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UCLA quarterback Nico Iamaleava (9) drops back to pass against Utah during first half of their game at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena on Saturday, Aug. 30, 2025.(Photo by Andy Holzman, Contributing Photographer)
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UCLA quarterback Nico Iamaleava (9) drops back to pass against Utah during first half of their game at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena on Saturday, Aug. 30, 2025.(Photo by Andy Holzman, Contributing Photographer)
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PASADENA — It was always going to be a challenge for UCLA football’s defense. A brand-new starting 11 against a trusted offensive coordinator-quarterback combo, and an offensive line – featuring potentially two first-round draft selections – returning all five starters.
Just a few days ago, UCLA coach DeShaun Foster said that his Bruins were up for that challenge, ready for the opportunity against a top-end front line that could be the best they will challenge all year long.
Utah put a quick end to Foster’s assumption, faster than any of the captive 35,032 fans at the Rose Bowl would have likely expected, running a relentless attack on the shoulders of quarterback Devon Dampier – a New Mexico transfer who arrived in Salt Lake City with his offensive coordinator, Jason Beck – in a 43-10 manhandling of UCLA on Saturday night.
Foster, who justified restrictive fall training camp media policies so that his playbook would be close to unseen before week one, took a kinder spin on the Bruins’ death-by-a-thousand-cuts loss. Yes, Foster said the outcome was not what he or the team wanted, but the resolve in postgame meetings caught the eye of the Bruins’ second-year head coach.
“It’s not going to be easy, but the one positive thing I can take from this is the way that they’re sounding in the locker room right now,” Foster said during his postgame opening statement Saturday. “They understand that we didn’t do enough, and they’re ready to put in some more work and get ready to go on Monday.”
Like a growing tree, still finding its roots in the soil, the Bruins’ defensive branches bent and broke. Dampier led the Utes with 87 rushing yards of Utah’s 286 overall rushing yards and 492 yards of total offense, using his tackles Spencer Fano and Caleb Lomu, who stuffed the Bruins’ defensive line from first to final whistle, to his advantage.
Unable to get into the backfield – primarily sending Michigan State transfer Anthony Jones and redshirt senior Jacob Busic as edge rushers alongside redshirt senior linemen Gary Smith III and Keanu Williams – Foster chalked up his team’s struggles to the talent of Utah’s offense rather than defensive strategy.
“That was a good quarterback we were playing against,” Foster said when asked about his previous confidence in the Bruins’ front four. “It was a pretty good O-line too – like, I don’t want to take any credit from them, that was a good team we played and they were able to execute.”
UCLA recorded just two tackles for loss Saturday, failing to take down Dampier for a sack before he was removed late in the game when the second-string crew entered.
Dampier wasn’t the only Utes player evading tackles or pressure behind the line of scrimmage.
Bruins safety Key Lawerence whiffed on a potential tackle-for-loss tackle in the second quarter. Utah’s Smith Snowden – listed as a cornerback – took the end around, juked Lawrence, and took the ball in for an eight-yard touchdown run. Much like Lawrence, tackling across the Bruins’ defense left more questions than answers.
A play before Dampier (206 passing yards and two touchdowns) dumped a two-yard pass for a touchdown to increase Utah’s lead to 36-10 in the fourth quarter. Utah Tech transfer safety Scooter Jackson threw Utes wide receiver Tobias Merriweather toward the end zone instead of trying to down him.
UCLA linebacker Isaiah Chisom and defensive back Kanye Clark also had their woes of missed tackles leading to big gains. Sloppy tackling technique – something Chisom chopped up for his own woes to “eye position” – led to Utah converting 14 of 16 third downs, a far cry in comparison to UCLA’s 2-for-11 effort.
“It’s the first game thing, first game jitters,” said Chisom, who led the Bruins with 17 tackles.
No matter what Nico Iamaleava did in his UCLA debut, his defense failed to keep the score close enough for the Tennessee transfer to surge to heights on Saturday night.
Iamaleava, in his return to Southern California, where he played at Warren High, started slow, ending his first two drives with a turnover on downs (missing a wide-open Jalen Berger in empty, green space, and instead tossing an incompletion to Mikey Matthews) and a punt.
He ended on the wrong foot too, missing Kwazi Gilmer a few yards above the line of scrimmage, sending a pass awry and into the arms of Utah linebacker Trey Reynolds for an interception that all but wrapped up the game with just over eight minutes remaining.
“All self-inflicted,” Iamaleava said. “Coach Fos [Foster], Coach Tino [offensive coordinator Tino Sunseri], they put us in great positions to go out there and make plays. We didn’t execute well tonight.”
Iamaleava did show flashes of brilliance; however, the talent that helped lead Tennessee to the College Football Playoff a year ago
The 6-foot-6 signal caller recorded a 21-yard scamper – ending the day with 47 rushing yards on 12 carries – on a designed run in the second quarter, shedding two tackles on his way into Utah territory. Iamaleava capped that drive with a 19-yard touchdown pass to running back Anthony Woods on a wheel route. “He’s not going to quit, he keeps playing hard, he kept motivating the guys around him, so we’ve just got to do a better job of protecting him and keeping him upright,” Foster said of Iamaleava, who Utah sacked four times Saturday.
Iamaleava ended Saturday’s contest with 136 passing yards on 11-of-22 passing, one passing touchdown and one interception.
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