Reported Analysis · 2026 Week 6
Every AP Voter Raised or Added UCLA. Only 14 Put It in the Top 10.
The Bruins’ nine-place jump came mainly from higher placements on existing ballots. Their new support centers just outside the Top 10.
UCLA gained ground with every AP voter after its 17–15 road win at Oregon. The Bruins rose from No. 21 to No. 12 in the October 11 poll as all 62 voters who already ranked them moved them higher and the other eight added them.
The unanimous direction of that movement did not produce agreement on a Top 10 ranking. Fourteen of 70 voters put UCLA there, while 36 placed it between No. 11 and No. 13. The Bruins had become a universal Top 25 choice, with most of their support clustered near the next boundary.
Existing Supporters Supplied Most of the Gain
UCLA’s point total climbed from 287 to 951, a gain of 664. AP scoring gives a team 25 points for first place, 24 for second and one for 25th; each place gained on an existing ballot adds one point.
The 62 continuing supporters accounted for 583 of those added points, or 87.8% of the increase. Across those same ballots, UCLA moved up an average of 9.4 places. The eight new votes supplied the remaining 81 points.
| Ballot Change | Voters | Added Points |
|---|---|---|
| Higher placement | 62 | 583 |
| New inclusion | 8 | 81 |
| Total | 70 | 664 |
That distinction matters because UCLA was already close to completing the panel. Its eight new inclusions finished that process, but most of the jump came from voters replacing much lower positions with stronger ones.
Full Inclusion, Limited Top 10 Support
In the October 4 poll, just one voter put UCLA in the Top 10. A week later, that count reached 14. The most common placement was still outside it: 19 voters ranked the Bruins 11th, followed by 10 at No. 12 and seven at No. 13.
Where the 70 Voters Placed UCLA
The spread from sixth to 21st shows how much room remained between individual judgments. Even so, the 36 votes at No. 11–13 form a majority of the panel. UCLA’s aggregate No. 12 fits that concentration: with every voter including it, its 951 points correspond to an average ballot rank of 12.4.
UCLA Moved Beyond the Bottom of the Ballot
The change is especially clear at the lower end. In the previous poll, 30 of UCLA’s 62 supporters placed it 23rd, 24th or 25th. This week, nobody put it below 21st. The improvement reached even the least enthusiastic current supporter, while the strongest placed UCLA sixth.
UCLA’s nine-place rise therefore reflects a broad reassessment of where it belongs within the Top 25. Inclusion is now settled across this panel; a Top 10 position is not. Its next step in poll support concerns placement rather than finding new supporters: 56 voters still put UCLA outside their Top 10, even after every voter raised or added the Bruins.
Sources & Methodology
Poll Behavior’s licensed October 4 and October 11 AP football records contain the same 70 complete voter ballots. Comparisons match voter IDs across both editions. AP points equal 26 minus the submitted rank; an omitted team earns zero points and has no numbered rank. Figures describe these editions, not later ballots.
UCLA’s official Oregon box score and Oregon’s recap establish the October 10 result. Continuing-supporter gains and new-inclusion points are calculated separately. The average 9.4-place rise uses only the same 62 continuing supporters; the current 12.4 average uses all 70 included votes. Displayed averages and the 87.8% share are rounded to one decimal.
Distribution bands exhaust all 70 current placements. Aggregate No. 12 is the team's order by total points, not a vote assigned by every voter. No all-time comparison or explanation attributed to an individual voter is claimed.