Tim Skipper analyzes Nico Iamaleava's play in his first game as interim

After landing Nico Iamaleava in the offseason as a marquee transfer, there was a lot of excitement surrounding the UCLA Bruins. Then, the game started, the offense has struggled, and after an 0-3 start, head coach DeShaun Foster was fired, only to be replaced by Tim Skipper on an interim basis.

Skipper, Iamaleava, and the Bruins made the cross-country trip to take on Northwestern in their first Big Ten game of the season last Saturday. Again, UCLA lost, to fall to 0-4 before the calendar turns to October. That doesn’t mean that there weren’t any positives to take away from that game, though, and Skipper certainly did see some things he liked from Iamaleava.

“I’m kind of just gonna talk about the last game,” Tim Skipper said. “I don’t wanna talk about the other three. You know, I was more helping Coach Foster on the defensive side. I wasn’t particularly breaking down his game or anything like that, but I will say this about this Northwestern game we just played, I thought he settled in nicely.”

Nico Iamaleava finished the game completing 19 of 27 passes for 180 yards and a touchdown. He also led UCLA in rushing with 65 yards on the ground. The Bruins converted on seven of 14 third downs and one of two fourth downs during the game. Even the penalty issue they’ve had seemed to improve, only having six for 60 yards. Still, it wasn’t enough to win and the final score would be 17-14.

“I thought him running, taking some contact, getting hit actually helps him. I think he enjoys that part of the game, I think it settles him down. He feels more a part of it. So, I like the way he progressed as the game went. Obviously, like all games, there’s plays he wishes he could get back,” Skipper said. “But I like that we’re not turning the ball over and we’re being smart with it and we’re doing things we need to do. He’ll keep getting better and better.”

For Nico Iamaleava, the Northwestern game saw him complete the second-highest percentage of passes as he did in any game this season. It was also his first game without an interception. So, while there’s still a long way to go as a team, it was a major stride individually in terms of playing clean.

The Big Ten schedule won’t get any easier moving forward for UCLA, though. Next week, the Bruins host a Penn State team that needs a bounce-back win. That’s the second of five straight conference games, dealing with extensive travel, before their next bye week.