Former Tennessee Vols QB Nico Iamaleava recognized for being part of one of college football’s best moments in 2025
Former Tennessee Vols quarterback Nico Iamaleava helped UCLA pull off one of the biggest upsets of the 2025 season.
Former Tennessee Vols quarterback Nico Iamaleava was recognized this week for his part in the biggest upset of the 2025 college football season.
Iamaleava, who transferred from Tennessee to UCLA last spring, led the Bruins to a huge upset win over the Penn State Nittany Lions this past October.
On3’s Chris Low detailed the “best and worst” of the 2025 college football season and he pointed out UCLA’s win over Penn State as the biggest upset of the year.
“The Bruins were already playing with an interim coach after DeShaun Foster’s firing three weeks into the season,” wrote Low. “They entered the game against Penn State as a 24 ½-point underdog and jumped out to a 27-7 halftime lead and then held on as Tennessee transfer Nico Iamaleava accounted for five touchdowns. UCLA became the first 0-4 or worse team to beat a top-10 team in 40 years.”
Iamaleava passed for 166 yards and two touchdowns in the win. He also rushed for 128 yards and three touchdowns.
UCLA’s upset win over Penn State came after Nico Iamaleava rallied the locker room
UCLA’s big win over Penn State came the week after the Bruins fired offensive coordinator Tino Sunseri (a move that came a couple of weeks after UCLA also fired head coach DeShaun Foster).
Iamaleava rallied the UCLA locker room following Sunseri’s dismissal.
“There was just a lot outside noise coming in [to this game],” said Iamaleava. “I was just preaching to the guys that if y’all don’t want to be here, then leave. I was basically telling the guys that whoever still believes, we’re still in this. And that we still have games ahead of us that we can go win.”
It can be argued that UCLA’s win over Penn State was one of the most impactful college football games of the season.
Nittany Lions head coach James Franklin was fired a week later after a loss to Northwestern. While the loss to the Bruins wasn’t the nail in the coffin for Franklin, it was certainly the beginning of the end. Franklin’s firing set off a domino effect that led to one of the wildest “offseasons” we’ve ever seen in college football.
If Nico doesn’t lead UCLA to a win over Penn State, who knows how the rest of the season plays out for Franklin.