Tim Skipper Back then, he was just a redshirt freshman, a 5-foot-6 speck of middle linebacker.
On that October day in 1997, his Fresno State Bulldogs went on the road and beat No. 18 Air Force, beating the only team in major college football 7-0.
“They worked,” Skipper, UCLA's interim coach, said this week, “and we found a way to do it.”
That memory stayed with Skipper more than a quarter-century later because it was the only nationally ranked team he beat as a player or interim coach before his then-winless Bruins pulled off a stunning performance on a much larger scale this month when they I was upset then – No. 7 Penn State.
UCLA interim coach Tim Skipper celebrates Mikey Matthews' goal against Maryland on Saturday in the Rose Bowl.
(Harry Howe/Getty Images)
What Skipper's team has a chance to do on Saturday may see these wins relegated to the fine print of his memoirs.
If UCLA (3-4 overall, 3-1 Big Ten) beats No. 2 Indiana (7-0, 4-0) in a nationally televised matchup starting at 9 a.m. PT at Memorial Stadium. A team that starts the season with four losses in a row can…
- Continue to compete for a Big Ten title and a spot in the College Football Playoff.
- Climb into the national rankings with a .500 record.
- The Vault Skipper is involved not only in full-time job at UCLA but every major college coaching vacancy in the country.
- Start a bidding war among all the major movie studios for the rights to the Bruins' 2025 season.
Would a win over Penn State help extend a three-game winning streak? The skipper's faith guides the team is this a 24.5 point underdog against the Hoosiers?
“I really don’t think anything from the past can do anything for this game,” Skipper said. “I’m one of those people that thinks every game has its own story, its own personality, so we’re going to have to go out there, we’re going to have to play Bruin football.”
Here are five things to watch as the Bruins seek their first win over a top-ranked team since beating No. 2 USC in 2006:
