Top 5 UCLA Bruins matchups for team's first year in Big Ten ft. LSU, Penn State and more

The UCLA Bruins are one of the four teams from the Pac-12 conference that will be making its way to the Big Ten next year. The Bruins finished with a 7-5 overall record and are scheduled to face Boise State in the LA Bowl.

Following this, the UCLA Bruins, along with USC, Oregon and Washington will be making their way to join the Big Ten as new members of the conference.

With the team setting up new expectations in a new conference, their schedule for 2024 provides fans with some interesting games for next year. Some of these games will be a continuation of Pac-12 rivalries, and others will be the birth of new ones. Let us have a look at the top five games for the UCLA Bruins next year.

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Top five UCLA Bruins matchups in 2024

#1 LSU Tigers (September 21)

The Bruins will be taking on the LSU Tigers in a highly competitive non-conference game next season. Both these teams have faced each other just once in their entire college football history. This dates back to the non-conference game of 2021, when UCLA won 38-27.

Heisman Trophy Finalists Football

Now, in this second-ever game of this rivalry, it will be interesting to see if LSU can come forward to make the series a tie. Nevertheless, fans can look forward to quite the start to UCLA's debut season in the Big Ten with such a non-conference game scheduled.

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#2 Oregon Ducks (September 28)

The UCLA Bruins will be continuing their Pac-12 rivalry with Oregon as they both embark on a new journey in the Big Ten. With the first game of this series dating back to 1928, the Bruins currently lead the series 39-32 despite the Ducks being on a four-game winning streak in this rivalry.

UCLA v Oregon

This season, Oregon defeated UCLA 45-30 back in October. So maybe we can expect the Bruins to build on their lead in a new conference with new motivation.

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#3 Penn State Nittany Lions (October 5)

Next season will see the long hiatus of the UCLA vs Penn State college football games come to an end. Both these teams used to clash with each other annually back in the 1960s. But after 1968, these games came to a halt. Penn State won that final game 21-6, despite the UCLA Bruins leading the series 4-2.

Penn State v Michigan State

With UCLA's inclusion in the Big Ten, CFB fans can now look forward to the revival of this rivalry and expect some great clashes in the future.

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#4 Iowa Hawkeyes (November 9)

The Iowa Hawkeyes emerged as the division champions of the Big Ten West this year with a 10-3 overall record. However, they lost to Michigan in the Big Ten championship game and will now face Tennessee in the Citrus Bowl.

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The Bruins are scheduled to take on the Hawkeyes in their debut season next year in November. So far, UCLA has more wins against Iowa with a 6-3 lead. The last UCLA vs Iowa clash took place in 1986, which the Bruins won 45-28.

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#5 Washington Huskies (November 16)

The Pac-12 rivalry between UCLA and Washington will continue into the Big Ten next year. The last time these two teams clashed on the gridiron was in October 2022, when UCLA won 40-32. The Bruins currently lead this rivalry series 41-33-1.

Pac 12 Championship Football

However, these two teams were not scheduled against each other this season. The Huskies went on to win the Pac-12 championship before their departure to the Big Ten next year and will now face Texas in the CFP Semifinal for a shot at the national title.