UCLA football shook up its coaching staff before facing Penn State. Now they’ve shaken the college football world behind Tim Skipper.
The interim head coach walked into a mess in a rather chipper mood ahead of game week. Displaying a smile despite taking control of a 0-4 team. “Skip” flashed an even larger grin — after toppling the No. 7 Nittany Lions 42-37 in the biggest upset of Saturday.
The last time Skipper set foot as a head coach inside the Rose Bowl, he faced a nebulous future with Fresno State. That 2024 contest became his final regular season one as the Bulldogs’ leader.
His mission became to rebuild confidence inside a broken UCLA locker room, Skipper admitted after the game with reporters.
“Some Saturdays after games that have been kind of lonely and sad, and this will be the first Sunday we had — kind of celebrate a little bit,” Skipper said.
He also added to Jenny Dell of CBS Sports how everyone hung together and knew “we had to go to work, and just go to work. Every single play counted today.”
With all odds against them, the UCLA Bruins took down Penn State.
Tim Skipper and Nico Iamaleava join @JennyDell_ after the win. pic.twitter.com/C5BjoWGj1a
— CBS Sports College Football 🏈 (@CBSSportsCFB) October 4, 2025
Tim Skipper sparks fan reactions after UCLA stuns Penn State
Skipper earned the biggest win in a truncated head coaching career that features less than 20 games. He’s now 8-7 overall in that position, but took down his first-ever top 10 opponent.
“Skip” described a “Madi Gras” scene inside the home locker room.
“You’d think it was Mardi Gras or something.” 😂
More from @UCLAFootball interim head coach Tim Skipper on the postgame scene in the locker room. pic.twitter.com/clqFLHcHXH
— FOX College Football (@CFBONFOX) October 4, 2025
But the Bruins’ upset sparked a bevy of reactions for the man taking over for DeShaun Foster. One came from 247Sports website Barkboard, which covered Skipper’s 2024 season. The site sent its congrats to the Fresno State linebacker legend.
Even the Fresno State fan section “Green V” celebrated Skipper’s monumental win.
Congratulations to our guy Tim Skipper! We love you coach! The best possible face of a program that you can have, one of the good ones! Enjoy it Skip! 🤜🤛❤️💙💚 pic.twitter.com/M6ceHBVwGs
— Green V Section 💚💚 (@FSGreenVsection) October 4, 2025
Skipper leaned into some aggressive play-calling from interim offensive coordinator Jerry Neuheisel. The latter coach turned Nico Iamaleava loose — totaling 294 yards passing and rushing with five touchdowns. Skip’s defense bottled Drew Allar to just 199 passing yards while delivering six tackles for a loss — featuring Jacob Busic getting two.
Skipper changed the mood instantly after four games. And got his previous home reacting.
