Nebraska outlasts Bruins

Pasadena, CA – It’s been a rough season for the UCLA football team. But the Bruins are still playing hard and trying to stay competitive despite the challenges the team has endured over the course of this season. 

The Bruins lost their head coach DeShaun Foster a couple of games into the season. With interim head coach Tim Skipper, the Bruins have battled Big Ten Conference opponents with a lot of heart. 

That was what was on display for the Bruins against Nebraska. 

The Cornhuskers got off to an early lead, built on the advantage before seeing the Bruins climb back within striking distance of possibly tying the ballgame. Nebraska denied the Bruins that opportunity by recording a 28-21 win at the Rose Bowl Stadium. 

UCLA allowed Nebraska freshman TJ Lateef, a Compton native, to have a huge game. Lateef, who attended Orange Lutheran High School, made the most of his opportunity as a starter for the Cornhuskers. Lateef completed 13 of 15 passes for 205 yards and three touchdowns. 

“It was great and it was like a culture shock,” Lateef said about returning home. “It was like, whoa, it just hit me. It hit me quick, but that’s what practice is for. I got the opportunity to have a great week of practice, so that’s why it was on display tonight.”

He wasn’t the lone star for Nebraska against the Bruins. Running back Emmett Johnson was also a driving force for the Cornhuskers, rushing for 129 yards and a touchdown.UCLA interim head coach Tim Skipper took notice of Johnson’s impact in the game. 

“Most of our game plan was to stop 21 (Emmett Johnson), he’s a special, special player,” Skipper said during his postgame press conference. “We talked about it with the media on Monday, that was most of our game plan, limiting him. They did a good job of game planning him in the pass game. He caught a screen and made an explosive play off of that. I think he is a very special talent. Nationally, they should be talking about him a lot more.” 

Skipper was equally impressed by the play of Lateef. 

“Then for their quarterback to come out here, first start, and almost was perfect. You tip your hat to that kid. He’s coming home and playing in front of his family and things like that,” Skipper added. 

When you look at the statistical numbers between the two teams there is very little that separate the schools.The Cornhuskers and Bruins were a lock in  time of possession (30 minutes), nearly identical in the number of first downs (UCLA 21, Nebraska 20), total yards (361 – Nebraska; 348 – UCLA), and passing yards (205 – Nebraska; 191 – UCLA).

This game was a lot closer than expected, but in the end, the Bruins succumbed to their sixth defeat in nine games. 

“The sun is going to rise tomorrow,” Skipper remarked. “We’re not in quit mode or anything like that. The sun is going to rise, and we are going to get back to work. We are going to watch this film and get better from it. Then we are going to have Monday and Tuesday, and we are going to get after it. We are going to fly over to Ohio and go play ball. That’s what we are going to do.”

Like he’s done all season long, UCLA quarterback Nico Iamaleava tried to will his team into a victory. Iamaleava was the leading rusher for the Bruins, going for 106 yards on 15 carries. He also added 191 yards and two touchdowns passing. 

“I think he likes to be in the contact. I thought he did a really good job extending plays for us. He was a true dual-threat tonight,” Skipper added. “You hope your running backs are the leading rushers, but he was the leading rusher for us tonight. He is just going to keep making his plays. He is going to do what he does. I thought he played four quarters of ball. Hoping to get the ball back for our guys and see if we can punch it in. We were starting to get some momentum but we didn’t get the stop at the end.”

All those rushing attempts and getting sacked three times meant that Iamaleava was putting himself in harm’s way, and perhaps taking unnecessary hits. Iamaleava those hits are normal for him.

“I’ve played football a long time,” Iamaleava said. “I’ve gotten hit a lot of times in many games. I don’t think it affected me in that way. Overall, we’ve just got to play better as a whole and finish games.”