After a hot stretch in the middle of the season, Nico Iamaleava and UCLA football fell to Nebraska 28-21 on Saturday night for their second straight loss.
Nebraska jumped out to a 28-7 lead early in the third quarter and held on after UCLA scored 14 unanswered points to cut the lead to one score. The Cornhuskers got the ball back leading by seven points with 4:47 left in the game and put together a strong nine-play, 36-yard drive to run out the clock and secure the win.
How did former Tennessee quarterback Nico Iamaleava perform in the loss? Statistically, it was a pretty standard Iamaleava performance.
The sophomore signal caller completed 17-of-25 pass attempts for 191 yards and two touchdowns. As has often been the case this season, Iamaleava did a good deal of damage on the ground. Iamaleava rushed for a team-high 86 yards on 15 carries. It’s particularly strong rushing performance considering Nebraska sacked him three times.
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Now through nine games this season, Iamaleava has completed 148-of-234 passes for 1,468 yards, 10 touchdowns and seven interceptions. He’s added 388 rushing yards and four rushing touchdowns on 81 carries. The numbers are generally lackluster with the quarterback on pace to throw for less yards and touchdowns then he did last season at Tennessee but to rush for a good bit more yards.
First-year Tennessee quarterback Joey Aguilar has completed 195-of-297 passes for 2,737 yards, 21 touchdowns and eight interceptions this season. He’s been far less effective on the ground but has still rushed for 85 yards and two touchdowns.
UCLA is now 3-6 (3-3 Big 10) on the 2025 season. The Bruins started the year 0-4 leading to a coaching change in September. They rebounded with three straight wins before falling to Indiana and Nebraska their last two games out.
It’s an extremely challenging end to the season for UCLA. The Bruins travel to Columbus to face Ohio State next week before facing Washington and USC to end the regular season.
