| Week | Date | Rank | Rec | Points | FPV | CP | CFP | Last Week |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pre | Aug 16 | RV | 0-0 | 2 | 0 | RV | -- | DNP |
| 1 | Sep 7 | 16 | 2-0 | 668 | 0 | 16 | -- | W 38-27 vs #16 LSU |
| 2 | Sep 12 | 13 | 2-0 | 804 | 0 | 13 | -- | DNP |
| 3 | Sep 19 | 24 | 2-1 | 142 | 0 | 24 | -- | L 40-37 vs Fresno State |
| 4 | Sep 26 | 20 | 3-1 | 316 | 0 | 20 | -- | W 35-24 at Stanford |
| 5 | Oct 3 | RV | 1 | 0 | NR | -- | L 42-23 vs Arizona State | |
| 6 | Oct 10 | NR | 0 | 0 | RV | -- | W 34-16 at Arizona | |
| 7 | Oct 17 | RV | 4 | 0 | NR | -- | W 24-17 at Washington | |
| 8 | Oct 24 | RV | 1 | 0 | NR | -- | L 34-31 vs #10 Oregon | |
| 13 | Nov 28 | NR | 0 | 0 | RV | NR | W 42-14 vs California | |
| 14 | Dec 5 | NR | 0 | 0 | RV | NR | DNP |
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.