Postgame Quotes – Indiana 56, UCLA 6
POSTGAME QUOTES
Indiana 56, UCLA 6
Bloomington, Ind. (Memorial Stadium)
Oct. 25, 2025
UCLA interim head coach Tim Skipper
on how pressure on UCLA quarterback Nico Iamaleava affected the game
“Definitely, being under pressure for sure. We always preach starting fast, right? Well, we didn’t do that there. Playing against a team like that, that’s very good in all three phases, you’re going to have to start fast. When it creates a turnover that creates points, that’s hard to overcome. We didn’t really bounce back from that moment. It kind of shell-shocked us and it took a while to get back going. You tip your hat to them, though. They did some unscouted looks that kind of messed with us. We were caught chasing them the rest of the game. Not just on offense, but on defense and special teams. We’re going to have to bounce back. We always preach fast starts and we didn’t’ do that today.”
on Indiana’s unscouted looks it gave UCLA
“Just different things, twist games and where the spy guy is going to be and ways to attack our protection and things like that.”
on Indiana stopping UCLA’s fake punt
“We got the look we wanted, actually. But we got caught up trying to get out of there and that messed up the timing of it because it’s an either you can throw it or run it type of option there. They had the run part of it taken care of. But if we don’t get hung up we would have been fine. We got hung up a little but, so now they took it away. Tip your hat to them like I said earlier. They did a good job and they reacted to it and they made the play.”
on the challenges that Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza presented
“They’re a really good offense. It’s not just him. He knows how to check in and out of plays. And then they have really good receivers, very good O-Line, their running backs run very, very hard. They’re a full, complete offense. And you’re going to have to handle everybody. They all have their role and they roll guys through there. They try to win on the line of scrimmage. They want to win the time of possession. They did those things today.”
on the defense’s missed tackles and passing interference penalties
“We are going to keep challenging everybody that we play. We got a little handsy and we got called on that on the perimeter and the PI stuff. And then tackling – when we got the contact, we stopped our feet. You have to keep your feet moving as you wrap up and knock people backwards. It’s stuff that we’re going to have to work on. It’s fundamental stuff. We have a bye week to attack it and then we get to the game week and we have another opportunity in two weeks.”
on UCLA quarterback Nico Iamaleava’s performance
“We’re just trying to get a flow. Just trying to get back to some normalcy. We just kept on playing it out. We kind of took the mentality that the score doesn’t matter. Let’s get our style of play back and that’s what we were trying to do.”
on UCLA’s performance in the final minutes
“I mean yeah, we started to run the ball a little better and stuff like that. Obviously, we’re trying to score and we didn’t do that. But you’re moving it, it’s late, they’ve got other guys in there and things like that. We’re just trying to get our style of play going.”
on his message to the team after a game like this
“Yeah, you’re going to learn from this game. We’re not going to just throw this away. Tomorrow, we’re going to learn from this game. When you watch film, it’s just as important as practice (and) playing in the game. We’ll evaluate everything as coaches and as players. And then we’re going to get back and ready to go for the next one. But you’re playing a top-notch team and you’re going to see how you cannot have mistakes when you play somebody like Indiana.”
on his initial takeaways from today’s game
“We just started slow and too many penalties. That’s the main thing. Our tackling like we talked about. We’re going to have to get back in the trenches and hit each other again and try to defeat each other in the box with the offense knocking the defense back and the defense knocking the offense back. Getting our style of play back. That’s what we have to do. We have to define our physicality and get it back and get better in these two weeks.”
on UCLA’s rushing performance
“We didn’t win in the trenches. We didn’t. We didn’t move them or anything like that. We missed too many tackles on the other side (of the ball). It’s just, flat out, the trenches, we lost that battle. And that’s what we talk about all the time is winning the trenches. And (Indiana) did that. They stopped our run game and when the scoring gets out of hand you have to throw it a little bit more than you want to. We just never got back to our style of play. That’s the bottom line.”
Redshirt sophomore quarterback Nico Iamaleava
on how difficult it is to start a game with the sacks and pick-6
“That’s a rough start to the game. That kind of set the tone for the game and how the offense played. They bring a lot of pressure and play games up front. We’ve got to do a better job of picking it up.”
on the offense’s performance against Indiana’s defense
“We just didn’t execute on our part. They had a great gameplan for us. We weren’t able to run the ball efficiently. Just throwing the ball, we weren’t able to be efficient in that either. Going into this bye week, we’ve got to do a better job.”
Redshirt senior defensive lineman Keanu Williams
on his tipped pass that led to Scooter Jackson’s interception
“The first play of the game, we turned the ball over. (Indiana) still happened to score, but we said, ‘You know what, we got to go out as a defense and respond somehow in some way.’ I just got my hand in the passing lane and tipped the ball in the air and Scooter came in and cleaned up and got the pick. That’s all that happened. Just had to respond.”
on the biggest challenge that Indiana’s offense presented
“Shoot, it was just scheme, really. They got a good coaching staff, good offense that they ran. They just executed. They’re very disciplined. They don’t really mess up a lot. We had self-inflicted wounds and they just took advantage of it.”
on staying in the game mentally after a big early deficit
“It’s hard. But at the same time as a defense, we have to have a next play mentality. We just got to go out there and keep competing. The score today, it is what it is, but you just never know what happens. You can’t quit.”
on what the team’s going to focus on the bye week
“Details and self-inflicted wounds. We just can’t keep having that. We can’t keep having penalties, flags, things like that. That’s what we’ve got to work on during the bye week.”
Indiana 56, UCLA 6
Bloomington, Ind. (Memorial Stadium)
Oct. 25, 2025
UCLA interim head coach Tim Skipper
on how pressure on UCLA quarterback Nico Iamaleava affected the game
“Definitely, being under pressure for sure. We always preach starting fast, right? Well, we didn’t do that there. Playing against a team like that, that’s very good in all three phases, you’re going to have to start fast. When it creates a turnover that creates points, that’s hard to overcome. We didn’t really bounce back from that moment. It kind of shell-shocked us and it took a while to get back going. You tip your hat to them, though. They did some unscouted looks that kind of messed with us. We were caught chasing them the rest of the game. Not just on offense, but on defense and special teams. We’re going to have to bounce back. We always preach fast starts and we didn’t’ do that today.”
on Indiana’s unscouted looks it gave UCLA
“Just different things, twist games and where the spy guy is going to be and ways to attack our protection and things like that.”
on Indiana stopping UCLA’s fake punt
“We got the look we wanted, actually. But we got caught up trying to get out of there and that messed up the timing of it because it’s an either you can throw it or run it type of option there. They had the run part of it taken care of. But if we don’t get hung up we would have been fine. We got hung up a little but, so now they took it away. Tip your hat to them like I said earlier. They did a good job and they reacted to it and they made the play.”
on the challenges that Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza presented
“They’re a really good offense. It’s not just him. He knows how to check in and out of plays. And then they have really good receivers, very good O-Line, their running backs run very, very hard. They’re a full, complete offense. And you’re going to have to handle everybody. They all have their role and they roll guys through there. They try to win on the line of scrimmage. They want to win the time of possession. They did those things today.”
on the defense’s missed tackles and passing interference penalties
“We are going to keep challenging everybody that we play. We got a little handsy and we got called on that on the perimeter and the PI stuff. And then tackling – when we got the contact, we stopped our feet. You have to keep your feet moving as you wrap up and knock people backwards. It’s stuff that we’re going to have to work on. It’s fundamental stuff. We have a bye week to attack it and then we get to the game week and we have another opportunity in two weeks.”
on UCLA quarterback Nico Iamaleava’s performance
“We’re just trying to get a flow. Just trying to get back to some normalcy. We just kept on playing it out. We kind of took the mentality that the score doesn’t matter. Let’s get our style of play back and that’s what we were trying to do.”
on UCLA’s performance in the final minutes
“I mean yeah, we started to run the ball a little better and stuff like that. Obviously, we’re trying to score and we didn’t do that. But you’re moving it, it’s late, they’ve got other guys in there and things like that. We’re just trying to get our style of play going.”
on his message to the team after a game like this
“Yeah, you’re going to learn from this game. We’re not going to just throw this away. Tomorrow, we’re going to learn from this game. When you watch film, it’s just as important as practice (and) playing in the game. We’ll evaluate everything as coaches and as players. And then we’re going to get back and ready to go for the next one. But you’re playing a top-notch team and you’re going to see how you cannot have mistakes when you play somebody like Indiana.”
on his initial takeaways from today’s game
“We just started slow and too many penalties. That’s the main thing. Our tackling like we talked about. We’re going to have to get back in the trenches and hit each other again and try to defeat each other in the box with the offense knocking the defense back and the defense knocking the offense back. Getting our style of play back. That’s what we have to do. We have to define our physicality and get it back and get better in these two weeks.”
on UCLA’s rushing performance
“We didn’t win in the trenches. We didn’t. We didn’t move them or anything like that. We missed too many tackles on the other side (of the ball). It’s just, flat out, the trenches, we lost that battle. And that’s what we talk about all the time is winning the trenches. And (Indiana) did that. They stopped our run game and when the scoring gets out of hand you have to throw it a little bit more than you want to. We just never got back to our style of play. That’s the bottom line.”
Redshirt sophomore quarterback Nico Iamaleava
on how difficult it is to start a game with the sacks and pick-6
“That’s a rough start to the game. That kind of set the tone for the game and how the offense played. They bring a lot of pressure and play games up front. We’ve got to do a better job of picking it up.”
on the offense’s performance against Indiana’s defense
“We just didn’t execute on our part. They had a great gameplan for us. We weren’t able to run the ball efficiently. Just throwing the ball, we weren’t able to be efficient in that either. Going into this bye week, we’ve got to do a better job.”
Redshirt senior defensive lineman Keanu Williams
on his tipped pass that led to Scooter Jackson’s interception
“The first play of the game, we turned the ball over. (Indiana) still happened to score, but we said, ‘You know what, we got to go out as a defense and respond somehow in some way.’ I just got my hand in the passing lane and tipped the ball in the air and Scooter came in and cleaned up and got the pick. That’s all that happened. Just had to respond.”
on the biggest challenge that Indiana’s offense presented
“Shoot, it was just scheme, really. They got a good coaching staff, good offense that they ran. They just executed. They’re very disciplined. They don’t really mess up a lot. We had self-inflicted wounds and they just took advantage of it.”
on staying in the game mentally after a big early deficit
“It’s hard. But at the same time as a defense, we have to have a next play mentality. We just got to go out there and keep competing. The score today, it is what it is, but you just never know what happens. You can’t quit.”
on what the team’s going to focus on the bye week
“Details and self-inflicted wounds. We just can’t keep having that. We can’t keep having penalties, flags, things like that. That’s what we’ve got to work on during the bye week.”