UCLA's Quest to Reach Upper Echelon in College Football Falls Short Again

Vegas knew something. It had to. The opening line was just too odd. 

Oddsshark.com had UCLA open as a mere 4.5-point favorite for Friday's home game against Stanford. The line eventually grew to six points, but that was all.

That's six points one week after UCLA earned its most impressive victory of the year—a 38-20 rout over USC—and the score wasn't even that close—and crept back into the periphery of the College Football Playoff conversation. That's six points with Stanford missing its star receiver, Ty Montgomery, who had a shoulder injury. 

Or, maybe it was six points because oddsmakers knew UCLA was due to lay an egg. It hasn't been the first time it's happened this season. 

The sad narrative of UCLA being perennially good but never quite good enough came to fruition again in a stunning 31-10 loss to the Cardinal. Certainly, no one saw Stanford quarterback Kevin Hogan having his best game of the season with a 16-of-19 passing performance for 234 yards and a pair of touchdowns. 

The loss, coupled with Arizona's win over Arizona State, sends the Wildcats to the Pac-12 Championship Game for a rematch with Oregon. UCLA, meanwhile, is sent away wondering what could have been. That's been the theme in Westwood for a while now. 

The Bruins were overwhelming preseason Pac-12 South media favorites and sexy picks to make the College Football Playoff. However, UCLA got off to a noticeably slow start even though it sported a 3-0 record with narrow wins against Virginia, Memphis and Texas.

The crux of the problem was protecting quarterback Brett Hundley. Though sacks are a team effort, offensive line issues have been glaring. The Bruins have given up nearly three sacks a game this season. 

Sure enough, offense and protection were lacking against the Cardinal. Hundley left the game in the fourth quarter with an apparent hand injury. 

Mark J. Terrill/Associated Press

Though UCLA briefly lived up to expectations by demolishing Arizona State, 62-27, in late September, the reality is Jim Mora's team didn't start to gather steam until the month of November. But just when UCLA seemed to have turned a corner, things went off track. The win over the Sun Devils was followed by back-to-back losses to Utah and Oregon, and the USC victory was followed by the face-plant against Stanford. 

UCLA continues to be in a frustrating spot. The Bruins are consistently good and at times look incredible. They're 3-0 against USC under Mora and generally beat the teams they should. However, UCLA loses consistently to the upper echelon of the Pac-12, Stanford and Oregon, the two programs that have won the past five conference championships. 

The Bruins are a whopping 0-12 against Stanford and Oregon since 2008 with the average margin of defeat being 20.3 points. Ten of those 12 losses have been by double digits. Former head coach Rick Neuheisel was never able to get his alma mater to the next level from 2008-11. Though Mora has injected an obvious edge into the program, he continues to come up short as well. 

With Stanford rebuilding and both the Cardinal and Ducks coming to L.A. this year, 2014 was a prime time for the Bruins to get over the hump. Still, this program continues to get outcoached regularly. 

In all likelihood, Hundley, easily the best quarterback to come through UCLA in a long time, risks leaving for the NFL draft without having played in a major New Year's Eve/Day bowl. That tells you about everything you need to know.

The question is regurgitated: If not now for UCLA, then when? Hundley is likely gone, and linebacker Eric Kendricks, who has led the team in tackles for three straight years, is a senior. 

There are good pieces in place. Sophomore linebacker Myles Jack will come back for one more season at least, but how many more times can cornerstone players return for "the year"?

"We thought this was the year we could become one of the Stanford's or Oregon's," Jack told Clay Fowler of the Los Angeles News Group. "I guess not."

Will next year be different? At this point, UCLA is forcing everyone to wait and see. The high expectations aren't coming through. 

Ben Kercheval is a lead writer for college football. All stats courtesy of cfbstats.com.