In Reply to: Does 8 or 9 wins count as "win"? Or does it... posted by ClockBlocker on September 04, 2025 at 14:34:53
And honestly the pessimism is hard to break when it's completely valid.
No, 8 wins isn't really "winning". The 2021 UCLA team had a chance to build excitement after the win against LSU. They then immediately lost to Fresno St. By late October they were 5-4 and 3-3 in conference.
And after 4 years of never seriously competing under Kelly, there were very few people that were willing to get their hopes up when the team was actually still in contention in November. Of course then they lost to 3-6 Arizona at home.
Fans aren't going to come back until they can actually believe the team is good. And putting up good win totals is part of that, but it also requires winning big games and being in contention. It requires a coach they can be excited about. It requires having a roster they can look at in August and be excited to go out and watch.