid and now rank among the biggest disappointments of the season.

But they aren’t alone. While many of the top-ranked teams have performed to expectations this fall, a sizable group that once occupied the heart of the Associated Press poll has faltered.

The list includes Notre Dame, Mississippi, Michigan State, Texas Christian and Oregon.

They represent the flip side of the playoff race, their championship aspirations reduced to scrambling for the six victories and .500 winning percentage required to qualify for a minor bowl game.

“No, I was never prepared for it,” Michigan State Coach Mark Dantonio said of his team’s slide. “But that doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen.”

Right now, attention is focused on the race for the top four spots in the College Football Playoff rankings.

Washington, an undefeated team that was passed over last week, stepped into the crucial fourth slot when the CFP selection committee issued its latest rankings Tuesday night.

That places the Huskies with Alabama, Clemson and Michigan in a group favored to vie for the national championship.

Ohio State is lurking at No. 5 and controls its destiny if it can defeat Michigan at the end of the regular season.

Farther down the rankings, Louisville has a shot from No. 6 and it would probably be a mistake to rule out two-loss teams such as No. 7 Wisconsin, No. 9 Auburn or even No. 10 Penn State, if they manage to win their conference championship.

In a season filled with upsets, anything could happen during the final month.

“There were a lot of close calls, and we made them,” said Kirby Hocutt, a selection committee member. “There also is a lot of football to be played.”

But while the spotlight shines on the winners, the hard-luck stories of 2016 are fighting in the shadows, trying to salvage some kind of success or at least figure out what went wrong.

To say they have all under-performed might be inaccurate; some were overrated in August, before anyone knew how their talent and coaching would translate onto the field.

Either way, it has been a rough two months.

“We lost six close games that easily could have went our way,” Notre Dame Coach Brian Kelly said this week.

It’s true the Fighting Irish, who started at No. 10, have dropped a string of close games. But other factors have contributed to their 3-6 record.

The defensive secondary, already thinned by graduation, was further hurt by off-the-field incidents that resulted in players being suspended or dismissed. There have been special-teams gaffes and quarterback DeShone Kizer, maybe pressing too much, was recently benched for inconsistent play.

“When you’re out there with the start that we had,” Kizer said, “it’s really tough to find the fun in football.”

The situation with Michigan State has been even more bewildering. This is a program that reached the playoff in 2015 and finished at No. 6 or higher in each of the previous three seasons.

Just last February, the university rewarded Dantonio with a new contract that boosted his total annual pay to $4.3 million.

The Spartans started at No. 12, defeating Furman and Notre Dame, then tumbled into a seven-game losing streak.

Ball security has been a problem, a team that ranked fourth in the nation in turnover margin last season is now 105th. Michigan State is also the most-penalized team in the Big Ten Conference and has struggled to pressure opposing quarterbacks.

Like Notre Dame, the Spartans have failed to come through late.

“Last season, we were 6-1 in games decided by one score or less,” Dantonio said. “Right now, that’s not occurring.”

At least Dantonio figures to have earned enough goodwill to keep his job safe. The same cannot be said for other coaches whose teams have failed to live up to preseason billing.

At Oregon, where the Ducks (3-6) were once ranked No. 24, Mark Helfrich looks to be on shaky ground. Kelly is just as vulnerable at Notre Dame.

Mora ranks high on the Internet “hot seat” lists.

The loss of quarterback Josh Rosen to a shoulder injury has certainly hurt the Bruins — the same could be said for Mississippi, another disappointment — but the problems go deeper than that.

The Bruins, ranked 16th in the first AP poll, switched to an offensive scheme that was more diverse and power oriented, yet had a roster full of athletes recruited for the spread.

The running game has been miserable, ranking 127th of 128 in the nation. Special teams have struggled with a freshman kicker and punter.

Mora has talked about trying to adjust on the fly and maybe lay a groundwork for the future. At the very least, he hopes that his players can learn from hard times.

Maybe that’s how it goes with a season gone south — you look for any bright spots you can find. Even if fans might not necessarily agree.

“These things happen,” Mora said. “You don’t like them to happen, you don’t accept them, but they do happen.”

david.wharton@latimes.com

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