In Cignetti’s world, UCLA is 3-0 including a win over Penn State. The 0-4 start didn’t happen, at least, not with current Bruins coaches.
Last Saturday’s come-from-behind 20-17 win over Maryland behind sophomore quarterback Nico Iamaleava, who overcame a knee injury to lead the winning drive, is the latest example of a turnaround that is making national headlines.
It was sparked by a coaching change that saw special assistant to the head coach Tim Skipper become the interim head coach (his changes include a clean locker room), Jerry Neuheisel switch from tight ends coach to offensive coordinator, and Kevin Coyle leave Syracuse for UCLA in late September to become the defensive coordinator.
In their last three games, the Bruins have beaten Penn State 42-37, Michigan State 38-13 and Maryland. In that stretch, they averaged 233 rushing yards and 33 points a game. They’ve possessed the ball an average of 37 minutes a game to opponents’ 23. They’ve successfully converted two fake punts and one onside kick and are successful 50 percent of the time on third downs and 70 percent on fourth downs.
“Since they have retooled their staff,” Cignetti said, “and now have their new defensive coordinator and offensive staff in place, they are a very impressive football team.
“They’re keeping the ball away from the other team. They’re starting fast, outscoring people in the first half, 58-17.”
Iamaleava completes 65.2 percent of his passes for 1,355 yards, 10 touchdowns and five interceptions. He also is the Bruins’ leading rusher with 360 yards and four touchdowns.
Four running backs have rushed for at least 134 rushing yards. Jalen Berger has 232 and one touchdown; Jaivian Thomas has 226 yards and one touchdown; and Anthony Woods has run for 221 yards. Kwazi Gilmer is the leading receiver with 30 catches for 369 yards and two touchdowns.
“They are led by a talented quarterback who really has a quick body and a live arm,” Cignetti said. “He’s also made some big plays with his legs also. They have really good skill people. It’s a new offensive design.”
UCLA has two of the Big Ten’s leading tacklers with linebackers JonJon Vaughns (a conference-best 66 tackles) and Isaiah Chisom (57 tackles). The defense has allowed just one touchdown in the last two games.
“On defense, they have a lot of different personnel packages,” Cignetti said. “They try to keep you off balance. I’m really impressed with what they do. When you get outside of normal down-and-distance situations, you see a lot of stuff, a variety of blitzes, pre-snap looks with linebackers to try to confuse the quarterback.
38-13 win over Michigan State, the
“They’re a rejuvenated football team. This is going to take tremendous preparation and effort on our part.”
