Anti-College Football Playoff rankings: UCLA, Nebraska are dumpster fires

This week’s anti-College Football Playoff rankings feature most of the usual suspects from last week, including UCLA who remains winless under Chip Kelly.

Think Chip Kelly has any regrets about taking the UCLA job? The Bruins remain winless after four games after losing to Colorado on Thursday night. UCLA has been so bad that I think it’s only natural to wonder if Kelly is having second thoughts. At a minimum, I don’t think he envisioned the rebuilding efforts since taking over for Jim Mora would require this much heavy lifting.

For perspective, Kelly needed 26 games at Oregon before he got his fourth loss. It only took four games at UCLA to reach his fourth loss.

But to really see how bad things are at UCLA under Kelly, you need to look beyond the win-loss record.

The most damming stat for UCLA is their scoring or lack thereof.

One of the hallmarks of Kelly during his time at Oregon, and for his first two years with the Philadelphia Eagles was his offensive imagination and production.

After four weeks, only New Mexico State, Rutgers, Central Michigan, Northern Illinois and UTEP have a lower scoring average than the Bruins 17 points per game. That is really, really bad company for Kelly and UCLA to be in. There are plenty of built-in excuses, like having to rely on a true freshman in Dorian Thompson-Robinson who would otherwise be third on the depth chart if not for an injury to Wilton Speight and a transfer from Devin Modster.

However, where are the excuses for the defense that ranks No. 116 in scoring defense?

For all these reasons and more, UCLA takes the top spot in the anti-College Football Playoff rankings, otherwise known as the Bottom 4.

1. UCLA (0-4) – With Washington and Cal on the schedule the next two weeks, Kelly’s Bruins could be staring at 0-6 when they host Arizona on Oct. 20.
2. Nebraska (0-4) – Nebraska is off to their worst start in program history. The program began in 1890! Dating back to last year have now lost eight straight for the first time in program history. Last week, Scott Frost said it was rock bottom when they lost to Michigan, so then, what’s this? I suppose the only way to go is up? This play really does sum up their season to this point.
3. Rutgers (1-4) – Chris Ash’s team kept it close in the 24-17 loss to Indiana after scoring 10 unanswered points in the fourth quarter, but it wasn’t that close as the final score would indicate. Rutgers entered the game ranked No. 127 out of 130 schools in scoring offense and No. 118 in scoring defense. Not only can Rutgers not score, but they can’t stop anyone either. A dangerous combination. Rutgers hosts Illinois next so there’s hope they can escape the pit of misery.
4. Arkansas (1-4) – Chad Morris’ Hogs hung around with Texas A&M, only losing 24-17 to fall to 0-2 in the SEC and 1-4 overall. The lone win came in the opener against Eastern Illinois and the second win isn’t coming next week when Arkansas hosts Alabama who is probably gonna hang half-a-hundred on them in the first half. It’s gonna be a bloodbath.