This post was updated Oct. 12 at 10:27 p.m.
Last Saturday’s victory was one for the record books.
The Bruins’ 42-37 victory over the then-No. 7 Nittany Lions was their first win over a top-10 team since 2010 and served as a blinding moment in an otherwise desolate campaign through uncharted waters.
After the confetti shower and throne hoist, Westwood’s dark knight – assistant head coach and tight ends coach Jerry Neuheisel – said the squad would cherish the shining moment for the next 12 hours, nothing more.
“The hard part is this is not a bowl game. This is not the end of the season … You enjoy this moment like hell for the next 12 hours, and then as soon as you wake up on Sunday morning, it’s, ‘How do we get the next one?’” Neuheisel said.
Interim head coach Tim Skipper echoed his protégé’s message, adding that the crew wanted to turn the tide, utilizing the defeat of the Nittany Lion pride to swell its voyage back on course.
And the magic from Oct. 4’s upset appeared to remain.
The green and white sea of 72,109 Spartan fans did little to stymie the Bruin wave, as UCLA football (2-4, 2-1 Big Ten) defeated Michigan State (3-3, 0-3) 38-13 Saturday morning at Spartan Stadium in East Lansing, Michigan. Redshirt senior Jalen Berger – a former Michigan State running back – led the way with three touchdowns, his first score since the 2023 season.
“Berger’s been working hard since I’ve been here, since I’ve been seeing him work,” Skipper said. “He’s a great kid. He doesn’t smile all that much; he goes to work and does his thing. I’m excited for him – it’s good for him to have a good game here – I know that was personal for him, and I’m just excited for him.”
An emphasis on starting full steam ahead stayed with the Bruins from Pasadena to the Mitten State.
Barring a first drive that featured a false start and two errant throws, UCLA scored on its subsequent four drives – and would have come away with points on each possession if junior kicker Mateen Bhaghani’s 34-yard field goal attempt had not ricocheted off the left upright.
The Bruins tallied 24 first-half points, draining 18:26 from the clock. Although redshirt sophomore quarterback Nico Iamaleava had less of a ground presence against the Spartans, the Bruin offensive line has continued to improve, paving the way for 5.5 yards per carry and limiting the Spartan defense to two sacks.
Michigan State’s lack of defensive pressure could be chalked up to the absence of edge rushers Anelu Lafaele and Jalen Thompson, who have combined for four sacks, 22 tackles and a forced fumble this season.
UCLA’s methodical drives wore down the already depleted Michigan State defense – one missing two key pieces in its secondary, Nikai Martinez and Ade Willie, on top of losses on the defensive line.
An efficient ground game – which featured a three-headed snake in junior Jaivian Thomas, redshirt junior Anthony Woods and Berger – allowed Iamaleava to surgically pick apart the loose Spartan secondary.
The Long Beach, California, local garnered 180 passing yards and three scores through the air while maintaining a 67% completion percentage.
“We are getting back to having fun,” Iamaleava said. “Football is a great sport we play. We were uptight the first four games, and we went out there and let our hair flow – and we were playing for fun.”
UCLA’s biggest improvement from Oct. 4 came from its defensive shell.
The Bruin defense had no issues with containment, limiting Michigan State signal caller Aidan Chiles to nine rushing yards. The secondary also dominated, holding Chiles to 66 yards and wide receiver Nick Marsh to seven catches and 77 yards despite his 15 targets.
“Straining,” redshirt sophomore defensive back Cole Martin said on the aspect the defense has focused on after a 0-4 start. “The biggest thing for us has been straining on defense – getting off the field, knowing the situation, winning the situation and playing like that.”
After Chiles exited the game with an injury in the third quarter, signal caller Alessio Milivojevic showed improvement over his counterpart, posting 100 yards and a touchdown, but the Spartans’ surge was too little too late as the Bruins put the nail in the coffin.
“I know everybody looks at stats and all that stuff, but to me, we’ve really changed our fundamentals – how we run to the ball, how we use our hands on blocks, how we tackle people, how we’re attacking the ball on strip attempts and all that stuff,” Skipper said. “Our energy and passion have picked up on that side of the ball, and I tip my hat to coach Kevin Coyle and the defensive staff.”
After UCLA shocked Penn State, many wondered whether the team could replicate a result that had yet to be seen all season.
As a result, Skipper – prior to the Spartan affair – left printed messages on each seat of the team plane that read, “Are you a one-hit wonder?”
“That was the message starting on Sunday, and we preached it every single day moving up,” Skipper said. “We just wanted to see who we really were, that was the whole thing about it, and we wanted to come out and play 60 minutes of football, and we did that today with straining. It’s not being one-hit wonders, it’s all those things – we’re putting them all into the games now.”
UCLA’s defeat of Penn State made the squad the fifth 0-4 team to defeat a top-10 opponent – joining Purdue, UTEP, Tulane and Pittsburgh, the most recent of which came in UTEP’s 1985 defeat of then-No. 7 BYU.
The four non-Bruin schools went 1-3 in their ensuing contests, 5-11 for the remainder of the season and were outscored 309-200 post-upset.
But UCLA is 1-0 since the Pasadena miracle.
Neuheisel’s arsenal has scored more through his first six quarters as offensive play caller than former offensive coordinator and quarterback coach Tino Sunseri in his first four games.
Iamaleava has scored nine touchdowns without a turnover after garnering just four scores and three interceptions through the first four affairs.
And the Bruin defense has found its identity – which many felt was still missing even after the Nittany Lion collapse – holding Michigan State to 253 yards.
While the Penn State victory felt like a fever dream, a hole in the space-time continuum or simply just not real, UCLA’s win over Michigan State turned question marks to exclamation points.
“The best part really is the togetherness we have in the locker room,” Martin said. “We came together. We’ve never altered. We’ve always stayed together. Nobody’s quit on one another. And that was the best part for me, knowing that whatever we go through, we’re going to have each other at the end of the day.”
Last Saturday was not a moment; it was a movement.
