Rick Neuheisel celebrates son's playcalling debut during UCLA's upset of Penn State: 'My dad goggles were on big time today'

ASSOCIATED PRESS

It was a pretty special day for the Neuheisel family on Saturday. 

The UCLA Bruins upset the No. 7-ranked Penn State Nittany Lions 42-37, thanks in part to the offensive playcalling of Jerry Neuheisel.

The win at the Rose Bowl was the Bruins' first of the season and the biggest upset of the college football schedule to date. UCLA's offense made Neuheisel proud with 446 total yards — 280 coming on the ground.

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The game was broadcast on CBS and in the network's college football studio watching on was Neuheisel's dad, Rick, a former UCLA player himself and longtime coach of Colorado and Washington.

CBS caught Rick's reaction to the game's final play, which secured the victory for the Bruins.

The CBS studio crew couldn't help but be happy for Rick, who got emotional when speaking about his son's accomplishment.

"To Penn State fans, I apologize," said Neuhseisel, who noted his wife, Susan, was at the game Saturday. "My dad goggles were on big time today, but all of us as parents understand that. It doesn't matter if it's football, if they're singing in the choir, what have you. We're so proud of our kids and when they get a chance to do what they want to do and then they get a stage and you get to watch them have that kind of success, it makes it all worth it."

This opportunity arose for Jerry Neuheisel this week after the school parted ways with offensive coordinator Tino Sunseri. It was interim head coach Tim Skipper's decision to hand Neuheisel the offensive playcalling duties for the Penn State game.

The 33-year-old Neuheisel played parts of three seasons with the Bruins from 2013-2015. Following graduation, he turned to coaching, beginning as an offensive quality control coach at Texas A&M in 2017 before returning to UCLA as a graduate assistant a year later.