UCLA’s missed chances leads to Utah win

Pasadena, CA (News4usOnline) – The hype coming into the UCLA-Utah college football game was centered on one quarterback and his elite passing and multi-dimensional skills. 

By the time the contest had wrapped up, the hyperbole took a precautionary hold as the quarterback on the other team outshined the Bruins’ newest star with a dashing performance to lead his squad to an almost unthinkable win at the Rose Bowl. 

Devon Dampier was almost a one-man show for the Utes, rushing for 88 yards and a score, while completing 21 of 25 passes for 206 yards and two more touchdowns in his team’s road victory. 

“Just a slippery guy,” UCLA head coach DeShaun Foster said. “It was hard to get our hands on him and really get him down. You see why he was able to come up to this level and play. He was being successful in making the first defender miss, your first two miss, and he did a good job playing off schedule and were able to continue to move the chains the whole game.”

In case anyone forgot, Utah is still a pretty good football team. The Utes are so good that they rendered the UCLA debut of quarterback Nico Iamaleava to less than 150 yards passing in knocking off the Bruins, 43-10. 

Defensively, the Utah pass rush got in Iamaleava’s face all night and forced the UCLA signal-caller into several errant passes and sacked him four times. Iamaleava wound up with a less than sterling performance, completing 11 of 22 passes for 136 yards with one interception. 

It was not the kind of kickoff that Foster and Iamaleava expected. 

“A lot of stuff to learn from,” Foster said in his postgame remarks. “Not the outcome that we wanted in the first game, but we just have to learn from this. It’s not going to be easy, but one positive thing I can take away from this is the way they’re sounding in the locker room right now. They understand that we didn’t do enough, and they’re ready to put in some more work and be ready to go on Monday.”

For the game, Utah converted more first downs (30-14) and produced better numbers in total yards gained (492-220). Iamaleava said Bruins needed to improve in carrying out the coaches’ gameplan.  

“We just didn’t execute well,” Iamaleava remarked. “We need to finish drives. Coach Tino [Sunseri] put us in the right position to execute, but me personally, I have to be better. We all have to be better as a unit.” 

Iamaleava and the Bruins had some opportunities to put more points on the board early in the game. When those opportunities evaporated, the shift in momentum carried over to the Utes. Iamaleava talked about those lost chances to score for the Bruins and how they impacted the game. 

“I think the first drive, second drive, and third drive…we had plenty of opportunities to put the ball in the end zone,” Iamaleava said. “I think we put it in the fourth drive, but those first three drives are critical. Our defense was playing hard, and we went down early, so we need to pick our defense up and respond well as a unit.”

Despite the ugly defeat, there was no panic in Iamaleava’s voice, only resolve as he spoke on the team moving forward. 

“Everything we want is still ahead of us,” quipped Iamaleava. “It’s week one and our mindset is shifted to our opponent in week two. We have to go out there and be dominant, execute at a high level like our coaches are putting us in a position to do.”

Iamaleava showed flashes of his dual-threat capabilities by leading UCLA in rushing with 75 yards on 13 yards. As far as his assessment on how Iamaleava played, Foster gave a terse response.  

“Nico’s a competitor. He’s not going to quit; he keeps playing hard. Kept motivating the guys around him. We’ve got to do a better job of protecting him and keeping him upright,” Foster said. 

Featured Image: Pasadena, California – UCLA quarterback Nico Iamaleava hands the ball off during a college football game played at the Rose Bowl Stadium against the Utah Utes on Aug. 30, 2025. Utah defeated UCLA, 43-10. Photo credit: Jacob Teng/News4usOnline