| Week | Date | Rank | Rec | Points | FPV | CP | Last Week |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | Sep 15 | 24 | 1-2 | 131 | 0 | ||
| 5 | Sep 22 | 24 | 1-2 | 181 | 0 | ||
| 6 | Sep 29 | 22 | 2-2 | 276 | 0 | ||
| 7 | Oct 6 | 18 | 3-2 | 560 | 0 | ||
| 8 | Oct 13 | 17 | 4-2 | 637 | 0 | ||
| 9 | Oct 20 | 13 | 5-2 | 868 | 0 | ||
| 10 | Oct 27 | 12 | 6-2 | 942 | 0 | ||
| 11 | Nov 3 | 10 | 7-2 | 1089 | 0 | W 27-7 at Stanford | |
| 12 | Nov 10 | 9 | 7-2 | 1200 | 0 | ||
| 13 | Nov 17 | 7 | 8-2 | 1296 | 0 | ||
| 14 | Nov 24 | 6 | 9-2 | 1311 | 0 | ||
| 15 | Dec 1 | 5 | 9-2 | 1385 | 0 | ||
| 16 | Dec 8 | 5 | 9-2 | 1386 | 0 | ||
| Final | Jan 3 | 5 | 10-2 | 1413 | 0 | W 29-23 vs #20 Texas A&M (Cotton) |
Note: UCLA's ranking in the final 1961 poll has been changed to unranked after the original AP wire story and poll was revisited and confirmed across several newspapers.