3 Storylines This Week for UCLA at Michigan State
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Football matchups between Michigan State and UCLA are pretty rare. Saturday's game will be just the seventh all-time meeting between the Spartans and Bruins. But now, as conference rivals, this cross-country clash will happen a lot more often --- they'll meet up in California next season as well.
MSU and UCLA have both had some interesting, but difficult, seasons so far, though the 3-2 Spartans haven't gone through nearly as much. The Bruins have already fired head coach DeShaun Foster, and both the offensive and defensive coordinators have since left the program. UCLA's interim head coach, Tim Skipper, joined the Bruins in a senior advisory role this past offseason and was also an interim head coach all season long at Fresno State last fall, going 6-7.
All that being said, here are the three biggest storylines about this game.
UCLA's Upset Win over No. 7 Penn State
Headed into this one, UCLA is the talk of the sport of college football. The Bruins pulled off the biggest upset victory of the college football season on Saturday, defeating No. 7 Penn State, 42-37. UCLA was previously 0-4, becoming the first team with that record or worse to defeat an AP top-10 opponent since 1985 (0-6 UTEP over No. 7 BYU).
Quarterback Nico Iamaleava, who transferred to Westwood from Tennessee this offseason, threw for 166 yards and two touchdowns, then also ran for a career-high 128 yards (previously only 65) and three touchdowns on the ground.
Iamaleava also did it with an interim OC, Jerry Neuheisel, who wasn't named as the team's play caller until last Tuesday. Neuheisel is a former UCLA quarterback and began the year as the team's tight ends coach.
The New Big Ten Arrives in East Lansing
Not only will Saturday be Michigan State's first home Big Ten game, but it will be the first time the Spartans have hosted one of the conference's four newest teams for a football game. UCLA, USC, Oregon, and Washington all officially joined the Big Ten ahead of the 2024 season. Last year, the only new program the Spartans faced was Oregon, which was in Eugene. MSU has also clashed with USC this year in Los Angeles.
As of now, the Big Ten has already mapped out each team's conference opponents through the 2028 season. UCLA isn't slated to return to East Lansing during that period, so that means the absolute earliest the Bruins will come back to Spartan Stadium is 2029.
Next year, Michigan State will host both Oregon and Washington while going to UCLA. In 2027, the only game against the new members is a road game at Washington. Then in '28, there's a home game against USC and a road trip to Oregon.
Jonathan Smith's Roots
Another thing is that Michigan State head coach Jonathan Smith has plenty of roots near UCLA. He was born in Pasadena, the same city where the Rose Bowl is. Smith also graduated from Glendora High School, which is located in Los Angeles County.
This won't be the first time Smith has faced the Bruins, as he was in the Pac-12 with them while he was at Oregon State. He's 2-0 against UCLA, taking down the Bruins 36-24 back in 2023 and 48-31 during the 2019 season.
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A 2025 graduate from Michigan State University, Cotsonika brings a wealth of experience covering the Spartans from Rivals and On3 to his role as Michigan State Spartans Beat Writer on SI. At Michigan State, he was also a member of the world-renowned Spartan marching band for two seasons.
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