One glorious afternoon at the Rose Bowl isnt enough.
Thats why after they fielded the congratulatory phone calls and text messages, made a celebratory champagne toast and smiled while rewatching game footage for the first time this season, UCLA players and coaches eagerly resumed the pursuit of something more.
We dont want to be one-hit wonders, interim coach Tim Skipper said Monday, thats the whole key to this thing do not be a one-hit wonder, get back to work.
While beating Michigan State on Saturday at Spartan Stadium wouldnt generate the same recognition that came with the previously winless Bruins recent victory over then-No. 7 Penn State, it would erase any lingering doubts that things just fell into place one wonderful weekend.
Read more: Previously winless UCLA pulls off a stunning, Jerry-rigged upset over No. 7 Penn State
UCLA (1-4 overall, 1-1 Big Ten) hopes it discovered a winning formula beyond Jerry Neuheisels playcalling, quarterback Nico Iamaleavas heroics and Skippers putting everything together. After seeing his team look listless the previous week against Northwestern, particularly in the games early going, Skipper adopted the word strain as a rallying cry going into the game against the Nittany Lions.
Its just draining your tank and doing everything possible that you can possibly do on every single play for us to achieve success, Skipper said. So, strain was mentioned every single day, it was mentioned after the game, and I think that was the major difference. Our guys strained, from the opening kickoff to the very end of the game. We had to strain on every play to get the game to be a positive outcome for us.
It was favorable for everyone on the team, including position groups that had previously struggled.
Not long after the Bruins held off the Nittany Lions for an epic 42-37 triumph, UCLA offensive line coach Andy Kwon gathered his players for a group photo in the end zone. Kwon posted the photo on the social media platform X, adding a one-word caption: STRAIN!
The word also was uttered twice during a short video in which athletic director Martin Jarmond delivered the game ball to Skipper.
Two days later, there was some further basking in UCLAs first victory over a top-10 team since toppling Oregon in 2007. Skipper was named the Dodd Trophy coach of the week, Iamaleava the Associated Press national player of the week and Neuheisel the CBS Sports coordinator of the week.
More important, it was fun to be back in the football practice facility again.
Smiling. Laughing. Talking, Skipper said of the scene compared to previous weeks. When youre sore after a game, it actually feels pretty good, you know what I mean? Like, a lot of things, just the flow. People laugh at bad jokes now and stuff, you know? Just, man, just joy.
Meanwhile, Penn States falling out of the national rankings was a reminder of how quickly a college football season can change.
The Bruins finally hope to have some stability going into the game against the Spartans (3-2, 0-2) after having installed a new defense one week and a new offense the next in the wake of multiple coaching changes. Skipper said Neuheisels ability to explain why he wanted to run plays in certain situations to counter what the defense was doing led to an offense that rolled up a season-high 435 yards of offense, including a season-high 269 on the ground.
Read more: UCLA Unlocked: Its a great day to be part of the Jerry Neuheisel family
He explained it in a way that he was totally confident in what he was saying, Skipper said. And I think everybody felt that and believed in that, and it just carried over into the game.
Those who fear UCLAs offense might not be as effective now that theres footage of what Neuheisel likes to do may not need to worry. Skipper said the playbook would be specifically tailored to each opponent because the team did not have spring practice or fall training camp to install its offense.
Were going to watch our opponents in all phases, Skipper said, and then were going to game plan for them, and then the things that work that weve done previously, were going to do, and the new things we have to do to establish the game plan the way we want it to go, were going to add that to the game plan. So were just a work in progress, man.
One win down, the rest of the season to go.
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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.