UCLA football (3-9, 3-6 Big Ten) concluded its 2025 season Saturday with a 29-10 loss to then-No. 19 USC (9-3, 7-2) at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Daily Bruin Sports senior staffer Kai Dizon shares his five main takeaways from the Battle of LA and the end of the Bruins’ campaign.
It’s a funny story
Saturday was a near-perfect microcosm of UCLA’s season.
The Trojans’ first drive ended in the end zone. The Bruins ended their first with a three-and-out.
Then UCLA tipped a USC field goal attempt and tied the game with a touchdown.
And after a second missed Trojan field goal and a made Bruin 3-pointer, the underdogs entered halftime up 10-7.
Wide receivers Makai Lemon – the Big Ten’s receiving yards leader – and Ja’Kobi Lane – who is No. 10 on the same leaderboard – had just three combined targets for 12 yards in the first half.
The Bruins held the Trojans to -13 rushing yards in the second quarter after the Trojans garnered 57 in the first frame.
But the wheels spiraled off the wagon in the third quarter. UCLA punted on its next three possessions and turned the ball over on downs in its final two.
Meanwhile, USC found the end zone three times in the second half. Lemon reeled in a 32-yard touchdown. Lane finished with 52 receiving yards. The Trojans ran for 67 yards in the fourth quarter alone, including running back King Miller’s 41-yard score.
Redshirt sophomore quarterback Nico Iamaleava was sacked four times Saturday and three times in the fourth quarter alone.
That first USC score was reminiscent of how UCLA got down early against Utah, UNLV, New Mexico and Northwestern at the beginning of the season.
The hope heading into halftime was like the Bruins’ now-distant three-game win streak.
And the utter collapse at the end was like, well, the five-game skid that closed out UCLA’s season.
If this is it
At times, Iamaleava was the only thing that made UCLA games worth watching.
The quarterback came to UCLA as a cautionary tale.
The narrative was that Iamaleava was consumed by greed. That he thought he was better than he really was.
No, Iamaleava didn’t set the world on fire.
247 Sports’ 2023 No. 1 quarterback Arch Manning and No. 3 quarterback Dante Moore headline No. 14 Texas and No. 4 Oregon, respectively, in their first seasons as full-time starters.
Even Tennessee quarterback Joey Aguilar – who was in line for the starting job in Westwood before Iamaleava’s arrival – finished with 1,115 more total yards and 10 more total touchdowns in the regular season than the former five-star.
But Iamaleava proved his selflessness.
He never complained online or to the media. He fielded loaded questions from reporters after nearly every game – win or lose.
He put himself back in the game Oct. 18 for UCLA’s game-winning drive against Maryland after failing to walk off the field under his own power earlier in the quarter.
He came back to play Nov. 22 versus Washington after concussion symptoms kept him out of Nov. 15’s contest against then-No. 1 Ohio State.
And though he had to leave the affair against the Huskies because of neck spasms, he still came back to play the entirety of Saturday’s contest.
He was tough.
He was exciting.
I don’t bet on him coming back to Westwood next season, but he might’ve been the perfect quarterback this season.
What was that?
UCLA’s three-game win streak seemed improbable at the time.
I felt stuck between wondering if the Bruins were as bad as they looked against the Lobos or as good as they appeared against the supposed national title-contending Nittany Lions.
I know I wasn’t the only person who thought UCLA had a chance – no matter how slim – at a 6-6 finish to the season when they sat at 3-4.
Now, thinking the Bruins would end up with even five wins seems asinine.
Maybe it’s the 0-5 end to the season, but those three wins just don’t look the same now.
UCLA’s three wins came against then-No. 7 Penn State, Michigan State and Maryland.
Those three teams went a combined 4-14 after losing to the Bruins – and one of those wins was a Nittany Lion victory against the Spartans, while another was a Spartan victory against the Terrapins.
What will we remember this season for? The failed DeShaun Foster experiment? The Iamaleava saga? A footnote in coach James Franklin’s Penn State tenure? Just another terrible UCLA team?
Or worse, will no one even remember it at all beyond a 3-9 blip on a spreadsheet?
What’s the problem?
UCLA isn’t a quarterback away from a 10-win season.
It’s not a head coach away either.
It’s not even an athletic director away.
No one knows what UCLA football will look like come August.
It has no head coach, no offensive coordinator and no defensive coordinator.
If Iamaleava departs, it has no clear backup quarterback.
It’s not even official where UCLA will play its home games next season.
It’s easy to say, “A better athletic director means a better head coach means better recruiting means a better team means a Big Ten title,” but is it really that simple?
I would like UCLA to have a competitive football program. I just don’t see how.
Even if the Bruins get a program-changing coach, how would they ensure they’d keep them from finding a better job elsewhere – whether that is another college job or one in the NFL?
How would you keep a game-changing quarterback, wide receiver or edge rusher before they seek greener pastures elsewhere?
Sure, you can say, “With more money.” But money from where?
I mean, I’m certainly not in line to give thousands of dollars – much less tens or hundreds of thousands – to UCLA Athletics.
Are you?
What happened to falling with style?
Opinions are opinions, but my experience at the Coliseum on Saturday blew last year’s rivalry game at the Rose Bowl out of the water.
Maybe it’s just because it was different.
Maybe I just hate UCLA deep down.
But the silly Trojan on a horse has so much more whimsy than the sterile and soulless Joe Bruin.
Some of the worst secondhand embarrassment I’ve ever experienced was at the 2024 Spring Showcase, when around 100 UCLA fans did the 8-clap in front of athletic director Martin Jarmond.
I need the 8-clap to die.
I also desperately need UCLA to stop trying to repurpose the “We are Penn State” song because “U-C-L-A” is also four syllables.
UCLA Athletics – especially football – needs a cultural makeover. The Bruins desperately need new traditions.
The rest of the college football world has White Outs, “Mr. Brightside,” Bevo and flag planting.
UCLA has a two-thirds-empty 100-plus-year-old stadium, a 70-plus-year-old chant and an 80-plus-year-old bell it sometimes rings.
The only silver lining is that UCLA football doesn’t do basketball’s roll call before games.
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