Historians looking back on the 2025 UCLA football season will consider the Penn State game as the Bruins’ first victory.
In all areas, they will be wrong.
When Tim Skipper first took over the team a month ago, he added a new opponent to the schedule: the locker room. The interim coach showed the players photos of what it should look like, including the lockers and surrounding floor.
They scrubbed the place and it’s been spotless ever since. Kind of like the Bruins play from that Penn State game.
“I think a clean locker room makes you a lot happier,” Skipper explained this week. “It shows team discipline and it shows you can win off the field, so now you can go ahead and get on the field.”
Skipper’s other main motivational tool – besides his highly transmissible energy – has been slogans. He started by telling his players to make an effort, to give everything to win. After the Bruins beat Penn State, he asked the players if they were one-hit wonders. Now that his players have established they know what it takes to win after a victory over Michigan State, he’s asking them to maintain their approach.
During their game on Sunday, the Bruins saw their new mantra – the norm is the norm – on the big screen.
“We’ve identified a style of play that we want to be, and it’s our job now to maintain the standard, you know, to play with that fanatical effort, to play with the fundamentals, to be smart, you know, all those things we just have to continue to do,” Skipper said. “But it’s not like something is going to show up on Saturday. You have to practice. You have to work for it and not just talk about it.”
Can the Bruins hold on after two straight wins? Here are five things to watch Saturday afternoon at the Rose Bowl when UCLA (2-4 overall, 2-1 Big Ten) takes on Maryland (4-2, 1-2):
