Rising in the Ranks

UCLA’s early-season roll took another surprising turn when, powered by an upset of Michigan at the Rose Bowl, the Bruins moved to No. 6 in the latest rankings.

Perhaps the only thing as unexpected as their rise from obscurity is the company in which the Bruins now find themselves.

For the first time in more than a decade, UCLA and USC are in the top 10 together.

The Trojans rose to No. 9 this week and, with Washington at No. 8, that’s three teams from a Pacific 10 Conference that had only one school--Oregon at No. 19--in the final 1999 top-25 poll.

“I would say the Pac-10 has made a little bit of a bounce back,” USC Coach Paul Hackett said. “Maybe we’re not so bad after all.”

If this is the season for the conference to rebound, then UCLA is leading the way. Unappreciated and unranked only three weeks ago, the Bruins have bulled their way through the first stage of one of the country’s toughest schedules.

Their meteoric ascent began with an upset of then-No. 3 Alabama, which begat a No. 17 ranking. Next came a triumph over Fresno State that boosted them to No. 14.

On Saturday, they jumped eight more spots with a come-from-behind victory over another No. 3 team, Michigan.

“If we are going to be among the elite teams in the country, we had to make a statement,” UCLA Coach Bob Toledo said. “I think we made that statement.”

Now the Bruins have their highest ranking since Jan. 1, 1999, when they entered the Rose Bowl against Wisconsin at No. 6. At least some of the players believe this team deserves an even higher spot.

“I think we proved we were the No. 1 team in the nation,” said quarterback Ryan McCann, who has stepped in for the injured Cory Paus. “I don’t know who else we can beat or what else we can do.”

Like UCLA, the other Pac-10 teams in the top 10 have collected victories over big-time opponents on national television.

Washington began the season highly ranked and is 3-0 after defeating Miami and Colorado in the last two weeks.

USC is 2-0 after starting the ball rolling with a victory over Penn State, then ranked 22nd, in the Kickoff Classic. The Trojans inched upward after a victory over Colorado.

During the weekend, the Pac-10 got another boost when Stanford upset then-No. 5 Texas, 27-24.

“It’s great for our conference,” Hackett said. “Maybe if you pound on us long enough, all of a sudden the sleeping giant awakes.”

The last time UCLA and USC were ranked in the top 10 together was the preseason poll of 1989, when USC was fifth and UCLA was ninth. The season before that, No. 2 USC played No. 6 UCLA.

The week of that game, USC quarterback Rodney Peete came down with the measles and was unable to practice. With a conference championship on the line, Peete threw for one touchdown and ran for another, leading the Trojans to a 31-22 victory.

This week’s poll has some players thinking of another city championship with national implications.

“UCLA is making a lot of bold statements,” USC linebacker Zeke Moreno said. “That’s all right. They’ve played two good teams but they haven’t played the Trojans.”

The truth is, both teams face plenty of questions.

The Bruins defeated an Alabama team that dropped out of the top 25 with a 21-0 loss to No. 22 Southern Mississippi on Saturday. On Saturday, Michigan played a backup freshman quarterback who did not respond nearly as well as McCann.

The Wolverines have slipped to No. 10.

In the weeks to come, UCLA faces a conference schedule that begins with Saturday’s game at Oregon--where the Ducks have a 16-game home winning streak--and includes a trip to Washington.

The Trojans, meanwhile, defeated a Penn State team that was ranked No. 22 in the preseason but has lost three of four games, falling to unranked Toledo and Pittsburgh. Colorado is O-3 and also tumbled out of the rankings with losses to two teams in the top 25.

USC has an easier schedule than UCLA--a home game against Oregon and no game against Washington--but starts the Pac-10 season at Oregon State and will play Notre Dame after Thanksgiving.

Perhaps the biggest test for both teams will be when they face each other at the Rose Bowl on Nov. 18. Hackett scoffs and says the cross-town rivalry is too far away to worry about, but at least one of his players isn’t so sure about that.

“It’s always in the back of your mind,” Moreno said of a potential top-10 showdown between the Los Angeles schools. “It would be just awesome.”

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The Associated Press contributed to this story.