WATCH: Tim Skipper reviews UCLA loss to Northwestern
Slow starts and the mistakes that come with them have been the UCLA football equivalent to Groundhog Day.
UCLA interim head coach Tim Skipper addressed the issue Monday while looking back on the Bruins’ 17-14 road loss to Northwestern. Skipper, though, also pointed to the second half numbers as signs of encouragement.
“It was pretty much how I saw it. You know, we started slow. That was the most disappointing thing,” Skipper said via Zoom as he reviewed what he saw on film. “We were just a step late on a lot of things. Didn’t use our three weapons, our eyes, our hands and our feet. You have to do that every single play. And as the game went, you saw us getting a lot more comfortable.
“I thought we did a good job on defense once we settled in. Second-half shutout. I think we were giving up 36 points per game on defense, and it was 17 that game. And then 431 yards, and then it cut it down to 314 yards. So I like where we’re headed.”
But that was also against the back end of UCLA’s most generous chunk of the schedule. Sitting at 0-4, the Bruins will now have to prepare for a gauntlet of Big Ten juggernauts starting with seventh-ranked Penn State.
The Nittany Lions are coming off a dramatic 30-24 home loss to now-No. 2 Oregon in double overtime. It was their first loss of the season after opening the year 3-0.
“Man, well-coached team,” Skipper said. “Coach (James) Franklin always has those guys ready to go. He’s a top-notch coach in this profession and you see it by the product you watch on film.”
The Nittany Lions are the third-least penalized team out of 134 FBS schools while also boasting a top-10 defense and top-20 offense.
“We’re gonna have our hands full,” Skipper added. “Probably, pound for pound and athlete to athlete position-wise, the best team we have played. So, we’ll have to be ready to go.”
Tim Skipper’s Zoom media availability (9/29)
Watch the full press conference below courtesy of UCLA Athletics:
