Nico Iamaleava didn’t hold back while addressing his teammates this week, and his strongly worded message led to UCLA upsetting Penn State
Former Tennessee Vols quarterback Nico Iamaleava got his first win with the UCLA Bruins on Saturday. And it was a win that will have a massive impact on the College Football Playoff picture later this season. Iamaleava and the Bruins upset the Penn State Nittany Lions on Saturday afternoon, winning 42-37 in Pasadena. Penn State […]
Former Tennessee Vols quarterback Nico Iamaleava got his first win with the UCLA Bruins on Saturday.
And it was a win that will have a massive impact on the College Football Playoff picture later this season.
Iamaleava and the Bruins upset the Penn State Nittany Lions on Saturday afternoon, winning 42-37 in Pasadena.
Penn State now has two losses on the season, which means their College Football Playoff hopes are essentially on life support.
Nico Iamaleava didn’t hold back while addressing his teammates this week after UCLA parted ways with offensive coordinator Tin Sunseri
UCLA has gone through quite a few changes early this season. For starters, head coach DeShaun Foster was fired after the Bruins got off to an 0-3 start.
After a loss to Northwestern last weekend, the Bruins also parted ways with offensive coordinator Tino Sunseri, who was just hired this past offseason to run UCLA’s offense.
Iamaleava addressed his teammates this week after UCLA fired mutually parted ways with Sunseri.
And Iamaleava delivered quite a message.
“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.
That message clearly rallied UCLA’s locker room (no one left the program this week, either). The Bruins played their best game of the season in the win against Penn State — starting at the quarterback position with Iamaleava, who set a career high with five total touchdowns (166 passing yards, two passing touchdowns, 128 rushing yards, and three rushing touchdowns).
The last six months haven’t gone as Iamaleava likely envisioned, but Saturday’s win against Penn State was a reminder of why he was the No. 1 ranked player in the 2023 recruiting class (per On3).