On the field was the son and rookie playcaller, trying to revive a winless team.
In the studio was the father and college football analyst, trying to hold it together.
The latter pursuit became harder the closer UCLA came to pulling off what might go down as the upset of the year.
Finally, when the Bruins made a defensive stop to complete a stunning 42-37 victory over No. 7 Penn State on Saturday at the Rose Bowl, Rick Neuheisel fully unleashed his emotions in what became a family affair involving son Jerry in front of a national audience.
“Get him down! Get him down!” Rick bellowed on the CBS broadcast before thrusting his arms into the air in triumph. “Yeeeaaaah!”
A day later, still processing the absurdity of it all, Rick recalled what it felt like in that moment, a former UCLA quarterback-turned-coach at his alma mater cheering on the son who was a former UCLA quarterback-turned-coach at his alma mater.
“It was just raw emotion, good fun,” Rick told The Times by telephone Sunday afternoon. “I just wanted the game to end because it was so fun for so long and I just didn’t want there to be this hardship, you know, that goes along with not quite getting it done.”
Rick Neuheisel and his son Jerry Neuheisel when Jerry was in high school.
(Chris Foster)
What were the chances of this incredible scene? That CBS would televise a game involving a winless team that pivoted to the son of its studio analyst to call plays four days before kickoff after parting ways with its offensive coordinator?
“Oh, my goodness,” Rick said, “the chances are slim that CBS is going to be picking a team that’s 0-4 and yet because Penn State was coming to town and they’re one of the major draws in the Big Ten, that moved the needle enough.”
Before the game, the CBS crew on site in Pasadena recorded a message from son to father.
“Hey, coach Neuheisel,” quipped Jerry, the lifelong Bruin who was born at UCLA Medical Center at a time when his father was an assistant coach at the school, “I just want to make sure you have the wherewithal to handle the broadcast today. Love you, dad.”
Once the game started, the elder Neuheisel became a remote member of the broadcast team, joining play-by-play announcer Brad Nessler and commentator Gary Danielsen as the Bruins scored on each of their first five drives. Finally, Nessler joked, “We better cut this off. We’re getting calls from Penn State fans.”
As the game progressed, CBS showed Rick’s reaction in the studio after significant plays. When quarterback Nico Iamaleava dropped back in the pocket and took off on a touchdown run, Rick’s voice accompanied him.
“Go, score!” Rick yelled before thrusting his arm into the air after Iamaleava reached the end zone. “Score!”
UCLA fans can partly thank Rick for Iamaleava’s success in tying a school record with three rushing touchdowns by a quarterback. After Jerry informed his father that he would be calling plays earlier in the week following a promotion from tight ends coach, Rick provided two pieces of strategic advice. The first was to fully account for Penn State’s defensive ends. The second was to use Iamaleava’s legs because he was a unique athlete.
The offense that Jerry unveiled Saturday wasn’t some big transformation except in terms of the way it was run. When Rick asked Jerry what he was going to do, Jerry said there was nothing to do except to do what they already did.
“I said, ‘Yeah, you get to do what you do, but now you can basically do it with a different attitude’ is hopefully the deal,” Rick said, “and that’s not a knock on the previous guys calling plays, it’s, you get to start over and sometimes do-overs are exactly what people need.”
Rick Neuheisel with his three sons, Jack (left), Jerry (top) and Joe.
(The Neuheisel family)
Rick said Jerry had been calling plays his whole life, even if they were never used in games. It was similar to how Rick operated as an assistant under Terry Donahue, always thinking about what he would call next in case anyone ever asked, “Hey, what do you think?”
Jerry got to call plays in practice under coach Chip Kelly but was rebuffed in his efforts to become UCLA’s offensive coordinator when DeShaun Foster took over as coach before the 2024 season.
“When DeShaun got the job,” Rick said, “they wouldn’t let Jerry interview for the coordinator job because he didn’t have any experience. I guess because of DeShaun’s inexperience, they didn’t want more inexperience.”
No one can say that’s an issue now, Jerry’s playcalling debut making him the talk of the college football world and a possible hot coaching commodity after the season.
But who can think so far ahead when the Bruins are suddenly having so much fun?
Susan Neuheisel, Jerry’s mother who was sitting almost directly behind UCLA’s bench in Section 17, Row 9, said she started choking up from the opening drive, when chants of “Jerry! Jerry! Jerry!” began to fill the Rose Bowl.
“The poor people behind us — we forced everyone to stand up where we were sitting, for sure,” Susan said. “It was quite exciting. Jerry’s dreamt of this, the first word he said was ‘ball,’ it’s always been his dream to do this, so to see him do it on this kind of stage and just watch it come together and seen him be authentically him, it brought me to tears and that doesn’t happen very often.”
Afterward, Jerry repeated a family tradition started by his father when he led players in repeated chants of “It’s a great day to be alive and be a Bruin!” in the locker room before being doused with water. He then shared a champagne toast with his mother in another family ritual that follows wins. Susan hopped on the phone with Rick after he finished the broadcast, though she’s not sure if they heard one another.
“We were too busy just screaming with elation,” Susan said. “We were just like, ‘Can you believe it?’ It was honestly as much a dream come true for us as it was for Jerry. It was a family celebration for sure.”
Nico Iamaleava throws a pass while on the run against Penn State in the first half.
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
This was like cramming for a midterm after struggling in class — and earning an A.
Quarterbacks: A+. You can’t ask any more from someone who showed as much resolve as this guy. After telling his teammates to leave if they didn’t want to be here, Nico Iamaleava gave them plenty of reason to stick around with his three touchdown runs and two touchdown passes.
Running backs: B-. Anthony Woods (63 yards), Jaivian Thomas (60) and Jalen Berger (29) each made meaningful contributions to help the Bruins pile up a season-high 269 yards rushing.
Receivers: B. Kwazi Gilmer (five catches for 79 yards and a touchdown) looked like a star again, with Rico Flores Jr. and Titus Mokiao-Atimalala playing strong supporting roles.
Offensive line: B+. Where did these guys come from? There was plenty of protection and far fewer penalties from the team’s most maligned position group.
Defensive line: B+. Jacob Busic deserves a game ball for his sack, two tackles for loss and impressive perseverance after struggling earlier this season.
Linebackers: B+. Isaiah Chisom, Jalen Woods and JonJon Vaughns helped hold Penn State to 157 yards rushing.
Defensive backs: B+. Key Lawrence and Rodrick Pleasant made some big plays for a defense that needed a boost.
Special teams: A-. Mateen Bhaghani deserves a big revenue share bump for that successful onside kick that he paired with two more field goals. The blocked punt was forgivable — and forgettable — on a day like Saturday.
Coaching: A+. Tim Skipper and Jerry Neuheisel might have just earned jobs for the 2026 season — maybe even in some capacity with the Bruins — after engineering one of the most startling upsets in UCLA history. Washington Commanders general manager Adam Peters, who is part of the search committee for the Bruins’ next head coach, was at the game Saturday.
Remembering Jeff Siegel
One of my favorite routines after listening to Mick Cronin talk postgame inside Pauley Pavilion was saying hello to Jeff Siegel.
Siegel recorded video of the interviews and uploaded them to the Los Angeles Times’ website.
After big UCLA wins, Siegel would beam. After losses, he would shrug, a sort of mystified twinkle in his eyes.
Siegel didn’t attend UCLA, having graduated from San Jose State, but no one loved the Bruins more. He had season tickets to men’s basketball and football for many years. Siegel’s passing at 74 on Saturday after a bout with cancer was a huge loss for the UCLA and horse racing communities.
Siegel was also a widely renowned horse racing handicapper at Del Mar and Santa Anita who was profiled by Kevin Modesti of the Southern California News Group in August 2024.
Siegel once thought he would have a career in journalism after graduating from Fairfax High and writing about sports for the student newspaper at L.A. Valley College before going on to study radio and TV journalism at San Jose State. He got a job alongside the legendary Jim Healy with KLAC radio before Healy got Siegel his big break, encouraging Hollywood Park owner Marje Everett to hire him.
“He said, ‘I got you a new job,’” Siegel told Modesti. “I said, ‘I like this job.’ He said, ‘No, you’ll like the one I got you better. I got you a job in publicity at Hollywood Park.’ ”
Many years later, Siegel would give me the lowdown on Bruin Magic, Cronin’s racehorse whose name was inspired by UCLA’s run to the Final Four in 2021.
On such a special day for UCLA football on Saturday, Siegel’s absence was palpable. Eric Sondheimer, a high school columnist for The Times, put it best in a tribute tweet: “He’d be so excited.”
Olympic sport of the week: Women’s golf
Jenny Lee
(Ryan Kuttler / Northwestern Athletics)
There’s another Cinderella story on the UCLA campus.
After never having posted a top-20 finish, sophomore Jenny Lee won the Windy City Collegiate Classic last week at Glen View Club in Golf, Ill., with a three-round score of eight-under par 208 (70-68-70). The stunning achievement helped the Bruins finish tied for fourth and made Lee, a transfer from Baylor, the Big Ten women’s golfer of the week.
Lee was one of only 63 competitors to finish every round under par and was at her best on the par-5 holes, finishing a tournament-best eight-under over the three rounds.
UCLA next plays Oct. 17-19 at the Stanford Intercollegiate.
Remember when?
A heavy underdog, UCLA scored first and shocked its highly ranked opponent by going for an onside kick that it recovered.
The year was 2025 … and 1966.
What interim coach Tim Skipper did on Saturday was right out of the Tommy Prothro playbook. Prothro’s gutty little Bruins used some early surprises to help stun No. 1 Michigan State in the 1966 Rose Bowl.
After quarterback Gary Beban faked a handoff to running back Mel Farr on an opening play whose design was kept secret to the rest of the team, Beban cut the other way and ran for 27 yards. UCLA went on to score a touchdown and then shocked the Spartans with an onside kick that the Bruins recovered.
UCLA would build a 14-0 lead before holding on for a 14-12 victory that stunned the college football world as much as the Bruins did with their victory over the Nittany Lions.
The teams will meet as Big Ten rivals next weekend in East Lansing, Mich., in their first matchup since UCLA throttled the Spartans, 56-14, in September 1974 at the Coliseum.
Opinion time
How significantly does UCLA’s upset victory over Penn State alter the trajectory of the Bruins’ season?
UCLA wins out, leading to a Jerry Neuheisel statue
UCLA makes a bowl game
UCLA gets a few more wins
UCLA stumbles badly after its Cinderella moment
Click here to vote in our survey
Poll results
We asked “What’s your level of optimism that UCLA’s search committee for its next football coach will help make the right hire?” After 552 votes, the results:
They’ll make an OK selection, 44.3%
Get ready for more mediocrity, 29.1%
They’ve got this, no problem, 21.3%
It’s only going to get worse, 5.3%
In case you missed it
Previously winless UCLA pulls off a stunning, Jerry-rigged upset over No. 7 Penn State
Finally playing center, UCLA’s Xavier Booker wants to be more than an ‘X’ factor
UCLA donors question athletic director Martin Jarmond’s leadership, future viability
UCLA offensive coordinator Tino Sunseri is leaving team in mutual parting of ways
Have something Bruin?
Do you have a comment or something you’d like to see in a future UCLA newsletter? Email me at ben.bolch@latimes.com, and follow me on X @latbbolch. To order an autographed copy of my book, “100 Things UCLA Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die,” send me an email. To get this newsletter in your inbox, click here.
