Nico Iamaleava was on the wrong end of a dirty play in UCLA’s upset win over Oregon
The former Tennessee Volunteers quarterback was the victim of a dirty hit in UCLA’s win against Oregon.
UCLA quarterback Nico Iamaleava was on the wrong end of a dirty play in the Bruins’ win over Oregon on Saturday.
Iamaleava was beat up during the game — literally.
The former Tennessee Vols quarterback took a punch to the head from Oregon defensive lineman Bear Alexander at one point during the game.
Some fans have pointed out that Alexander may have been trying to punch out the ball.
I’m not going to judge his intent. But regardless of intent, Alexander took a swing and hit Iamaleava in the head and didn’t come anywhere close to touching the ball.
Iamaleava was forced from the game at one point due to unrelated injury and he didn’t have an eye-popping stat line (162 passing yards and two interceptions), but his team got a win on the road against an Oregon team that had only lost once at home (to Indiana last season) since 2022. It was a good win for Iamaleava and the Bruins.
