Oregon vs. UCLA: How Bruins' Loss Will Shake Up Week 8 Rankings

For possibly the first time all season, the Oregon Ducks looked like the team everybody expected to see before the season began.

The No. 12 Ducks went into the Rose Bowl and handed a resounding defeat to the No. 18 UCLA Bruins, 42-30. The final score is somewhat deceiving, as Oregon had a 42-10 lead in the fourth quarter before the Bruins added a few garbage-time points.

Coming off a bad defeat to Arizona last week, Oregon really needed a statement victory.

"Every week you better have urgency," said Ducks head coach Mark Helfrich before the game, per Molly Blue of The Oregonian. "That's how you constantly improve. You worry about yourself and not everybody else, not all the noise."

The Ducks delivered and then some.

Marcus Mariota got his Heisman Trophy campaign back on track with 210 yards and two touchdowns passing in addition to 75 yards and two touchdowns on the ground. Running back Royce Freeman also stepped up big for the Ducks, rushing for 121 yards and two TDs.

Brett Hundley never looked comfortable, going 26-of-37 for 216 yards, two touchdowns and an interception. His poor passing performance overshadowed his 89 rushing yards and one TD. NFL.com's Bryan Fischer was particularly disappointed with Hundley's presence—or lack thereof—in the pocket:

Whereas Mariota seriously entered the Heisman discussion again, Hundley's push was likely dealt its death blow in the Rose Bowl.

As a result of its win, Oregon looks sure to climb back into the top 10. The question now is how high will the team climb?

The top five looks out of the question. Voters are unlikely to be too harsh on No. 2 Auburn in the event the Tigers lose to No. 3 Mississippi State. And even if Auburn falls out of the top five, the Ducks would have to leapfrog No. 8 Michigan State, No. 6 Notre Dame, possibly No. 7 Alabama and the winner of No. 9 TCU vs. No. 5 Baylor.

In all likelihood, voters will remain somewhat skeptical of Oregon given the team's struggles this year and put the Ducks somewhere in the eight-to-10 range. Here's how the top 10 could shake out following Oregon's win and if the current games finish as they stand at the time of writing.

Rank	Team	Record
1	Florida State	6-0
2	Mississippi State	6-0
3	Ole MIss	5-0
4	TCU	5-0
5	Auburn	5-1
6	Notre Dame	6-0
7	Alabama	5-1
8	Oregon	5-1
9	Michigan State	5-1
10	Arizona	5-0

The trouble when it comes to accurately assessing the Ducks is that you don't know which team to believe—the one that beat Michigan State and UCLA, or the one that lost to Arizona and nearly lost to Washington State.

Geoff Schwartz, a former Duck and current New York Giants offensive guard, was quick to look past last Thursday's defeat to the Wildcats:

Sporting News' Matt Hayes believes that at its peak, Oregon is the best team in the country:

If the Ducks are aggrieved with their ranking when the polls are announced tomorrow, they shouldn't be too bothered. Losing to Arizona when Oregon did allows the team plenty of time to impress the voters and playoff committee all over again.

And more than likely, a Pac-12 team is going to make the final playoff. Aside from the SEC, no other conference boasts as much quality from top to bottom as the Pac-12.

Is anybody else other than Oregon standing out in this conference? Maybe Arizona's not getting enough respect, but it will be interesting to see how the Wildcats handle increased expectations.

After picking up its second loss of the season, UCLA looks sure to tumble out of the Top 25 in the Week 8 polls. In the Week 7 Associated Press poll, LSU, USC, Wisconsin and BYU all dropped out, and they were ranked 15th, 16th, 17th and 18th, respectively.

Perhaps if the Bruins had been more competitive against the Ducks, they might have dropped down to somewhere between 22nd and 25th. However, losing by 12 points at home, even to a top-15 team, never looks good.

Whether it's fair or not, voters will also likely consider UCLA's record over the last few seasons. The Bruins have built a reputation of failing to meet expectations, per Eric Stephens of the Orange County Register:

When UCLA beat then-No. 15 Arizona State 62-27 in Tempe, college football fans thought the real Bruins had finally awoken. Then they followed with back-to-back defeats, with last week's loss to Utah particularly damning.

With as competitive as the Pac-12 South is, losing two games really puts the Bruins behind the eight ball in terms of winning the division and making the conference championship.

They have a resurgent California next week, Arizona on Nov. 1 and wrap up the season with USC and Stanford. However, too much damage looks to be done to UCLA's playoff hopes.