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Belief and Breakthrough: Skipper’s UCLA Bruins Win 3rd Straight

Originally posted on LAFB Network | By Nikko Buenavidez | Last updated Oct 19, 2025 6:09 PM ET

Belief is starting to mean something for the UCLA Bruins football team again.

Saturday night at the Rose Bowl, the Bruins won ugly but proved something bigger. They pulled out a 20-17 win over Maryland in a game that tested every part of their identity. For the first time since early 2023, UCLA has won three straight and sits above .500 in Big Ten play.

“It took everybody,” interim head coach Tim Skipper said after the game. “[Anthony] Frias is a hard-working dude. He was buried on the depth chart at the beginning of the year, but he just kept working. When his opportunity came, he took full advantage.”

That moment came midway through the second quarter when running back Anthony Frias II found daylight for a 55-yard touchdown, the longest play of UCLA’s season. The senior finished with 97 rushing yards on four carries, and his 35-yard burst late in the fourth set up Mateen Bhaghani’s game-winning field goal.

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UCLA Bruins Optimism at a High Point After Gritty Win

Belief and Breakthrough: Skipper’s UCLA Bruins Win 3rd Straight 1 Nick King/Lansing State Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Is it a great day to be alive and to be a Bruin?

“It means the world to me,” Frias said. “I came here years ago and watched a Rose Bowl game with my dad. To finally make a play like that here, I’m just grateful.”

Quarterback Nico Iamaleava took hits all night and threw two interceptions but kept coming back. He briefly left with an injury before returning to lead the final drive. He went 21 of 35 for 221 yards and one touchdown, finding Mikey Matthews on a 14-yard score to tie the game in the fourth.

“It just shows how much of a leader he is,” Matthews said. “He wanted to be in that last drive and finish it for us.”

UCLA’s defense carried the night, holding Maryland to 337 total yards and forcing quarterback Malik Washington into his lowest completion rate of the season. The Bruins broke up 13 passes, their most in 10 years. Rodrick Pleasant, Key Lawrence, Scooter Jackson, and Andre Jordan Jr. each had multiple deflections, while Jackson added UCLA’s first interception of the year.

Skipper credited defensive coordinator Kevin Coyle for installing complex schemes in a short time. “We threw a lot at those guys this week,” Skipper said. “They bought in and executed it.”

Bhaghani missed a 56-yarder earlier in the game but delivered the winner when it mattered most. “I just reminded myself to flush it,” he said. “Coach told me I’d get another shot, and I believed him.”

For Skipper, that word belief summed up everything about this team.

“I found out today the guys believe,” he said. “When everything’s not going your way and nobody points fingers, that tells you something.”

UCLA heads to Indiana next week for a Big Noon matchup against the undefeated Hoosiers, carrying something that hasn’t traveled with them all year: confidence they can finish.

This article first appeared on LAFB Network and was syndicated with permission.

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