Sep 27, 2025; Evanston, Illinois, USA; UCLA Bruins interim head coach Tim Skipper talks to a official during the first half against the Northwestern Wildcats during the first half at Northwestern Medicine Field at Martin Stadium. Mandatory Credit: David Banks-Imagn Images David Banks-Imagn Images

UCLA HC Shares Michigan State Scouting Report

Originally posted on UCLA Bruins on SI | By Connor Moreno | Last updated Oct 9, 2025 10:30 AM ET

Despite their 1-4 start to the season, the UCLA Bruins may be one of the hottest teams in the nation, fresh off their stunning upset win over No. 7 Penn State last week.

Up next, a new challenge against the Michigan State Spartans. The Bruins' road matchup against MSU presents a plethora of unique obstacles, namely the 9 a.m. PT start time because of the east-coast road matchup, which has become a regular occurance since the shift to the Big Ten.

But the Spartans are reeling off two straight losses, and the Bruins are coming off one of the biggest wins of the college football season. Still, a game needs to be played on the field, and UCLA interim head coach Tim Skipper shared his early takeaways from Michigan State during Monday's media availability.

"Well-coached team," Skipper said. "One thing that sticks out to me is that they're not penalized a lot. Their penalties are way down, so they're going to force you to play ball."

Penalties and discipline were major issues in UCLA's abysmal 0-4 start. The Bruins routinely cut off any momentum they could garner by committing a random false start here or an unnecessary holding penalty over there.

Defense was also an issued before the Penn State win. Which is why Skipper broke down the Michigan State offense first.

"On offense, they're a time-of-possession [team]. They want to win that category," Skipper said. "They're not going to go fast. They're going to take their time. They're an 11 and 12 personnel type team as their base. They'll get into their big boy stuff, too, when it's short yards and things like that.

"Another thing that sticks out; they're going to give us some old school football. They're going to have a quarterback under center and they'll give us some two-back looks."

Then, Skipper moved on to the Spartans' defense:

"On defense, they're a four-down operation. They're going to play man and they're going to play some Cover Four. When they get to third downs, that's when they're going to get a little exotic and try to heat us up and pressure us a little bit, so we have to be ready for their five-man and six-man pressures.

"They play hard, man. You see 'em on film, they tackle well, guys are pursuing when they're on defense. On offense, they're controlling it, they want to win on the ground. They have a very athletic quarterback that causes a lot of problems. So, this is going to be a huge challenge for us."

The Bruins and Spartans kick off on Saturday at 9 a.m. PT in East Lansing, Michigan, televised on the Big Ten Network.

This article first appeared on UCLA Bruins on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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