Bruins Rise in FPI After Much-Needed Bye

This bye week is an important week for the Bruins coming off their 56-6 shellacking at the hands of No. 2 Indiana, and Skipper shared his focus during the reset.

Inside UCLA’s Main Focus During Bye Week Reset

It's been six weeks since the UCLA Bruins last had a bye, and the circumstances were far different from what they were in Week 4.

UCLA was enduring a complete reset going into the bye after losing 35-10 to New Mexico and firing second-year head coach DeShaun Foster. Tim Skipper, who was named interim head coach, used that bye week ahead of their clash with Northwestern to take the Bruins back to training camp, so to speak.

The result? A 17-14 loss to the Wildcats on the road, and an even deeper whole amidst a 0-4 start. However, Skipper and the Bruins righted the ship over the next three weeks, dominating in wins against No. 7 Penn State, Michigan State and Maryland.

Week 10's bye comes after another inflection point of the season; a trashing 56-6 loss to No. 2 Indiana, and beatdown in which UCLA was outclassed in every single facet of the game.

Tim Skipper's Bye Week Plan

That sets the stage for the next two weeks leading up to their matchup against Nebraska in the Rose Bowl on Saturday, Nov. 8. Skipper, during Monday's media availability, laid out exactly what his focus is during the bye week.

• "This is totally different from all kinds of different levels," Skipper said of the bye week. "But the main level is, the first one we only played three games, so you're still able to do a lot of the physicality stuff that you need to do. This one now is a lot later. We're creeping into the fourth quarter of the season now, and you're eight games in and now your bodies are starting to feel the wear and tear of the season.

• "So we're going to concentrate on getting the Bruins better and healthy and playing fast, and still with the focus of, 'This is how we want our style of play to be and this is how we need to be all the time.' So, it's not going to be just a, 'Take the week off,' type mentality, but it's also not going to be freaking scrimmage time all day.

• "We're going to have to balance out getting better and also getting healthy. So that's going to be the challenge for this one."

Getting healthy will be important. Skipper also noted that running back Anthony Woods and offensive lineman Eugene Brooks, who were both notably absent against the Hoosiers, will be using this week to recover so that their impact can return to the lineup against the Cornhuskers.