| Week | Date | Rank | Rec | Points | FPV | CP | CFP | Last Week |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pre | Aug 15 | RV | 2 | 0 | RV | -- | DNP | |
| 1 | Sep 6 | RV | 1 | 0 | RV | -- | W 45-17 vs Bowling Green | |
| 2 | Sep 11 | NR | 0 | 0 | RV | -- | W 45-7 vs Alabama State | |
| 4 | Sep 25 | RV | 3 | 0 | RV | -- | W 45-17 at Colorado | |
| 5 | Oct 2 | 18 | 5-0 | 510 | 0 | 19 | -- | W 40-32 vs #15 Washington |
| 6 | Oct 9 | 11 | 6-0 | 907 | 0 | 12 | -- | W 42-32 vs #11 Utah |
| 7 | Oct 16 | 9 | 6-0 | 1048 | 0 | 10 | -- | DNP |
| 8 | Oct 23 | 12 | 6-1 | 803 | 0 | 15 | -- | L 45-30 at #10 Oregon |
| 9 | Oct 30 | 10 | 7-1 | 979 | 0 | 11 | 12 | W 38-13 vs Stanford |
| 10 | Nov 6 | 9 | 8-1 | 1040 | 0 | 10 | 12 | W 50-36 at Arizona State |
| 11 | Nov 13 | 16 | 8-2 | 648 | 0 | 16 | 16 | L 34-28 vs Arizona |
| 12 | Nov 20 | 17 | 8-3 | 562 | 0 | 18 | 18 | L 48-45 vs #7 USC |
| 13 | Nov 27 | 17 | 9-3 | 618 | 0 | 17 | 17 | W 35-28 at California |
| 14 | Dec 4 | 18 | 9-3 | 570 | 0 | 18 | 18 | DNP |
| Final | Jan 10 | 21 | 9-4 | 243 | 0 | 21 | -- | L 37-35 vs Pittsburgh (Sun) |
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.