LOS ANGELES — Coach DeShaun Foster can view the same statistics as any Joe Schmo with a keyboard.
It’s a few keystrokes and a Google search away to see how the Bruins compare to the rest of college football through two weeks. And the results aren’t pretty.
UCLA football’s scoring offense ranks 115th in the country. The Bruins (0-2) don’t fare much better stopping the ball either, ranking 110th in yards allowed per game. On third down, they’ve converted 5 of 24 attempts, dwelling in 126th nationally — and when stopping third-down attempts, UCLA is second worst in the FBS (UNLV and Utah combining to convert 19-of-27 plays).
So, when Foster spoke for the first time since his postgame press conference in Las Vegas on Saturday — in which the Bruins lost 30-23, dropping their first two games of the season since 2019 — he didn’t linger on how “close” UCLA football was, as he did after an opening week defeat to Utah.
Foster gazed at two areas his team needed to improve on before New Mexico arrives at the Rose Bowl on Friday night: first-half play and overall execution.
“I think if we could put together two halves like we did in that second half, play like that early on, and a lot of these numbers might be a little different,” Foster said Monday when confronted with the team’s statistics. “I think that we’re stopping ourselves more than the opponent is stopping us.”
Easier said than done for the Bruins, still searching for their first victory in 2025.
Across its first two games, UCLA has scored a grand total of 10 combined points in the first half — almost ending the first half scoreless against UNLV on Saturday before a Mateen Bhaghani field goal put three points on the board.
Such a lack of offensive execution — mixed with the Bruins’ defense struggling to get stops — has forced UCLA to play from behind early, something that has led to a more pass-based approach. Despite losing to the Rebels on Saturday, however, there was good reason for Foster to take a lot from the Bruins’ second-half performance. Redshirt sophomore quarterback Nico Iamaleava — who Foster said Monday might take more time to get acclimated after missing spring camp, a notably less assured statement compared to previous weeks — found his groove in the second half at Allegiant Stadium.
He completed 11 of 14 passes in the third quarter, tossing a touchdown to freshman tight end Noah Fox-Flores, and looked the part in the fourth quarter, leading the Bruins downfield for a potential game-tying drive before a tipped interception to extinguish a drive that was burning.
Jack Pedersen said the Bruins spent Sunday’s practice cleaning up their first-half mistakes — which led to a 23-3 deficit — and to figure out how best to replicate UCLA’s second-half effort in which they picked up 318 of the Bruins’ 428 total yards.
“I think there’s a lot of great things to look at from that game from us in the second half offense,” the redshirt junior tight end said. “[Offensive coordinator Tino Sunseri] has a great plan in place for this offense. … And you know, there’s a lot to look forward to for us, and there’s still a lot of season left.”
On Monday, such preparation led to high energy; Bruins hooting and hollering throughout the media-watching period, morale appearing high despite the team’s start.
For Foster, he feels as if the Bruins have received the message from the coaching staff; a response to a less-than-ideal beginning that’s thrown more questions than answers at the football program through the first two games.
“Tough times don’t last, tough people do,” Foster said. “We didn’t get the victory, and it was unfortunate. But the fact that they came out here and were filled with juice, and you guys heard it — their mindset’s great.”
Injury updates
Sophomore wide receiver Kwazi Gilmer sat out of practice Monday as a Catapult monitoring system precaution, a system that tracks players’ exertion. Foster said that his absence was unrelated to the hard hits Gilmer took on receptions during the final drive of Saturday’s game.
“He’s okay,” Foster said of Gilmer, who dealt with a similar situation two weeks ago. “It was just more — he’s running hot… coming off an ankle (tweak against Utah). It’s just a lot of running for him in a short week.”
Senior defensive lineman Nico Davillier remained out due to “personal reasons.” However, Foster said that “it’s getting closer” when asked about the Arkansas transfer’s status Monday.
UCLA’s coach added that there were no new injury updates following the loss to UNLV.
