PASADENA, Calif. — Against a top-10 team, Nico Iamlaeava had himself a day.
The highly publicized quarterback had his best game yet at UCLA, leading the winless Bruins to a shocking 42-37 upset of No. 6 Penn State.
He finished with 166 yards on 17 of 24 passing, along with a game-high 130 rushing yards with five total touchdowns — two in the air and three on the ground.
“Man, it feels great,” Iamaleava said postgame. “We finally put it all together on the offensive side of the ball. We were able to score some points and come out victorious.”
UCLA’s offense had struggled nightly mightily to start the season, averaging just 14.3 points and never leading in the first four contests.
But Iamaleava came out firing out of the gate, picking apart the Penn State defense on the opening drive that was capped off by an 11-yard touchdown pass to Kwazi Gilmer.
It was much of the story of the first half, as the Bruins scored on all five drives in the frame. Iamaleava went into halftime with 208 passing yards and three touchdowns with a 27-7 lead.
Penn State didn’t go down easy and quickly got back into the game in the third quarter, cutting the deficit to 27-21 after a blocked punt returned for touchdown.
The Bruins were forced to a third down, and the Penn State fans in the crowd were making noise, feeling the momentum turning toward the visitors.
But Iamaleava kept the magic going. He scrambled for a 52-yard run that not only extended the drive, but kept UCLA in control. The drive ended in Iamaleava’s second rushing touchdown run of the day to push the lead back to double digits.
After a Penn State touchdown made it a six-point game again, Iamaleava again used his legs to extend a drive, this time with a 25-yard scamper to midfield.
That drive continued down the field and killed significant time off the clock, and Iamaleava did it again with his legs on a 7-yard touchdown run. The 2-point conversion was successful to make it a 42-28 score with just less than seven minutes left.
“A couple times we spied (Iamaleava), and when we spied him he was either able to make the spy miss or run away from the spy,” Penn State coach James Franklin said. “There were a couple of other times they caught us in man coverage without a spy, we got out of our rush lanes and he made a ton of plays.”
Even though Penn State had a chance to tie the score in the final minute, it failed to convert on fourth down inside the UCLA 20-yard line and the Bruins were able to hang on for the first win of the season.
“Big-time players make big-time plays, and that’s what he did out there,” UCLA interim coach Tim Skipper said of his quarterback.
