WATCH: QB Nico Iamaleava, LB Isaiah Chisom review UCLA's loss to Utah
Nico Iamaleava‘s debut at UCLA did not go according to plan. The Tennessee transfer quarterback was under duress for much of the night resulting in a subpar performance for the offense. The Bruins ultimately mustered just 220 total yards in the 43-10 loss to Utah.
Iamaleava finished his first game at UCLA with 136 yards on 11 completions with a touchdown and interception. The Bruins’ offensive line struggled to keep Iamaleava clean in the pocket for a lot of the night at the Rose Bowl.
There will certainly be plenty of corrections to be made for the UCLA offense, and Iamaleava acknowledged that following the loss.
“Man, we just didn’t execute well,” he said. “Gotta finish drives. Coach Tino (Sunseri) put us all in the right position to go out there and execute. Me personally, I gotta be better. And, yeah, we all gotta be better as a unit.”
Bruins’ head coach DeShaun Foster was encouraged by the locker room scene following Saturday’s loss. His starting quarterback echoed that feeling.
“We were all still together,” he said. “We know that we can be better than that. Than what we displayed. Yeah, man, the only way is up from here, and we gotta continue to get better.”
Nico Iamaleava postgame press conference
Fellow UCLA newcomer Isaiah Chisom also was making his first appearance for the Bruins Saturday night. The Oregon State transfer contributed a game-high 17 tackles but it wasn’t enough to help the Bruins avoid an onslaught from the Utes’ offense.
UCLA’s defense allowed 492 total yards and surrendered conversions on 14 of Utah’s 16 attempts on third down.
“Granted it’s only one game, but it just gives us a chance to see what we need to work on,” Chisom said. “It sucks that it happened like this. But, going into film tomorrow and practice, we know exactly what we need to work on.”
Isaiah Chisom postgame press conference
