Nico Iamaleava reveals message to teammates before Penn State upset: 'If y'all don't wanna be here, leave'

Nico Iamaleava still had faith that UCLA could pull off the improbable upset against Penn State in Week 6. Turns out, he was correct.

Despite entering the contest winless after the first four games of the season and having fired offensive coordinator Tino Sunseri, the Bruins handed the No. 7 Nittany Lions a 42-37 loss. Iamaleava revealed postgame the firm message he sent to his teammates after Sunseri’s firing heading into the pivotal matchup.

“It was just a lot of outside noise coming into it,” he said. “I was just preaching to the guys that, ‘If y’all don’t wanna be here, leave.’ I was basically telling the guys that whoever still believes that we’re still in this and that we’ve still got games ahead of us that we can go win, ‘Let’s roll.'”

I asked Nico Iamaleava about what he told his team this week after Tino Sunseri’s departure:

“I was preaching to the guys that, ‘If y’all don’t want to be here man, leave man.”

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— Ira Gorawara (@IraGorawara) October 4, 2025

This season certainly hadn’t gone the way Iamaleava expected it to prior to Saturday’s big win. The QB transferred to Los Angeles this offseason after butting heads at Tennessee over his NIL compensation. That ultimately lead to the two sides deciding to move on from each other.

Many believed that his arrival could give the Bruins a spark, but hope quickly dimished after seeing the on-field results. After three straight losses to begin the year, including against UNLV and New Mexico, the Bruins fired coach DeShaun Foster.

A 17-14 loss in the Big Ten opener against Northwestern the following week led to Sunseri being the next coach to get canned. With all of that, hardly anyone expected UCLA to be competitive against Penn State, let alone win.

Not only were the Bruins competitive, they completely dominated in the first half and led 27-7 heading into halftime. Penn State did its best to mount a comeback in the second, and got as close as 34-28 by early in the fourth quarter. But Iamaleava answered by leading UCLA to a touchdown on the ensuing drive and give his team a little more cushion.

Nico Iamaleava finished the game 17-of-24 passing for 166 yards and two touchdowns with no interceptions. He did even more damage on the ground, rushing for 128 yards and three more touchdowns for five total on the afternoon.

With the win, UCLA improved to 1-4 (1-1 Big Ten) and certainly gained a lot more confidence in itself. We’ll see if the Bruins can carry that over when they face Michigan State in Week 7.