As UCLA prepared to try to topple its top-ranked opponent in nearly two decades, one coach spoke about the challenges of beating an undefeated team, stopping its vaunted rushing attacks and getting off to a fast start.
The coach was Curt Cignetti.
His team happens to be No. 2 Indiana, the short-lived heavyweight the Bruins will try to defeat Saturday at Memorial Stadium.
“We’re playing a 3-0 football team that’s undefeated, which is 3-0 in conference play since they revamped their team,” Cignetti told reporters. “Very impressive football team.”
The transformation the Bruins have made since their winless start is so surprising that they’re the ones now being praised by the coach of one of the best teams in the country.
Surging UCLA (3-4 overall, 3-1 Big Ten) is just the third Big Ten team to lose its first four games and win its next three, joining 1963 Indiana and 2001 Penn State.
Of course, the Bruins hope the parallels end there considering these Hoosiers lost their last two games and these Nittany Lions finished with a losing record.
Cignetti touted the 2025 Bruins as a team for the ages, pointing out that they averaged 233 rushing yards per game over the last three games while dominating the time of possession battle and outscoring their opponents 58-17 in the first half over that same span.
UCLA will head into a nationally televised “Big Noon” showdown against Indiana (7-0, 4-0) having already beaten a top 10 team this season, thanks to its 42-37 victory over then-No. 7 Penn State earlier this month lost considerable luster given the Nittany Lions’ free fall that followed.
Luckily for the Bruins, interim coach Tim Skipper played for Pat Hill at Fresno State, which means he embraces the “anyone, anytime, anywhere” mindset that made the scrappy Bulldogs a national phenomenon because of their fearlessness.
UCLA wide receiver Kwazi Gilmer catches a pass from Maryland defensive back Jamare Glasker during the Bruins’ victory on October 18.
(Harry Comment/Getty Images)
“It’s always been a part of me; I’ve been brainwashed that way, to be honest with you,” Skipper said. “But, yeah, I mean, for me, once the whistle blows, it’s just us against you. I mean, it’s time to go. Let’s see who had the best week of practice, let’s see who’s the best prepared, let’s see who wants this thing. So that’s the way I look at it. We’re going to start, we’re going to have to be willing to put in the effort for every inch and see what happens.”
Asked to evaluate Indiana, Skipper praised a team that is among the nation’s best in almost every major statistical category.
“I always try to identify weaknesses,” Skipper said. “It’s crazy how disciplined they are.”
UCLA last beat a team ranked as high as Indiana in a game that many Bruins fans will cherish forever: their 13-9 triumph over No. 2 USC in 2006 in the Rose Bowl.
A recruitment victory
In a time of great uncertainty, when it would be easy for the UCLA staff to worry more about their own futures than those of future high school students who may never play for them, the Bruins have continued to recruit.
They landed another verbal commitment Monday from Travis Robertson, an offensive tackle from West Bloomfield, Mich., who previously committed to Bowling Green.
“They showed me that no matter what situation they’re in,” Robertson told the Times, “they’ll always get the job done with the coaching staff and the players. And I support this team 100 percent.”
UCLA staff also continued to pursue recruits who reneged on their verbal commitments, including Cooper Javorsky, an offensive lineman from San Juan Hills High who spent time visiting with offensive line coach Andy Kwon before the Bruins’ game against Maryland last weekend.
“We work hard here, we don’t let anything go to waste and we don’t overextend in one area or another,” Skipper said of his team’s recruiting efforts. “Everything we do is moving at full speed.”
UCLA’s 2026 recruiting class is currently ranked No. 78 nationally by 247Sports.comwith 12 players involved.
Injury Updates
Skipper said he would wait to further evaluate quarterback Nico Iamaleava and running backs Anthony Woods and Jaivian Thomas before providing injury updates.
Iamaleava returned from an apparent right knee injury suffered late in the game against Maryland to lead the Bruins in their victory. Woods and Thomas were sidelined after “both guys kind of got stuck,” Skipper said.
