Iamaleava gets weekly honors

Pasadena, CA – (News4usOnline) – It was a noteworthy performance by quarterback Nico Iamaleava this past Saturday against the Penn State Nittany Lions (formerly No. 7).

In perhaps one of the biggest games of his young college football career, Iamaleava came up big when the Bruins needed him the most. 

After going 0-4 through UCLA’s first four games of the season, Iamaleava showed off his dual-threat abilities, accounting for nearly 300 yards (294) in total offense and five touchdowns in the Bruins’ 42-37 win against Penn State. 

It was the most points the Bruins have scored all season in recording their first win of the season (1-4). Iamaleava rushed for 128 yards and three touchdowns against the Nittany Lions. 

He also completed 17 of 24 passes for 166 yards and two more scores to pace the Bruins to the thrilling Big Ten Conference upset. 

“I’d love to take a lot of credit, that all of a sudden we said some voodoo magic to him. But that’s who he is, that’s what he’s capable of,” UCLA assistant coach Jerry Neuheisel said.  

“The understanding of what we were trying to accomplish, and the understanding the why of every play, that’s what allowed him to go out and play like that. I would love to take credit, because as a coach, you’d love to say I put my finger on that guy, and that’s why he’s special, but I’m just going to be honest with you, He’s special. And we’ve just got to facilitate around him,” he added.

As a result of Iamaleava’s outstanding play against Penn State and leading the Bruins to victory, he was selected as the AP National Player of the Week and voted as the Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week. 

To pull the upset off, Iamaleava and UCLA had to get off to a fast start. The Bruins did just that, putting up 27 first-half points and walking into halftime with a 27-7 lead. Iamaleava talked about the importance of getting ahead of their opponent. 

“Coach [Tim] Skip [Skipper] was preaching to us to strain and start fast. It was a lot of games where we could have started fast like that and felt better about the game. We’ve been coming from behind these last four games, and it felt great to get a lead,” Iamaleava said after the game.