The offseason buzz surrounding the UCLA Bruins football program and the transfer acquisition of star quarterback Nico Iamaleava ended in a thud on Saturday Night at the Rose Bowl, with the visiting Utah Utes easily defeating UCLA, 43-10 last Saturday, August 30. A small crowd of 35,032 fans, consisting of a large contingent of Utah fans were in attendance for the game that was never in doubt. The loss dropped UCLA to 0-1 after Week 1 of the 2025 season, while Utah is 1-0.
Utah took the opening kickoff and drove 75 yards in 11 plays, scoring on a 13-yard touchdown run by Wayshawn Parker, to take a 6-0 lead with 10:49 remaining in the first quarter. The extra point was no good. The Utes never looked back, taking a 20-0 lead early in the second quarter, scoring touchdowns on their first three offensive possessions.
On the Bruins opening drive of the game, Iamaleava overthrew a wide-open Mikey Matthews deep. Iamaleava seemed to be suffering from first game jitters and was off all night long. Iamaleava completed 11 of 22 passes for 136 yards, with one touchdown pass and one interception. Iamaleava spent most of the game running away from the Utah defense.
Iamaleava was sacked four times and under constant pressure. He ran 13 times for 47 yards to lead the Bruins in rushing, and had some nice runs, including a 21-yard run to help set up the lone Bruins touchdown of the night in the second quarter. A 19-yard scoring toss to running back Anthony Woods cut the Utes lead to 20-7 with 6:46 remaining in the second quarter. But it wasn’t enough and Iamaleava knows they can be better.
“We just didn’t execute well,” Iamaleava said after the game. “We need to finish drives. Coach Tino [Sunseri] put us in the right position to execute, but me personally, I have to be better. We all have to be better as a unit.” UCLA head coach DeShaun Foster added that, “Nico’s a competitor. He’s not going to quit; he keeps playing hard. Kept motivating the guys around him. We’ve got to do a better job of protecting him and keeping him upright.”
The offense was far from the only issue for the Bruins on Saturday night. The defense got rolled over amid a countless number of missed tackles. UCLA lost five players on the defensive side of ball to the NFL, including All-American linebacker Carson Schwesinger, who is the starting middle linebacker for the Cleveland Browns as a rookie.
The replacements on the 2025 defense looked lost and constantly out of position. There was very little gang tackling and it was hard to find any one individual on the defensive side of the ball that really stood out. Linebacker Isaiah Chisom, a transfer from Oregon State, had 17 tackles, five solo tackles, and one tackle for a loss that forced a punt. But the line of scrimmage was being dominated by the Utes, on both sides of the ball.
Pro Football Focus (PFF) has rated the Utah offensive line as the second-best in college football. Both starting offensive tackles are considered future first round picks and the other three interior lineman are all seniors. This was a very tough matchup for the Bruins, and they got overwhelmed up front.
“We just played a good team,” Foster said. “That was it. We played a good team that came out and played their style of play. I won’t take anything away from them. They were able to execute and do what they wanted to do out there on the field. We’ve just got to come back in, regroup and really just grade yourself and be hard on yourself.”
The Utes quarterback, Devon Dampier, is a talented runner and behind the Utes impressive offensive line, he is going to be tough to stop. Dampier was first team All-Conference at quarterback for New Mexico in the Mountain West Conference in 2024, rushing for 1,166 yards and 19 touchdowns in 2024. Against the Bruins, Dampier completed 21 of 25 passes for 206 yards and two touchdown passes, while adding 87 yards on 16 carries and one rushing touchdown.
Dampier was not sacked by the Bruins defense and rarely pressured. “That was a good quarterback we were playing against,” Foster said. “That was a pretty good O-Line also, but I don’t want to take away any credit from them. That was a good team we played. They were able to execute.”
The Bruins return to action this Saturday, September 6 in Las Vegas to take on the UNLV Rebels. The game will start at 5:00 pm locally and will be televised on the CBS Sports Network channel (CBSSN), the CBS cable channel. UNLV is 2-0 this season and went a combined 20-8 over the past two seasons. The game will be played at Allegiant Stadium, the home of the Las Vegas Raiders. Foster is aware of the challenge ahead in Las Vegas coming off the dismal performance against the Utes.
“We’ve got to regroup and come together and just really get some good practices in this week to be ready for UNLV because that’s going to be another good team that we’re playing next.” The Bruins are a 2.5-point favorite for the game.