This is tricky but familiar ground UCLA football players tread these days.
Everyone is back on the bandwagon. The Bruins are seventh in the Associated Press media poll. There is national playoff talk and the occasional over-the-top comment that freshman quarterback Josh Rosen is a Heisman Trophy candidate. The Pac-12 Conference South Division seems theirs for the taking.
Some of the optimism is valid, which makes the situation even more dangerous for the Bruins (4-0 overall, 1-0 in Pac-12 play) when Arizona State (2-2, 0-1) rolls into the Rose Bowl on Saturday.
UCLA players tiptoed through hyperbole after four weeks last season, when they were ranked eighth and there was talk about a spot in the national playoff.