Postgame Quotes: UCLA

Postgame Quotes
UCLA at Indiana
October 25, 2025

Curt Cignetti | Indiana Head Coach
Opening Statement…
CC: Great team win. Proud of the coaches, proud of the team. A lot of guys contributed. Did a lot of good things. Created turnovers and third downs. Stopped them on defense and converted on offense. It was on a big platform against a team that was hot.

We wanted to be physical and dominate the line of scrimmage. I thought we did early in the game. [Aiden] Fisher's play early in the game was a huge play.

On the development and growth at the line of scrimmage…
CC: Well, I think a big part of running a football program is development. You do that through your strength and conditioning program, the way you coach and the way you practice schematically.

I think Pat Kuntz does a great job with those inside guys. I think he's a terrific defensive line coach. He focuses on the inside guys. But he also focuses on the outside guys. We run so many different packages, sometimes the inside guys are outside guys, and the outside guys are inside guys. They meet together, do a lot of things together. It's a blue-collar group that's gotten better every week.

On the growth of linebacker Isaiah Jones…
CC: Isaiah Jones has really taken a big step this year. We've talked about that quite a bit in the past. Making a lot of plays. Fisher made a huge play early in the game. We took him out kind of as a precautionary. We'll do the x-rays, the MRIs, see what those say.

On the play of the offensive line and running backs…
CC: Our backs run hard all the time. They really do. [Roman] Hemby and [Kaelon] Black. When you start to see a team wave the white flag, so to say, break their will. It takes a while. It usually happens sometime in the third quarter. It may have been what happened here. [Khobie] Martin came in, made some good runs. Great credit to the offensive line and tight ends also. Good to see those rushing totals back up again.

On success on third and fourth downs…
CC: Preparation. It's good preparation and execution. To me it's all the same; it starts up front. You've got to win the line of scrimmage, put heat on the quarterback on defense and have got to protect the quarterback on offense. You got to separate, throw and catch on offense, tight coverage on defense. If the quarterback doesn't have as much time to throw it, he's not as effective. You got to hit him.

I think Bryant Haines is difficult to prepare against. Does a lot of different stuff. I thought UCLA's guy was difficult to prepare against. I don't think we separated extremely well against press coverage today. We had some extended plays in the pass game. The credit all goes to the assistants and the players.

On the play of the defense this year…
CC: Bryant [Haines] does a great job. The kids respond. They have a lot of pride. We have some defensive backs back there that have really good ball skills. Like the safeties, as much as I like to get on them about being late to get lined up and stuff like that, they have really good ball skills. They've made a lot of really nice interceptions. Our linebackers do, too. We do a good job of stopping the run. Philosophically, that's where it all begins, TFLs, pressuring the quarterback.

As I look at who we played, you look at Oregon, a premier offense, right? We had a dominant second half in that game. We didn't really start very well against Michigan State after that dominant performance. Probably felt pretty good about ourselves. I was worried about that with the offense today a little bit. Got to keep it going. Got to keep them healthy and keep it going.

On being methodical against good conference opponents…
CC: I think one of the keys is we just have everybody on the same page. I know what I want. I got a lot of assistants that we've been together a long time. We all kind of speak the same lingo. We've got good players with high character. They're good leaders. Some of them have been with us a pretty long time. They listen to the message.

I mean, we try to play every play like it's nothing-nothing, game on the line, regardless of the competitive circumstances.

On the strengths of offensive play caller Mike Shanahan…
CC: I think Mike [Shanahan] does a really nice job of preparing and collaborating, so to speak, everybody's opinions. He's got a really good connection going during the game with Chandler Whitmer and Bob Bostad.

With technology the way it is, your ability to look at iPads; things are changing every series. They're making good adjustments during the game. Mike's got a great work ethic. He's a smart guy. Got great disposition. He was dialing them up today and it worked.

No, I told him, every time I questioned a call the last three weeks, it's been pretty consistent. Sometimes I'm pretty rough. Every time I questioned a call the last three weeks, it's gone for a big play.

On the play of wide receiver E.J. Williams…
CC: It's great to get big plays from E.J. He's got a lot of talent. I've always been really high on him. He has to make sure when he's running in the end zone for a touchdown that he doesn't taunt the defender. He got a mulligan on that one from the official. When the game is on the line, that's spot foul. You have the ball on the 30-yard-line and don't get the points.

On the trust in linebacker Isaiah Jones…
CC: Everything's earned, not given. He's earned everything he's got. He's a real smart player, just like [Aiden] Fisher is. Fisher was just a year ahead of him in his development because when Isaiah came here as a freshman, he was injured.

He's really stepped up and taken a huge step this year. He's still a young guy. He knows the ins-and-outs of the defense just like Aiden does.

On the play of quarterback Fernando Mendoza…
CC: We weren't doing a great job of separating on the perimeter. Fortunately, the protection was great. They lost containment. He's a mobile guy. He can extend plays, make plays on the move. He made a couple really nice throws and runs. So he's a good player. I think we all know that. He's a big part of the reason why we are where we are.

Indiana Student-Athletes
Roman Hemby / RB / R-Sr.
On the success in the run game…
RH: I really feel like it was being confident in the run game, trusting it, and being really disciplined in our reads and how things played out. We knew we were going to have some areas to work in the run game and we were able to exploit those areas.

On dominant Big Ten wins…
RH: I really just think it stems from everybody doing their job. I feel like offense, defense, and special teams stepped up to the plate, and I feel like that's why we're having a lot of success. You look at our offense, we're doing really well when we have the ball and the defense gets us the ball. When you have that formula, you're able to score a lot of points.

On how you know you've broken the other team's will…
RH: That's kind of our mentality. We take the game and impose our will on the defense. I feel like we were able to do that today. Just leaning on the great offensive line like I do up front. They're moving people off the ball and doing things like that. When the third and fourth quarter hits, we're able to have our way a little bit and do the things we want to do.

E.J. Williams Jr. / WR / R-Sr.
On the keys to today's game…
EW: Just honing in on the pre-game, the install and really studying. Getting after it. It's really the same thing every week for us. Just really locking in, watching film and studying defensive backs. When the pass comes in, just do everything you can to get to it.

On coming back to Indiana and the new style of play…
EW: One of the main things coming back to Indiana was really Coach Cignetti and his coaching style. He is really assertive, in your face. He's a "I want this and if you can't do it, you're getting out of here. I want a guy that's going to be the best and that's going to get the job done". With a coach like that, he's really paying attention and really wants you to be on the details. It's going to help me in my career and I felt like I would be a good help to this program."

On playing with quarterback Fernando Mendoza…
EW: He has a lot of spin, a little zip on the ball, what a receiver likes. He has a tight spiral, which really places the ball really well. He sees the line of scrimmage well. On the touchdown I scored, we've hit like that a few times in practice and scrimmages, so it's really nice to see things like that translate over to games.

Fernando Mendoza / QB / R-Jr.
On getting prepared for today's game…
FM: I think it really comes down to Coach Cignetti's philosophy of keeping it one play, one game at a time. I think our team did great, especially because there's a lot of outside noise. UCLA is a fantastic football program. They are coming off of a heater with a three-game winning streak. They were an undefeated team in the Big Ten. They've had three Big Ten wins. However I thought our team, our defense, our run game excelled today which led us to victory.

On UCLA's defensive look…
FM: UCLA's defensive coordinator was dialing it up on us. He showed us a lot of unscouted looks that we weren't able to see. They did a great job preparing for our pass game. However, that really opened up our run game.

On what was taken from the last game into this game…
FM: A big thing is that we want to capitalize on every possession. Especially in all of our games we treat every single game as a big game. Against Michigan State, we had three drives in the first half and I think we did a great job on capitalizing there. Today was a little bit of a slower start; unfortunately we had the turnover which sucks. It happens but we bounced back from that phenomenally and we were able to put some points on the board early in the game.

Isaiah Jones / LB / R-Jr.
On preparation of taking over for Aiden [Fisher]...
IJ: It's something that you want to prepare for but you hope never happens. Obviously I want [Aiden] Fisher to go out there and play the whole snap, the whole game. But it's something that you have to be ready for and you have to step up when it's your turn. Obviously there are challenges but I think our defense really plays well together and our coordinator has a really good game plan.

Tyrique Tucker / DL / R-Jr.
On how well the coaches prepare them…
TT: They get us really prepared for every game. They make sure we know everything. We see all the looks at practice. They all do a really great job at preparing us for what we are about to see out there. They are really good at what they do.

On preparation for this week…
TT: We just overemphasized the little things. A lot of people overlook that and it's simple but it works.

On confidence this year…
TT: I had a lot of confidence going into the year. Prepping, prepping, prepping. We craft all summer and we work for these moments. This is something that we knew could happen and we just had to show everybody we could.

Tim Skipper | UCLA Interim Head Coach
Opening Statement
TS: Yeah, being under pressure for sure. We always preach starting fast. Right? Well, we didn't do that there. And playing against a team like that, that's very good in all three phases, you're going to have to start fast. When it creates a turnover that creates points, that's hard to overcome. We didn't really bounce back from that moment. You know, it kind of shell shocked us, and it took a while to start to get back going. So you tip the hat to them, though, they did some unscouted looks that kind of messed with us, and we were caught chasing them the rest of the game. Not just on offense, but on defense and in special teams. So we're gonna have to bounce back. But we always preach a fast start. We didn't do that today.

On some unscouted looks he saw from Indiana…
TS: Just different things, twist games, where the spy guy is going to be, and ways to attack our protection and things like that.

On Nico's (Iamaleava) play down the stretch and what he was hoping to see…
TS: Yeah, we're just trying to get a flow and just try to get back to some normalcy, you know. So we just kept on playing it out. We kind of took the mentality of the score doesn't matter. Let's get our style of play back. And that's what we were trying to do.

UCLA Student-Athletes
Nico Iamaleava / QB / R-So.
On starting the game with back-to-back pressures…
NI: Yeah, that's a rough start to the game. I think that kind of set the tone for the game and how the offense played. They bring a lot of pressure trying to play games up front, and we have to do a better job picking it up.

On the offense, not scoring a touchdown…
NI: We just didn't execute on our part. They had a great game plan for us, and we weren't able to run the ball efficiently. Also, throwing the ball, we weren't efficient enough in that game either. Going into this bye week, we have to do a better job.

On Indiana's defense…
NI: Yeah, they were showing different looks and then getting out of different coverages. So, just us playing with better eyes as a whole, we've got to be better with that.

Keanu Williams / DL / R-Sr.
On tipping pass leading to interception…
KW: Yeah, well, the first play of the game, we turned the ball over, and they still happened to score. But, you say, you know what, we've got to go out there as a defense and respond somehow, someway. And I just got my hand in the pass lane, tipped the ball in the air, and then Scooter came in, cleaned it up, and got the pick. So that's all that happened and how to respond.

On Indiana's offense…
KW: It was just a scheme, really. I mean, they just got a good coaching staff, good offense that they ran. They just executed, they're very disciplined and they really don't mess up a lot. We had self-inflicted wounds, and they just took advantage.

On sticking with it despite being down 21-0 early…
KW: I mean it's hard, but at the same time, as a defense, we got to have that next play mentality, and we got to go out there and keep competing. Because you know the score today, it is what it is, but you just never know what happens. We just can't quit. So that's just what we did. Go out there, keep playing.

Indiana University Athletics

Players Mentioned

Roman Hemby

Isaiah Jones

Fernando Mendoza

Tyrique Tucker

E.J. Williams Jr.

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