Much like the US LBM Coaches Poll, this week’s AP College Football Poll has the UCLA Bruins at No. 12 after UCLA’s 17-15 win over Oregon.
The win was the first ranked win of the Bob Chesney tenure at UCLA, with the Bruins going on the road and getting their first win in Eugene in over two decades. The Bruins didn’t get to celebrate for too long, with reality coming crashing back on Monday when UCLA announced that quarterback Nico Iamaleava will miss the remainder of the 2026 season.
Iamaleava’s injury creates a major hole on the UCLA roster but the Long Beach native hadn’t been playing mistake-free football. Iamaleava has thrown four picks in five games but now UCLA has a major question under center, with Madden Iamaleava and Ty Dieffenbach being the Bruins two backup options at quarterback.
AP didn’t factor in Iamaleava’s injury, placing UCLA as the No. 3 team in the Big Ten behind the No. 4 Ohio State and No. 5 Indiana.
UCLA climbed nine spots this past week, with Oregon falling all the way out of the Top-25. Iowa climbed three spots to No. 17, USC stayed put at No. 19 and Northwestern appeared in the rankings at No. 25 after the Wildcats’ 4-1 start to the season.
Oregon, Nebraska and Wisconsin all received votes in the poll, with nine of the 18 Big Ten schools getting consideration in this week’s AP poll. We’ll see this weekend how the Bruins look without Iamaleava at home against Wisconsin but for now UCLA has the No. 12 team in the country.
This article originally appeared on UCLA Wire: UCLA football sits at No. 12 in AP Poll but will be without their QB