It is hard to imagine anyone arguing that the UCLA football team started out strong this season. The Bruins found themselves in the spotlight many times over the course of the off season, particularly due to the drama surrounding Nico Iamaleava leaving Tennessee. Fans and analysts alike were excited about the new talent joining the roster, but after four straight losses to start the season, high hopes were quickly diminished. UCLA fired head coach DeShaun Foster and named Tim Skipper as the interim coach for the rest of the season.
Samantha Moses, a third-year psychology student on the cheer team, said of the start of the season, “We were in the media a ton about being the worst college football team that was playing Division I. I think students, faculty, everyone, was just disappointed about that.”
However, on Oct. 4, everything started to change. UCLA stunned heavily favored Penn State at the Rose Bowl, beating an extremely strong team 42-37 . “Our win against Penn State really turned things around,” Moses said, “Once people realized they missed out on that game, people were really excited to go to the next one, even though the Rose Bowl is hard to get to.” Fans were left cautiously optimistic; however the Bruins only got stronger, delivering wins against Michigan State and Maryland the following two weeks. This comeback story started garnering national attention, with many left wondering how this turnaround took place.
Which leads us to the Jerry Neuheisel of it all. Neuheisel took over as the offensive coordinator for the Bruins at the same time Skipper took on the head coach role. He was previously the tight end coach for the team. A video of Neuheisel being carried off the field after helping lead the Bruins to their first win of the season went viral on social media. Not only did Neuheisel’s story grip the nation’s attention, but it led to an incredible increase in school spirit amongst students and alumni alike.
Neuheisel bleeds Bruin blood through and through. He was a quarterback at UCLA, and his father was the former head coach. In fact, the viral video of Neuheisel after the Penn State game mimics a 2014 video of a college Neuheisel being carried off the field after leading a comeback against a strong Texas team.
The reason Neuheisel inspires an immense amount of school spirit is not just because of the wins this team has seen, but because he demonstrates what it means to be a Bruin through and through. Being a coach for UCLA has been a long-term dream of his. A video from 2023 resurfaced of Neuheisel in which he was asked what his ultimate professional goal is. He responded with a simple, “I want to be the head coach here.” To Neuheisel, it seems UCLA football is not a stepping stone in his career, rather his dream. This is why it has been so easy for the Bruin family to fall in love with him. He sees UCLA for everything it is, and believes in the program through and through.
To see someone believe so strongly in a program that has been through so many ups and downs resonates with people. We all want something to believe in, and Neuheisel lit the spark. The game against New Mexico, following the loss in the season opener to Utah, had only 31,163 people in attendance at the Rose Bowl, according to uclabruins.com. At the Maryland game after the huge win against Penn State, nearly 4,000 more tickets were sold, demonstrating a tale as old as time: people like it when their team wins.
Moses goes on to talk about how this increase in attendance has impacted both the football team and cheerleading squad. She says, “Since the win streak, we’ve ramped up attendance, and I think it has a positive impact on our football team. Our winning streak has provided us with exponential support. We are more inspired to take on the cheerleader role and really what that means… We are focusing a lot on really cheering our team on because we are excited to be in the game. It is always exciting for cheerleaders to have people to cheer to; it makes it more authentic rather than performative”.
According to Moses, it is not only UCLA students that are attending more games, but other Bruin student-athletes that have rallied around their football team, with both the men’s and women’s basketball teams in attendance at the last game. After three straight wins, there was a clear shift in school spirit on campus. When people talk about the football team, it is no longer laced with disappointment. People are excited to go to the games and want to sit at the front to cheer on their team. Even after the blowout loss against the incredibly strong, No.2 ranked Indiana team, people are cheering stronger than ever for the Bruins to bounce back this week, rather than feeling dismay about what the future holds.
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Featured Image Photographed by Aamani Maddukuri/BruinLife
