Photo by: Matthew Mitchell Photography
Post-Game Quotes: UCLA
10/11/2025 4:17:00 PM | Football
Michigan State Head Coach Jonathan Smith
Opening statement…
I'll start with just not good enough. Start with myself – think about this staff as we're responsible for preparing these guys for the week so they can come out and execute and play with great energy, and we didn't have it today. I told the locker room, we lost a bunch of one on ones. All three phases, the opportunity to get off the field did not take place, the way they could run the ball. 
Situations of aggression early, fourth down, defensively, if we bow up, didn't take place. And so we're at the halfway point, talked about it in the locker room just now, three and three. That's the reality. 
We've gotten beat the last three weeks coming out, and we've got to work to fix some things that we can fix, but we got to be able to play in the manner that we win way more one on ones than we did today.
On the injury status of Junior QB Aidan Chiles…
He got banged pretty good at the start of the third and wasn't available for the rest of the time.
On the failed fourth-and-inches play…
Check-play, we were going to sneak it if they squeeze it, and then check it to an outside play and lost the one on ones.Â
On the message to the fans…
I'll just say, I like playing at a place and being a part of a program that people genuinely care, have some energy and passion behind it, and that's a two way street when you're at a place, there's a high amount of care factor and passion with it. 
So you're asking for that, you're going to get it on both ends.
On the fourth-down play…
That's a game plan call, so they go to squeeze, we're going to run sneak, they're in sneak defense, often defenses are exposed and then you kick it out wide. So that wasn't just Aidan, that's what he's getting coached to do. That was the game plan of it. Obviously, it did not work.
On the state of the team midway through the season…
I don't think we matched UCLA's new life, new energy on some one on ones, and got beat. I don't think there was any loafing out there. The care factor is there with this team. I just think that we got to come up on a Saturday, where I'm leading to, we got to look at them, how much we're working during the week so they've got some freshness on Saturdays as well. But I don't think there's a problem, a factor or a lack of care out of the group.Â
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On the struggles in the passing game…
I think we've missed a couple open throws early, and then when you miss early, you feel like you want to get into a rhythm. I think passing is a lot about rhythm and we have failed to get into one in the passing in the last couple weeks.Â
On prioritizing what improvements need to happen first…
Well, you have to analyze it, and you have to take a deep look at the film, too, because your emotions after the game, and sometimes extremes take place when you're emotional. We're going to analyze it in a big way, and then we've got to fix what we can fix. 
And then we think about, well, this is a flaw that we can't totally fix, maybe we think of a different scheme, different personnel, that kind of thing.
On if the UCLA schemes looked different on tape, prior to their coaching change…
I don't think the looks have dramatically changed on both sides. I do think just watching off the tape and then experiencing it today, that there was energy and belief out of that group at UCLA, and I should have gone back to start with credit to those guys, they came in here and played a really good game.
On if he was shocked by the performance…
I was very surprised by it. And again, I think all of us feel that way, through the week, we felt good, back to work, guys had the energy and focus through the week. So, yeah, surprised that this performance looked the way it did.
On if this program has progressed to where he thinks it should be through his 18-game tenure…
In the last three weeks, no, we'd like to be in a better place. At the same time, sometimes it's a couple steps forward, step back, and again, I'm not pressing a huge panic button here, but there is an extreme urgency to get this thing in a better place. So, we're going to be back to work doing it tomorrow.
On if his team feels the pressure of letting the season slip away…
I think there's always pressure. This is what you sign up for.  Whether you want to be a head coach, you want to be a play caller, you want to be a quarterback in the Big Ten, you want to play defensive line in the Big Ten, there's always pressure. Your own expectations is really what you're chasing, and we're focused on that.
On getting beat one-on-one too many times…
I think about simplifying things. I look at it as defensively because yes, we got more to us than the back out of the backfield a couple of times and we don't get them, or we're late getting there. I think about maybe we've got too much in on, and that's not just defense but overall, but when it's not getting executed, first thing you think about is how much we got going and are they playing with clarity out there, and that's Coach's job.
On quarterback Alessio Milivojevic…
Yeah, we'll check on health (Aidan Chiles). Alessio (Milijovic) has been coming along, he wasn't perfect here today, but I do think he's come in and made a couple of good throws when he's given the opportunity.
On if he thought targeting was in play when Aidan Chiles went down…
I didn't see a clean replay. I think that's a bang, bang type of play. It was a physical hit; there's no question about that. And again, they're (the Big Ten Conference) looking at this, they're looking at all plays, and I'm sure they took a look at it because it was an injury timeout. They had plenty of time to look at it.
On getting sophomore wide receiver Nick Marsh more involved this week…
Well, yeah, and we had intentions coming in and you saw a couple of balls going his way early. I think at the same time, you design all you want, if you're seeing a little bit of double coverage, we've got to be going to other spots and that's on the quarterback to do it.
On what the message to the team was at the halftime break…
Well, the mood wasn't great. We came in with a lot of frustration. Again, we got to make some adjustments and all of that. We talked about sticking together and it's on us to do it, so that was the message at half time. Look to make some adjustments. We opened the second half, got some momentum, and got a drive going, and then we don't finish it and can't get a stop.
UCLA Interim Head Coach Tim SkipperÂ
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On going for one-hit-wonders...
Yeah, that was a message starting on Sunday. We preach it every day moving up. We just wanted to see who we really were, that was the whole thing about it. We wanted to come out and play 60 minutes of football, and we did that today. Restrained, not being one-hit wonders, all those things, we're putting them all into the games now and that's exciting to see. We'll have to continue that. The future is going to get harder and harder as we keep on going. We'll have a tough matchup on homecoming playing against Maryland. We're going to need all the Bruin fans to be there, that's the start of the message right now. Start thinking about how you're going to get to the Rose Bowl next Saturday.
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On Jalen Berger's performance and returning to MSU...
You know, I kind of really want to talk about the O-Line and the running backs as a whole first. I think all week we preached that we have to win in the trenches. They're a time possession offense, we're trying to be a time possession offense, so that was an inner battle among the two offenses that were going against each other. Berger's been working hard since I've been here and I've been seeing him work. He's a great kid, he doesn't smile and all that all that much, he just goes to work and does his thing. I'm excited for him. It's good for him to have a good game here, I know that was personal for him. I'm just excited for him.
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On the energy of the team...
I'm an energetic guy. I don't like boring, so if I don't feel the juice, then we're going to start the day over. We haven't had to do that or anything, but energy and passion is how you're supposed to play football. That's the way we're going to practice, that's the way we meet, that's the way we play. So, we'll continue to keep that consistent.
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On scoring more points in UCLA's two most recent games...
Please don't jinx us with that. Man, the guys are working. Keep on game planning. We're going to have to keep taking what the defense is giving us, and we're going to get different looks than what you see on film because obviously we have a running quarterback, so teams are going to try to defend you in multiple ways. We're doing a good job in game with seeing how things are going and then adjusting to what we need to do.
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On going into a hostile environment and getting a big win...
Every time you go on the road there's all these built-in excuses that you can use, especially here, right? We went three time zones over, it's an early kickoff, it's their homecoming. There's all these built-in excuses, but at the end of the day, once you tee it up, it's ball on ball. And we just needed to play ball today, we needed to start fast, and we needed to finish, and that's what we did.
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On the defense holding strong...
Yeah, I'm glad you brought up the defense. I felt like in the first half against Penn State, we had a really, really good half. We held them at 92 yards in the first half of that game. We won a turnover battle that way. Today we kind of did the same thing. The same exact score as last week, 242-7. The defense is a huge part of it. I know everybody looks at stats and all that stuff, but to me, we've really changed our fundamentals. How we run with the ball, how we use our hands on the blocks, how we tackle people, how we're attacking the ball and stripping the tips and all that stuff. Our energy and passion has picked up on that side of the ball and I tip my hat to coach Kevin Coyle and the defensive staff, they're doing a great job of just getting the guys better every single day.
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On the difference between the team's first four games and the last two games...
That's a good question. I don't know if I'm the best guy to answer that. Like I told everybody when I first was in this position, we're going to go to training camp and start over, so in my mind I have kind of blocked out everything until I've been sitting in this seat and I see us getting better every single day. That's my whole entire goal. Just get better every single day. That's all I'm really worried about.
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On having fun...
Fun is always good when you're winning. You're going to have a lot of fun when you're winning. We need to continue that, but I'm one of those guys, all the decisions and things are in my head, I'm just locked into each single play. I'll enjoy this for a little while, but as soon as we land back in LA, we're going to get ready for the next one. It's exciting, but when you're in the middle of a season, you need to stay humble and get ready for the next one.
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On his message to the upcoming teams UCLA is playing...
Our message to them? I just hope they watch our film and think that we play good, sound football. We're well-coached and the guys play hard. All I can do is control what we're doing in our area of our locker room and things like that.
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Junior Linebacker Jordan Hall
On being down at halftime...
Yeah, man, we just got to play. Just gotta play better. Execute better. It's a little unfortunate kind of bringing that performance to such a big crowd, but you know, we've just got to continue to prepare throughout the week. Be able to execute in these big games.
On momentum shift after a fourth down...
That is a great team. They really turned things around the last two weeks. We're always clawing and fighting back, no matter the situation. That was something that was kinda unfortunate. But we always, I know for defense, we always want to respond and be able to have the offense were comfortable enough to go forward on forth down. They came up short. We didn't do our job on the back end of that.
On scoring on the first possession...
We just have to execute better. We have to keep that momentum from that first drive going. You know defensively, I mean, I can't really speak too much on the offensive side. But defensively, we just have to do a better job executing and keeping the offense on the field, while they are hot and giving them the ball back as soon as possible.
On communication between defense and offense...
Just try to motivate and staying realistic. There are some things that we did well this game and there are some things that we didn't, but just being realistic and letting the guys know that its a four-quarter game, and we have to be able to push through times when things aren't going our way and just harping on that idea of, we're not where we want to be right now, but just as this game goes along, we continue to work, continue to claw back, and just weren't able to do that well enough today.
Graduate Center Matt Gulbin
On momentum shift after a fourth down...
I mean we just gotta execute. I didn't really feel like a momentum shift, but I just got to do our job, you convert.
On what they had seen in film versus game time from UCLA...
I don't think there is much difference. Every week they are going to bring some different stuff, but the majority of the stuff we had seen.
Opening statement…
I'll start with just not good enough. Start with myself – think about this staff as we're responsible for preparing these guys for the week so they can come out and execute and play with great energy, and we didn't have it today. I told the locker room, we lost a bunch of one on ones. All three phases, the opportunity to get off the field did not take place, the way they could run the ball. 
Situations of aggression early, fourth down, defensively, if we bow up, didn't take place. And so we're at the halfway point, talked about it in the locker room just now, three and three. That's the reality. 
We've gotten beat the last three weeks coming out, and we've got to work to fix some things that we can fix, but we got to be able to play in the manner that we win way more one on ones than we did today.
On the injury status of Junior QB Aidan Chiles…
He got banged pretty good at the start of the third and wasn't available for the rest of the time.
On the failed fourth-and-inches play…
Check-play, we were going to sneak it if they squeeze it, and then check it to an outside play and lost the one on ones.Â
On the message to the fans…
I'll just say, I like playing at a place and being a part of a program that people genuinely care, have some energy and passion behind it, and that's a two way street when you're at a place, there's a high amount of care factor and passion with it. 
So you're asking for that, you're going to get it on both ends.
On the fourth-down play…
That's a game plan call, so they go to squeeze, we're going to run sneak, they're in sneak defense, often defenses are exposed and then you kick it out wide. So that wasn't just Aidan, that's what he's getting coached to do. That was the game plan of it. Obviously, it did not work.
On the state of the team midway through the season…
I don't think we matched UCLA's new life, new energy on some one on ones, and got beat. I don't think there was any loafing out there. The care factor is there with this team. I just think that we got to come up on a Saturday, where I'm leading to, we got to look at them, how much we're working during the week so they've got some freshness on Saturdays as well. But I don't think there's a problem, a factor or a lack of care out of the group.Â
Â
On the struggles in the passing game…
I think we've missed a couple open throws early, and then when you miss early, you feel like you want to get into a rhythm. I think passing is a lot about rhythm and we have failed to get into one in the passing in the last couple weeks.Â
On prioritizing what improvements need to happen first…
Well, you have to analyze it, and you have to take a deep look at the film, too, because your emotions after the game, and sometimes extremes take place when you're emotional. We're going to analyze it in a big way, and then we've got to fix what we can fix. 
And then we think about, well, this is a flaw that we can't totally fix, maybe we think of a different scheme, different personnel, that kind of thing.
On if the UCLA schemes looked different on tape, prior to their coaching change…
I don't think the looks have dramatically changed on both sides. I do think just watching off the tape and then experiencing it today, that there was energy and belief out of that group at UCLA, and I should have gone back to start with credit to those guys, they came in here and played a really good game.
On if he was shocked by the performance…
I was very surprised by it. And again, I think all of us feel that way, through the week, we felt good, back to work, guys had the energy and focus through the week. So, yeah, surprised that this performance looked the way it did.
On if this program has progressed to where he thinks it should be through his 18-game tenure…
In the last three weeks, no, we'd like to be in a better place. At the same time, sometimes it's a couple steps forward, step back, and again, I'm not pressing a huge panic button here, but there is an extreme urgency to get this thing in a better place. So, we're going to be back to work doing it tomorrow.
On if his team feels the pressure of letting the season slip away…
I think there's always pressure. This is what you sign up for.  Whether you want to be a head coach, you want to be a play caller, you want to be a quarterback in the Big Ten, you want to play defensive line in the Big Ten, there's always pressure. Your own expectations is really what you're chasing, and we're focused on that.
On getting beat one-on-one too many times…
I think about simplifying things. I look at it as defensively because yes, we got more to us than the back out of the backfield a couple of times and we don't get them, or we're late getting there. I think about maybe we've got too much in on, and that's not just defense but overall, but when it's not getting executed, first thing you think about is how much we got going and are they playing with clarity out there, and that's Coach's job.
On quarterback Alessio Milivojevic…
Yeah, we'll check on health (Aidan Chiles). Alessio (Milijovic) has been coming along, he wasn't perfect here today, but I do think he's come in and made a couple of good throws when he's given the opportunity.
On if he thought targeting was in play when Aidan Chiles went down…
I didn't see a clean replay. I think that's a bang, bang type of play. It was a physical hit; there's no question about that. And again, they're (the Big Ten Conference) looking at this, they're looking at all plays, and I'm sure they took a look at it because it was an injury timeout. They had plenty of time to look at it.
On getting sophomore wide receiver Nick Marsh more involved this week…
Well, yeah, and we had intentions coming in and you saw a couple of balls going his way early. I think at the same time, you design all you want, if you're seeing a little bit of double coverage, we've got to be going to other spots and that's on the quarterback to do it.
On what the message to the team was at the halftime break…
Well, the mood wasn't great. We came in with a lot of frustration. Again, we got to make some adjustments and all of that. We talked about sticking together and it's on us to do it, so that was the message at half time. Look to make some adjustments. We opened the second half, got some momentum, and got a drive going, and then we don't finish it and can't get a stop.
UCLA Interim Head Coach Tim SkipperÂ
Â
On going for one-hit-wonders...
Yeah, that was a message starting on Sunday. We preach it every day moving up. We just wanted to see who we really were, that was the whole thing about it. We wanted to come out and play 60 minutes of football, and we did that today. Restrained, not being one-hit wonders, all those things, we're putting them all into the games now and that's exciting to see. We'll have to continue that. The future is going to get harder and harder as we keep on going. We'll have a tough matchup on homecoming playing against Maryland. We're going to need all the Bruin fans to be there, that's the start of the message right now. Start thinking about how you're going to get to the Rose Bowl next Saturday.
Â
On Jalen Berger's performance and returning to MSU...
You know, I kind of really want to talk about the O-Line and the running backs as a whole first. I think all week we preached that we have to win in the trenches. They're a time possession offense, we're trying to be a time possession offense, so that was an inner battle among the two offenses that were going against each other. Berger's been working hard since I've been here and I've been seeing him work. He's a great kid, he doesn't smile and all that all that much, he just goes to work and does his thing. I'm excited for him. It's good for him to have a good game here, I know that was personal for him. I'm just excited for him.
Â
On the energy of the team...
I'm an energetic guy. I don't like boring, so if I don't feel the juice, then we're going to start the day over. We haven't had to do that or anything, but energy and passion is how you're supposed to play football. That's the way we're going to practice, that's the way we meet, that's the way we play. So, we'll continue to keep that consistent.
Â
On scoring more points in UCLA's two most recent games...
Please don't jinx us with that. Man, the guys are working. Keep on game planning. We're going to have to keep taking what the defense is giving us, and we're going to get different looks than what you see on film because obviously we have a running quarterback, so teams are going to try to defend you in multiple ways. We're doing a good job in game with seeing how things are going and then adjusting to what we need to do.
Â
On going into a hostile environment and getting a big win...
Every time you go on the road there's all these built-in excuses that you can use, especially here, right? We went three time zones over, it's an early kickoff, it's their homecoming. There's all these built-in excuses, but at the end of the day, once you tee it up, it's ball on ball. And we just needed to play ball today, we needed to start fast, and we needed to finish, and that's what we did.
Â
On the defense holding strong...
Yeah, I'm glad you brought up the defense. I felt like in the first half against Penn State, we had a really, really good half. We held them at 92 yards in the first half of that game. We won a turnover battle that way. Today we kind of did the same thing. The same exact score as last week, 242-7. The defense is a huge part of it. I know everybody looks at stats and all that stuff, but to me, we've really changed our fundamentals. How we run with the ball, how we use our hands on the blocks, how we tackle people, how we're attacking the ball and stripping the tips and all that stuff. Our energy and passion has picked up on that side of the ball and I tip my hat to coach Kevin Coyle and the defensive staff, they're doing a great job of just getting the guys better every single day.
Â
On the difference between the team's first four games and the last two games...
That's a good question. I don't know if I'm the best guy to answer that. Like I told everybody when I first was in this position, we're going to go to training camp and start over, so in my mind I have kind of blocked out everything until I've been sitting in this seat and I see us getting better every single day. That's my whole entire goal. Just get better every single day. That's all I'm really worried about.
Â
On having fun...
Fun is always good when you're winning. You're going to have a lot of fun when you're winning. We need to continue that, but I'm one of those guys, all the decisions and things are in my head, I'm just locked into each single play. I'll enjoy this for a little while, but as soon as we land back in LA, we're going to get ready for the next one. It's exciting, but when you're in the middle of a season, you need to stay humble and get ready for the next one.
Â
On his message to the upcoming teams UCLA is playing...
Our message to them? I just hope they watch our film and think that we play good, sound football. We're well-coached and the guys play hard. All I can do is control what we're doing in our area of our locker room and things like that.
Â
Junior Linebacker Jordan Hall
On being down at halftime...
Yeah, man, we just got to play. Just gotta play better. Execute better. It's a little unfortunate kind of bringing that performance to such a big crowd, but you know, we've just got to continue to prepare throughout the week. Be able to execute in these big games.
On momentum shift after a fourth down...
That is a great team. They really turned things around the last two weeks. We're always clawing and fighting back, no matter the situation. That was something that was kinda unfortunate. But we always, I know for defense, we always want to respond and be able to have the offense were comfortable enough to go forward on forth down. They came up short. We didn't do our job on the back end of that.
On scoring on the first possession...
We just have to execute better. We have to keep that momentum from that first drive going. You know defensively, I mean, I can't really speak too much on the offensive side. But defensively, we just have to do a better job executing and keeping the offense on the field, while they are hot and giving them the ball back as soon as possible.
On communication between defense and offense...
Just try to motivate and staying realistic. There are some things that we did well this game and there are some things that we didn't, but just being realistic and letting the guys know that its a four-quarter game, and we have to be able to push through times when things aren't going our way and just harping on that idea of, we're not where we want to be right now, but just as this game goes along, we continue to work, continue to claw back, and just weren't able to do that well enough today.
Graduate Center Matt Gulbin
On momentum shift after a fourth down...
I mean we just gotta execute. I didn't really feel like a momentum shift, but I just got to do our job, you convert.
On what they had seen in film versus game time from UCLA...
I don't think there is much difference. Every week they are going to bring some different stuff, but the majority of the stuff we had seen.
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