LOS ANGELES — Hours after the Associated Press released its top 25 coming off Week 5 of the college football season, UCLA football gathered for a Sunday team meeting to conclude its bye week.

With the Bruins (4-0, 2-0 Big Ten) coming in at 21, earning a spot inside the top 25 for consecutive weeks for the first time since 2022, head coach Bob Chesney assured that any distractions this praise might bring were put to bed.

“If you pay attention to this number,” Chesney told his players, “it will go away. If you pay attention to what you did to get that number, and only focus on that, and improve that, maybe the number even gets better.”

After eight weeks — including four of fall training camp and four games — and at least eight regular-season games remaining, the Bruins are midway through their season, Chesney explained. Arbitrarily, that No. 21 ranking measures how UCLA has done. By addressing it at the top of the agenda, Chesney attempted to prevent it from defining what the Bruins will expect of themselves moving forward.

“Just like you walked in on Day 1 of camp and you were committed to the cause and committed to what you were going to do, with eight weeks left, we have to recommit to that same process, that same mentality,” Chesney said at his Monday media availability. “The same way we went into the season is the exact same way we should be entering the second half.”

That approach bolstered UCLA’s path to receiving this national recognition.

The Bruins have defeated each of their four opponents in different ways. First, they traveled north to defeat their former Pac-12 rival Cal, powered by a dynamic run game that accounted for four touchdowns and 21 unanswered points in the fourth quarter. UCLA’s defense kept it afloat during a scoreless first half in Week 2 against San Diego State, until the offense came alive for a 28-10 victory. Quarterback Nico Iamaleava threw for 276 yards and three touchdowns in the Bruins’ best offensive performance, a 52-38 win in their Big Ten opener against Purdue.

Then, before the bye week, UCLA put it all together, dominating Maryland 54-3. Behind 475 total yards, forcing five turnovers and two defensive touchdowns, the Bruins played “complementary football,” Chesney said.

It’s going to require those types of performances, where all three phases of the football are firing, to maintain or improve the Bruins’ standing.

“You can’t go out there and lay an egg on offense, and expect to win on defense or special teams,” Chesney said. “You have to be buttoned up, and we have to make sure we’re 100% locked in on what our jobs are, what the intent of every single play is, and how we’re going to execute it.”

After a statement win against Maryland and an undefeated start, Chesney said nobody “wanted time off.” But the Bruins used their bye week to “cure” their weaknesses. They watched film, identifying aspects of their game that opponents might try to expose, and focused on cleaning those up. They looked for “tendencies” and tried to “put ourselves in a position to use those in a positive way.” They took Friday and Saturday off from a physical standpoint, and will return to their normal practice schedule ahead of Saturday’s matchup with No. 13 Oregon (3-1, 1-0 Big Ten).

Last Tuesday, Ducks coach Dan Lanning compared UCLA to last year’s Indiana team, which went perfect all the way through, beating Miami in the College Football Playoff national championship. The James Madison influence and the continuity throughout the coaching staff are uncannily similar. But Chesney believes UCLA is “not there yet.”

With that expectation and a number next to UCLA’s name, the Bruins aren’t sneaking up on anyone anymore. But that doesn’t mean the process changes.

“Being ranked, it definitely can skew you,” defensive back Derrick Barksdale said Monday. “You can’t pay too much attention to it. You got to go into the preparation of each week just like you did the past one.”