Heading into the game this weekend, the winless Bruins were not given much of a chance to win but that is why they play the games. Interim coach Tim Skipper knew he had to make a bold move to ignite the Bruin team that had much promise. On late Tuesday afternoon he chose to hand the offence over to Coach Jerry Neuheisel. Jerry, a former UCLA Quarterback that has been on the coaching staff at UCLA for 7 years said he had only slept a few hours since he learned of the change and used every moment to create the game plan that brought the Bruins their first win of the year and over a top 10 team.
I shot the game and from the field you could feel something was different today. The first drive after the kickoff saw quarterback Nico Iamaleava lead the team with confidence down the field to score. Then in stunning fashion UCLA executed a perfect onside kick to regain possession and march down for 3 more points. Suddenly UCLA was up 10 to 0 before Penn State had even touched the ball. Then the true battle began, Penn State would score followed by another successful UCLA drive. I couldn’t believe this was the same team I had shot earlier this season.
In the second quarter UCLA outscored Penn State by 17 points. The first 5 UCLA possessions resulted in points. The half ended with UCLA up 27 to 7 over Penn.
In the second half Penn State looked better and began to outscore the Bruins and cut the lead, but when Penn began to pressure quarterback Nico Iamaleava he would tuck the ball away and gain yards with his legs. The Bruins were playing smart football, the crowd started to chant “Jerry, Jerry!” This is what college football was supposed to be.
In the fourth quarter UCLA converted for 2 on the extra point to make it a 2-touchdown lead but Penn State was driving down the field and scoring. UCLA put their ground game to good use in eating up the clock. The UCLA Alum on the field around me were nervous and thrilled as the team would grind down the field.
In the last few mins of the game UCLA stopped the Lions short of the goal line. Now deep in their own territory with Penn State only 1 touchdown away from tying the game the tension in the stadium ramped up. UCLA stalled and the punt team came on to give the Lions more chance in the closing moments of the game. To everyone’s surprise, the punter held on to the ball and moved to the corner of the endzone. Instead of some trick play he walked out of the endzone for a safety while burning a chunk of time off the clock. Yes, UCLA gave up 2 points but now Penn would have the ball deep in their own territory. It was a brilliant bit of strategy. When the game ended you would have thought UCLA had won a bowl game.
The Little team that very few gave a chance, including me, pulled off a stunning victory. This is why they play the games and why so many love college football.
UCLA interim head coach Tim Skipper
on the Bruins’ process of coach Jerry Neuheisel installing the offense and how that transpired
“I’m going to start with this, he’s a coach’s kid. You move around the country when you are young, you’re trying to figure out all your new friends and things like that. Before he even became a coach, he has dealt with having to be ready to go at any time. It was a short week for him to get ready. He did a great job of using stuff we have been doing and adding new to it. We wanted to control the time of possession and slow things down. The plan worked to a T. That was a game of a lot of situations. There were a lot of things happening. We just kept the guys calm, and took it one play at a time – Jerry did a great job of that.”
on quarterback Nico Iamaleava and his strong performance
“Big-time players make big-time plays, and that’s what he did out there. There are times when we have drop-back passes and nobody is open. Ad he just takes off, he makes a guy miss and it springs an explosive run. He’s a player, he’s a football player. It doesn’t matter what the play call is, you always have to account for him. He rises to the occasion, that’s the thing I love about him. There’s no pressure too big for him. He applies pressure to defenses. I am happy for him, he’s our leader of the team. He was the number one vote getter for captains, and I love that kid and appreciate him so much.”
UCLA assistant coach Jerry Neuheisel (offensive play-caller)
on where this ranks for him as a Bruin
“It’s up there. First thing I want to say is I love UCLA more than anything, and the kind of kids you see that played on that field today is exactly why you love a place like this. We had two days to practice a new game plan, and all they did was believe, and we came out and played as hard as we could for 60 full minutes. Had to take a safety at the end because we messed it up at the end. How can you not love college football when you have days like this? It’s special. Special. Special.”
on his emotions after that win
“It would be a better question to ask me tomorrow. Right now, I still haven’t come down off of it. Again, it’s those kids. It’s the fact that I got to spend time and do that. I’ve been around them for so long. To come together and play a game like that … I think that’s what we were capable of. To see their excitement and their emotion in the locker room, again, just a special, special day. I don’t know where it would rank. I don’t know how to put it into words. I’m just glad I’m the one who gets to be in it right now.”
on the nuts and bolts of the week after learning he would be the one to call plays
“Tuesday at 5:00, I found out that I was going to be calling plays, and then hadn’t slept until I got maybe three hours of sleep since then. Just trying to put something they could operate on, that they could execute, and something they could be confident with. I put a lot of onus on number nine [Nico Iamaleava]. Nico brought those guys together. His understanding, his willingness to do the extra work, to learn the game plan, and then to coach those guys when he was at practice the other day. He is special special. We’re just glad we got him on our team. It’s reminiscent of all the guys who are on that offense and defense. Special. Special.”
Article and Photos: Chuck Null
