UCLA football reversed itself from national punching bag to delivering two knockout victories. Interim head coach Tim Skipper is now 2-0 at the helm, this time smacking Michigan State 38-13 Saturday.

Skipper dipped into this motivational tactic ahead of the beatdown at East Lansing. Ben Bloch of the Los Angeles Times revealed Skipper left a gift on the team plane before the wheels went up.

“Skip” addressed the “one hit wonder” narrative after the game, flashing a smile during his explanation.

“That was the message starting on Sunday and we preach it every single day moving up,” Skipper explained after the win. “We just wanted to see where we really were. And we wanted to come out and play 60 minutes of football. And we did it today with training and not being one hit wonders.”

UCLA pulled off the new rout amid Jedd Fisch rumors, featuring the Washington head coach becoming a contender for the opening.

Tim Skipper also revealed why he's not ‘boring' for UCLA

Michigan State's head coach Jonathan Smith, right, talks with UCLA's interim head coach Tim Skipper before the football game on Saturday, Oct. 11, 2025, at Spartan Stadium in East Lansing.
Nick King/Lansing State Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The Bruins not long ago played a bland, disorganized style. UCLA lacked an identity on both side of the ball during its slow start. The New Mexico loss ultimately forced DeShaun Foster out. 

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Skipper has infused new energy at Westwood — revealing why he chooses not to be “boring.”

“I’m an energetic guy and I don’t like boring,” Skipper shared during his postgame presser. “So, if I don’t feel the juice, we’re gonna start the day over.”

Fortunately for UCLA, Skipper says they “Haven’t had to do that or anything” when it comes to resetting.

“Skip” has flipped UCLA from boorish to delivering brute force in such short timing. Much like his Fresno State years as a young running backs coach, Skipper trusted the ground attack with 238 rushing yards Saturday.

He leaned into interim offensive coordinator Jerry Neuheisel for the rest of the hard-nosed attack. Neuheisel's unit racked up 418 total yards against the Spartans.

Skipper then tapped into his linebacker expertise in bottling the MSU ground attack, holding it to only 87 yards.

UCLA showed it was still hungry after shocking Penn State. The “one hit wonders” proved they had room to add a second conference win with “Skip” leading the charge.