A month ago, UCLA was 0-4 and had just fired its head coach. Now the Bruins are heading to Fox’s Big Noon Kickoff.
Tim Skipper found out about it the same way you probably did — someone told him at a press conference.
“I did not know that till right now,” The Bruins’ interim head coach said after UCLA’s 20-17 win over Maryland on Saturday. “To be honest with you, what is hitting me is a month ago, talking to all you guys — and if you told me we’d be in a Big Noon game, I’d be like, ‘Alright, you just trying to mess with me.'”
Tim Skipper on being the Big Noon Kickoff game:
“I did not know that till right now. To be honest with you, what is hitting me is a month ago, talking to all you guys — and if you told me we’d be in a Big Noon game, I’d be like, ‘Alright, you just trying to mess with me.’” https://t.co/nOUUHRDSfM
— Benjamin Royer (@thebenroyer) October 19, 2025
A month ago, that would’ve been the only reasonable response. UCLA had losses to Utah, UNLV, New Mexico, and Northwestern. DeShaun Foster was gone after three games. Skipper was trying to keep a sinking program afloat in its second year in the Big Ten.
Now the Bruins are 3-4 overall and 3-1 in conference play after three straight wins. They beat No. 7 Penn State in the biggest upset of the season, then knocked off Michigan State and survived Maryland on a last-second field goal. Next Saturday, they’ll travel to Bloomington to face No. 3 Indiana at noon on Fox.
The Hoosiers are 7-0 and ranked No. 3 in the country for the first time in program history. They beat Oregon on the road earlier this month in their first-ever top-five road win. Quarterback Fernando Mendoza is in the Heisman conversation. Under second-year coach Curt Cignetti, Indiana has gone from college football afterthought to legitimate national contender.
“That is awesome,” Skipper said. “It means we’re doing something right. We’ll get ready to go. We’ll leave on Thursday and we’ll play on Saturday. We’re going have a good week of practice, and then we’re going to battle it out.”
Fox gets exactly what it wants here. The network gets Indiana’s undefeated season and UCLA’s unexpected turnaround in one package. The Hoosiers are playing for a shot at the Big Ten title game. The Bruins just won three straight after firing their head coach mid-season. UCLA will be heavy underdogs, but that’s not really the point.
The point is that UCLA hadn’t led in a single game all season before beating Penn State. Now Skipper is preparing for a national TV game against a top-three opponent and learning about it at a press conference.
The Bruins will kick off against Indiana at noon ET on Saturday, Oct. 25. Fox’s Big Noon Kickoff will broadcast from Bloomington ahead of the game.
About Sam Neumann
Since the beginning of 2023, Sam has been a staff writer for Awful Announcing and The Comeback. A 2021 graduate of Temple University, Sam is a Charlotte native, who currently calls Greenville, South Carolina his home. He also has a love/hate relationship with the New York Mets and Jets.