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Historians looking back at UCLA’s 2025 football season will peg the Penn State game as the Bruins’ first victory.
In ways both large and small, they will be wrong.
When Tim Skipper first took over the team a month ago, he placed a new opponent on the schedule: the locker room. The interim coach showed players pictures of how it should look, including the lockers and the surrounding floor.
They scrubbed the place and it’s been spotless ever since. Sort of like the Bruins’ play starting with 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 primary motivational device — besides his highly transmissible energy — has been slogans. He started by telling his players to strain, to give everything they had in the pursuit of winning. After the Bruins beat Penn State, he asked players whether they were one-hit wonders. Now, his players having established they know what it takes to win following a smackdown of Michigan State, he’s asking them to maintain their approach.
At their Sunday meeting, the Bruins saw their new mantra — the standard is the standard — on a big screen.
“We have identified a style of play that we want to be, and it’s our job now to keep the standard the standard, you know, play with that fanatical effort, play with fundamentals, being smart, you know, all those things we just have to continue to do,” Skipper said. “But it’s not like something that’s just going to show up on Saturday. You have to practice about it. You have to work on it and not just talk about it.”
Can the Bruins keep it up after two consecutive victories? Here are five things to watch Saturday afternoon at the Rose Bowl when UCLA (2-4 overall, 2-1 Big Ten) faces Maryland (4-2, 1-2):
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Feeling the heat
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Maryland’s 4-0 start cooled hot-seat talk surrounding coach Mike Locksley.
Then came an epic collapse after leading 20-0 against Washington and another failure to hold a late lead against Nebraska. A loss to UCLA would undoubtedly bring more heat for Locksley.
Bruins fans hoping to see former UCLA quarterback Justyn Martin will probably be disappointed considering Martin hasn’t played since suffering an unspecified injury during the Terrapins’ season opener.
But Maryland appears to have a star in the making at quarterback.
Malik Washington is only the fourth Power Four conference true freshman quarterback since 2000 to throw for at least 200 yards in each of his first six games.
Their meltdown against Washington notwithstanding, the Terrapins haven’t beaten themselves this season because their plus-10 turnover margin leads the nation.
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Getting creative
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UCLA has used two fake punts, an onside kick and a defensive lineman blocking on offense in the last three games.
What might be next? There’s no shortage of volunteers to do something unexpected.
“I think if any of us can help any side of the ball out,” defensive lineman Keanu Williams said, “let’s do it.”
What would Williams like to do?
“Shoot, give me a little pop pass,” Williams said. “I want a touchdown. I don’t like blocking, I want to score.”
What about running the ball in a William “Refrigerator” Perry role?
“I’ll do that too,” Williams said. “I’ll knock over anything, it don’t matter, I’ll do it.”
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Let’s pack the place
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Skipper made several appeals to help fill the Rose Bowl.
He sent emails to fans and students and delivered verbal messages in every interview he conducted, asking everyone to support the Bruins during a homecoming game in which they will wear Gary Beban-era throwback uniforms.
“It’s a top-notch game in one of the best facilities in the entire country, in the world,” Skipper said. “So come on out, cheer us on, let’s keep the excitement going, and the more people that are there and the louder that Rose Bowl is, the better our chances of winning. So, let’s bring it.”
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Campus support
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UCLA’s resurgence is inspiring some prominent figures on campus.
Mick Cronin, the basketball coach who guided the Bruins to the 2021 Final Four, praised the football players’ resilience in the face of scathing criticism amid their 0-4 start.
“I think the things that gets lost in all this because of the money — the TV money to the schools, the money to the players, the coaches make X amount — that they’re still young, they’re still kids and it’s not easy for them to live through the pressure cooker of social media, mainstream media. You know, they’re human, it’s tough. For young people, what they went through early in the year, I know how hard that is. I spend my time around young people. Even when your team’s winning, you’ve got a guy not playing well and he’s feeling the weight of the world on his shoulders, so I can imagine how hard it was for our football players early in the year.
“So to watch them celebrate and get to be on the other side of that is awesome for their mental health, for their enjoyment of being at UCLA. So I’m happy for them and my message to them is it’s inspirational, what they’re doing. When I got the job, I said I spell fun W-I-N. Not a lot of people smiling when you lose. But it’s awesome to see those kids.”
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Injury report
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UCLA running back Anthony Woods, who has run for 222 yards this season while averaging 5.2 yards per carry, was limited in practice this week after suffering a lower-body injury against Michigan State.
The post Can UCLA maintain its new ‘standard?’ Five things to watch versus Maryland appeared first on Los Angeles Times.
