PASADENA, Calif. — By the time Nico Iamaleava stepped onto the field for his final drive of the night late in the fourth quarter of his much-anticipated debut as UCLA’s quarterback, the Bruins were down 43-10 and the majority of the fans still left at the Rose Bowl were wearing red, chanting “Let’s go Utah!” as if the game were being held in Salt Lake City.
It was that kind of night for UCLA. The Bruins had come into the season with the promise of a new start, a new quarterback, a new offense and a reenergized culture in coach Deshaun Foster’s second season. Instead, they left their Week 1 matchup searching for answers, unable to avoid the reality of what had transpired.
“We got punched in the mouth,” Iamaleava said postgame.
After he transferred from Tennessee in the offseason in a surprising and controversial move, Iamaleava’s first snaps in blue and gold were not exactly what he or UCLA had in mind.
The 20-year-old quarterback struggled to engineer much success. Though he showed flashes of potential in a handful of pinpoint throws or scrambling runs, Iamaleava was pressured by Utah’s defense all night long and never found a rhythm. He finished with 11 completions on 22 pass attempts, 136 yards, 1 touchdown and 1 interception while adding a team-high 47 rushing yards.
“Nico is a competitor. He’s not going to quit. He kept playing hard,” Foster said. “We just gotta do a better job protecting him, keeping him upright.”
Iamaleava was sacked four times and pressured 10 times while the Bruins’ defense was far from helpful, allowing 493 total yards, a 14-of-16 conversion rate on third downs and four touchdown drives of nine plays or more. The Long Beach native, however, did not deflect the blame.
“I didn’t execute at a high level,” Iamaleava said. “I gotta be better. We all gotta be better.”
Earlier in the week, Iamaleava had said that up to 30 family members would be in attendance Saturday. While there may have been excitement about Iamaleava sparking a UCLA program in need of some buzz before the game began, it was quickly stifled by a Utah team that looked every bit the part of a Big 12 contender.
“We take this as a learning experience,” Iamaleava said. “We’re going to face many more tough opponents, and we gotta be ready.”
Foster said that even though little went right on the field Saturday, he was encouraged by the players’ attitude in the postgame locker room and their resolve to use the loss as a rock bottom they could rebound from. So did Iamaleava, who attempted to put his and UCLA’s sobering opener in perspective.
“Everything we want is still ahead of us. It’s Week 1,” he said. “Only way is up from here.”
