Skip to main content
Join Now
Team Avatar
UCLA

Urban Meyer blasts people claiming UCLA has bad players: 'Bullshit, go watch the film'

FaceProfileby: Thomas Goldkamp10/08/25
Dom DeLuca Penn State Football On3
Oct 4, 2025; Pasadena, California, USA; UCLA Bruins quarterback Nico Iamaleava (9) throws a pass as Penn State Nittany Lions linebacker Dominic Deluca (0) pressures him during the fourth quarter at Rose Bowl. Mandatory Credit: Kiyoshi Mio-Imagn Images

UCLA stunned the college football world last weekend when the previously winless bunch upended No. 7 Penn State. In relatively dominant fashion, at that.

For former coach Urban Meyer, it was a reminder that sometimes the complaints about college football teams are wholly misplaced. In particular, the notion that UCLA simply didn’t have good players was not grounded in reality.

“I’m going to say this too, and I hope this gets out there,” Meyer said on The Triple Option podcast. “This tells the media, the fans and most importantly young coaches, when you start bitching about your players, calm down. You know what? ‘UCLA’s got bad players.’

“Bullshit. Go watch the film. They have really good players there. For some reason they weren’t playing good now, but that’s where you’ve got to look yourself in the mirror as a coach and say, ‘Why aren’t they playing good?'”

Whatever the reason for UCLA’s previous struggles, interim coach Tim Skipper and his revamped staff managed to make them disappear in a hurry. Now, that’s not to say Penn State doesn’t also have some critical issues, but it was an impressive showing by the Bruins.

Meyer, for his part, is simply not a fan of the easy, cheap excuse. He continued.

“It’s so easy for people, and I get so pissed off when I used to hear my coaches do it: ‘Well this guy’s not very good,'” Meyer said. “Bullshit. He’s a good player. He’s wearing a UCLA uniform. That means he was good somewhere. It’s your job as a coach to find it.”

UCLA did that on Saturday and the results spoke for themselves. There’s an entirely different air around the building now. Skipper described the difference in attitude around the team facilities this week.

Meyer was quick to hand out praise to a couple coaches he thinks were more than deserving. Now it’s on UCLA to keep playing well.

“I’ll tell you what, Neuheisel’s son and Skipper, the interim, I mean absolutely hats off for that,” Meyer said. “Because they played their ass off in that game.”