UCLA lost its season opener at home to Utah, 43-10, with highly touted transfer quarterback Nico Iamaleava struggling in his debut.
Iamaleava threw for only 136 yards and was sacked four times.
The Rose Bowl had a disappointing attendance of 35,032, partly due to a large Utah crowd.
PASADENA, CA — Considered the most prestigious venue in college football, the Rose Bowl hasn’t been treated like one in the fall for much of the past decade.
It’s a given it will be filled up on New Year’s Day, but it’s far from that four months before. Its tenant UCLA has struggled to draw a crowd just as much as it has struggled to win in it.
Even when the Bruins got themselves out of the cellar, not many people found it worthwhile to show up. The stadium had become such a sad sight, UCLA put tarps in the endzones just to not make it look as empty as it really was.
Wondering if the illustrious stadium could ever be filled up outside of the annual showdown with Southern California, UCLA felt like it found its answer. A College Football Playoff-experienced quarterback in Nico Iamaleava arrived alongside with offensive coordinator Tino Sunseri. The Bruins believed they had the key to get them back to success – and get the Rose Bowl back to a respected venue outside of the annual bowl game.
But Iamaleava’s first game in blue and gold, ended in the same fashion that’s become the norm at the foot of the San Gabriel mountains: a lifeless, scattered crowd, with the only noise coming from the thousands of visiting fans cheering toward victory.
UCLA didn’t look like a squad saved by a star quarterback, soundly beaten in the season opener by Utah, 43-10, in what was a major reality check for a team desperate to generate hype.
Nico Iamaleava’s performance in UCLA debut
While the game can’t entirely be blamed on Iamaleava, it wasn’t the star-studded performance expected from the Long Beach native. He went 11-for-22 for 136 yards, the lowest amount he’s thrown for in a regular season game as a starter. The 50% completion percentage was also his worst regular season figure.
The same issues that were present in Tennessee persisted in California: inconsistency. Several passes were overthrown and he couldn’t thread the needle in tight zones.
‘Coach Tino (Sunseri) put me in a lot of great positions to go out there and make plays,’ Iamaleava said. ‘Personally, I didn’t execute at a high level.’
Iamaleava was sacked four times on the night and did plenty of scrambling on broken plays. He had a team-high 47 rushing yards on 13 carries as it only had 84 yards on the ground, not the start UCLA wanted after the Bruins averaged just 86.6 in 2024, third-worst in FBS.
UCLA coach Deshaun Foster said his quarterback showed he had no quit and kept motivating the guys around him, and the team has to do a better job of protecting him.
As tough of a night it was for Iamaleava, his teammates didn’t help much. Dual threat quarterback Devon Dampier put on the first performance of what could be a big year for Utah, its offense looking like it can finally match its vaunted defense.
The Utes went right down the field on their opening drive for a touchdown, and after the Bruins were stopped on fourth down, marched right back into the endzone. It continued into the second quarter with Utah taking a 20-0 lead just 18 minutes into the game.
Just like that, all the energy and optimism the Bruins had was sucked out of the air. By the time UCLA’s offense was able to put up points, it was already too late.
‘Our defense is going out there playing hard, and we went down early,’ Iamaleava said. ‘We got to pick our defense up and respond well as a unit.’
When Utah took nearly 10 minutes and 20 plays to go down the field to score a touchdown on its first drive of the second half, the home crowd was heading to the exits.
Utah finished with 492 yards of total offense – its most since last season’s opener – and a whopping 14-for-16 mark on third downs. It had the ball for more than 37 minutes, never letting the Bruins generate any momentum or energy.
Different outlooks for UCLA, Iamaleava’s former team
It’s only the first week of the season, but it’s safe to say there are plenty of people in The Volunteer State smiling at how Aug. 30 unfolded.
Joey Aguilar – who was going to be UCLA’s quarterback and ended up swapping places with Iamaleava when he transferred – had himself a day in his first game at Tennessee. He threw for 247 yards and three touchdowns in a 45-26 win over Syracuse. Two very different outlooks on the rest of the season, and Tennessee fans are feeling like they were the winners in Iamaleava’s departure.
The disastrous outcome wasn’t even the biggest blow of the night. This was the most hype UCLA has had in some time, and with an 8 p.m. local kickoff, it only drew an attendance of 35,032. Even worse, it only was that much because so many Utah fans were there.
That may be UCLA’s own fault, with the team holding fall camp 41 miles away from L.A. As media and fans were left to question what team they’d see on the field, Foster said it was done so opposing teams wouldn’t get an inside edge, hinting he had something worth hiding. When asked if that would affect the team’s marketing, he responded winning would handle that.
He’s right. In a city where you only matter if you win, the Bruins need to do a lot of it to stop making the Rose Bowl look like visiting team takeovers and put out a product that brings fans in to see its team earn back respect.
With a big name quarterback and a quality opponent, Saturday, Aug. 30 marked the perfect opportunity to kick start the culture change.
Instead, looks like there’s a long way to go.
‘Obviously, we got to do our part and get (the fans) a win, and make them enjoy the game,’ Iamaleava said. ‘That’s all on us, man.’
