This post was updated Oct. 9 at 11:51 p.m.
How things can change in a week.
The Bruins have gone from a cellar-dwelling laughingstock to a giant slayer.
The team’s offensive play caller – assistant head coach and tight ends coach Jerry Neuheisel – has gone from being relatively unknown to being the talk of college football.
Redshirt sophomore quarterback Nico Iamaleava has gone from receiving constant ridicule to becoming Oct. 6’s AP National Player of the Week.
But the Bruins’ season did not end with their upset of the then-No. 7 Nittany Lions.
UCLA football’s (1-4, 1-1 Big Ten) campaign will continue when it faces Michigan State (3-2, 0-2) at Spartan Stadium in East Lansing, Michigan, in the teams’ first meeting since 1974.
“We don’t want to be one-hit wonders,” said interim head coach Tim Skipper, who took home both Oct. 6’s Dodd Trophy and Oct. 7’s Bear Bryant Coach of the Week awards for his efforts in UCLA’s historic upset. “Stay in the now – what’s important is how we’re going to win.”
Although the unranked Spartans may not be as daunting on paper as the Nittany Lions, Spartan Stadium could challenge the Bruins.
Through three home games in 2025, the Spartans are averaging more than 71,000 spectators per contest in an arena that holds 75,005.
Only 39,256 spectators attended the Rose Bowl on Saturday.
There were 36,117 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas and only 12,023 in Evanston, Illinois, at UCLA’s first two road matches. The Bruins posted a 1-3 record last season in games with more than 65,000 spectators – all contests outside Pasadena.
UCLA’s recent win against Penn State was also followed by the team’s return to a revitalized Spaulding Field. The Bruins spent the summer practicing in Costa Mesa, California, and the fall at UCLA’s Drake Stadium due to renovations at the team’s typical Westwood gridiron.
Now, Spaulding Field features a full-length grass field and two 20-yard turf fields. Previously, the practice grounds were all turf and featured two side-by-side 80-yard fields. However, the goal posts have remained in the same position and are now adjacent to the 20-yard lines on the full-sized field.
Then there’s the effort to keep things the same.
UCLA players have said their goal is to keep bringing the fight that allowed their once-winless team to upset a top-10 opponent.
“We’re not finished,” said redshirt junior offensive lineman Sam Yoon. “That (the win against Penn State) was a moment. We want to turn that moment into momentum.”
Yoon – who didn’t become the starting center until a third of the way through the 2024 campaign – received a 90.8 score from PFF, the company’s highest score of the week for the position.
The center credited Neuheisel and offensive line coach Andy Kwon for the line’s performance last week – where they helped facilitate the Bruins’ 435 yards of offense.
“He’s a younger coach, so he’s closer to his playing days,” Yoon said of the 31-year-old Georgia Southern alum. “He played center in college as well. … He’s got that grit to him, he’s got that swagger to him. We can really relate to that.”
Yoon added that a full week under Neuheisel – who had only three days to work on the Penn State game plan after his Sept. 30 promotion – has meant a larger offensive install ahead of Saturday’s contest.
The Spartans boast the Big Ten’s 10th-best rushing defense, but third-worst passing defense. If the Bruins are looking to exploit that discrepancy, redshirt senior wide receiver Titus Mokiao-Atimalala could be at the heart of the action.
“It (Saturday) was really just us locking in as an offense,” said Mokiao-Atimalala, who caught three passes for 41 yards against Penn State. “We knew we were stopping ourselves at the end of the day, and if we just did our one of 11, we’ll be good.”
Injuries have hampered Mokiao-Atimalala’s collegiate career. He missed the entirety of the 2023 season and several games in 2024, and he has caught just 56 passes for 710 yards through three seasons as a Bruin. He still managed, however, to finish fourth in receiving yards among the team’s wideouts last season.
UCLA’s top-four receiving yards leaders at the position span up and down the age range, with sophomore Kwazi Gilmer, junior Mikey Matthews, Mokiao-Atimalala and redshirt sophomore Rico Flores Jr – with 304, 128, 126 and 103 yards, respectively.
But Mokiao-Atimalala said he didn’t see his position group that way.
“Kwazi and Rico – they stepped up, and they’re ready to lead whenever they need to lead,” Mokiao-Atimalala said. “Having Rico come back (from injury Sept. 27), he brings something special that helps the team.”
Despite Saturday’s kickoff set for 9 a.m., Mokiao-Atimalala said he wasn’t concerned with the morning start, because Skipper’s practice schedule already has the players training in the mornings throughout the week – and even earlier in preparation for Michigan State.
Skipper said, in late September, he took the team bowling to build camaraderie off the gridiron soon after taking the helm.
A week ago, it seemed like that would be the only bowling the Bruins would do this season.
But things change.
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