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UCLA quarterback Nico Iamaleava throws down field against visiting Nebraska during the first half at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena on Saturday, Nov. 8, 2025. The UCLA Bruins host the Nebraska Cornhuskers in a Big Ten Conference game. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)
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UCLA quarterback Nico Iamaleava throws down field against visiting Nebraska during the first half at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena on Saturday, Nov. 8, 2025. The UCLA Bruins host the Nebraska Cornhuskers in a Big Ten Conference game. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)
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PASADENA — The ease, the simplicity of how Nebraska moved downfield in Huskers quarterback TJ Lateef’s first collegiate start, was as if the true freshman had been studying for an exam and received the answers under his door the night before he took pen to paper.
In many ways, Nebraska had a game plan for how to exploit UCLA. Just look at the start of the season, the three-week more-than-slump that sunk early-season shine into doom and gloom with haphazard defensive displays against offenses that wrung the Bruins’ run defense and edge containment dry of stops.
The index of film, proof of where to attack, set Nebraska on the right track in the first half of UCLA’s 28-21 loss at the Rose Bowl on Saturday night — enough to make the Bruins (3-6, 3-3 Big Ten) comfortably second best.
Nebraska star running back Emmett Johnson — who had already eclipsed the 1,000 rushing yard barrier entering the contest — had a hand in the Huskers’ final three touchdowns, the first two being a 56-yard screen pass from Lateef leaving the junior untouched to the end zone and a one-yard run to place Nebraska (7-3, 4-3) up by 14 at halftime.
“Most of our game plan was to stop 21 (Johnson) — he’s a special, special player,” UCLA interim head coach Tim Skipper said postgame. “They did a good job of game-planning in the pass game, too, called a screen and made an explosive play off of that. … I think nationally, we should be talking about him a lot more.”
Johnson started the third quarter with an exclamation point, wide-open along the sideline for a 40-yard receiving touchdown — Lateef’s third passing touchdown — shedding a last-ditch attempt from redshirt senior linebacker JonJon Vaughns to make it 28-7 with 11:44 to go in the period. Lateef, who played at Orange Lutheran High a year ago, finished 13-of-15 passing for 205 yards and three touchdowns, while Johnson paced Nebraska for 129 rushing yards, 103 receiving yards and three total touchdowns.
“TJ’s my guy, man,” said UCLA quarterback Nico Iamaleava. “Him and my little brother, we hang out off the field. So, it was good seeing him shine.
Iamaleava continued: “I kind of didn’t want to see him shine tonight.”
Shine, Lateef did.
The Bruins didn’t even get off the field until 4:43 left in the third quarter, when redshirt senior defensive back Key Lawrence laid down a booming hit to stop Huskers’ wide receiver Jacori Barney Jr. short of a first down — the first of two second-half stops that wedged the door wide enough for UCLA to make a late comeback.
Earlier in the week, UCLA interim coach Tim Skipper emphasized the need to control time of possession — and for good reason. When the Bruins had their pulse on the clock, it led to cornerstone victories against Penn State and Michigan State, turning a season to forget into an outside bid at bowling.
Nine minutes and 46 seconds — the length of UCLA’s second drive that ended with Jalen Berger taking the snap for a wildcat-formation one-yard touchdown run to make the score 7-7 in the second quarter — appeared to play into such a strategy successfully. And on the Bruins’ third drive, now trailing by seven points, UCLA was well on its way to doing the same again.
On 3rd-and-1 from Nebraska’s 38-yard line, Iamaleava faced pressure from the Huskers’ edge rush, shooting a pass to wide receiver Rico Flores Jr. The redshirt sophomore couldn’t get a grasp on the pass and the Bruins faced fourth down instead.
Defensive lineman Siale Taupaki entered the field of play as a wide receiver, an extra body to help Iamaleava get a yard for the first down. Instead, a lapse in protection saw Taupaki make a defender whiff his quarterback as the big man fell to the ground, but Iamaleava was still far short of moving the chains.
Iamaleava slumped onto a sideline bench, the tech of modern-day college football allowing the redshirt sophomore to study the play repeatedly. He watched Nebraska defensive back DeShaun Singleton storm through the Bruins’ run protection and take him to the ground.
“They sent a corner crash, and he mesh-charged it, and I thought pulling it was the best play to do,” Iamaleava said. “Should’ve just gave it, man, and let my running backs get that one yard. But that one’s on me, and I gotta play better in that aspect.”
What better could Iamaleava have done on a night where he passed for 191 yards and two touchdowns, as well as accruing 86 yards on the ground?
“You have that fourth-and-1 and then we go back out and we miss a field goal (at the end of the first half),” Iamaleava said. “It was just those certain drives that we can’t have if we want to win close games.”
Should the third-and-1 play beforehand have been a run instead of a pass? So go the questions of defeat.
“I don’t regret decisions or anything like that,” Skipper said. “We’re gonna be very aggressive on the short yardage plays like that.”
UCLA brought it close, within seven points with 4:54 remaining, thanks to a third-quarter 45-yard touchdown reception from redshirt junior running back Anthony Woods and a fourth-quarter, 9-yard touchdown reception courtesy of redshirt senior running back Anthony Frias II.
But even with just under five minutes on the clock, Nebraska coach Matt Rhule called for Johnson’s name one last time. The Huskers trusted their tailback to burn through the Bruins’ final two timeouts to kneel out the 28-21 final score.
“Kudos to Nebraska,” said redshirt junior linebacker Jalen Woods. “We just got to be on our keys in the beginning of the game and also towards the end, where we are going against time.”
Ringing through UCLA’s second consecutive loss, consequently ending a season that would need a stunning victory next week against top-ranked Ohio State to remain in bowl contention, was a reminder of what early-season football looked like at the Rose Bowl.
Often, too little, too late.
