To the level of the competition

We'll see if I'm any kind of athletic prophet. It seems to me that the UCLA football team this year has generally played to the level of the competition -- or perhaps to the level of the competition's reputation. Thus they lose games they should win -- Utah State, Notre Dame, Arizona last week -- and win games they might have been expected to lose, notably at Cal. This week they're playing Arizona State, which I think is still ranked 9th despite a loss last week, so even though their top two quartarbacks are injured and they're going with a guy who was a bench-sitting wide receiver at the beginning of the year (though he played quarterback in high school) I expect the Bruins to at least be respectable this week, and perhaps even to win.