Ranking Nico Iamaleava's 2024 Performances: #7 Mississippi State

Nico Iamaleava is one of the largest topics of conversation in college football ahead of his redshirt sophomore season with the UCLA Bruins.

After a stellar redshirt freshman season with the Tennessee Volunteers that led them to their first ever College Football Playoff appearance, Iamaleava entered the transfer portal after a NIL dispute that was largely publicized and turned him into one of the most polarizing figures in college football.

He finished last season leading the Vols to a 10-3 record and passed for 2,616 yards, 19 touchdowns and five interceptions on 63.8% (213-334) completion percentage. With that being said, let's rank Iamaleava's best performances of the season, moving onto No. 7 -- Nov. 9 vs Mississippi State.

This is back-to-back games within our rankings where Iamaleava played just one half, which was factored into our rankings slightly. He finished this 33-14 win against the Bulldogs with 174 passing yards on 8-of-13 (61.5%) passing attempts for two touchdowns. He also ran for 22 yards on four carries. He finished this game with a 224.7 passer rating (highest of the season) and an ESPN Adjusted QBR Rating of 87.5.

Mississippi State was 2-7 (0-5 SEC) entering this game, which is why Iamaleava's best game by passer rating is so high on this list. It wasn't the most difficult opponent, similar to the last game on the rankings against Chattanooga.

Regardless, Iamaleava showed poise in the pocket and put together a great half of play under center. Of course, through the drawls of conference play to this point in the season, he earned himself two quarters off before they went up against Georgia the next week.

On Tennessee's first offensive drive, Iamaleava found Squirrel White for a 34-yard touchdown pass to cap off a seven-play, 55-yard drive spanning just 2:34. Iamaleava's second and final passing touchdown of the day was even more impressive, though. He found Dont'e Thornton Jr. for a 73-yard touchdown that was his longest completion of his career to that point.

A game like this as a redshirt freshman is pretty promising. It also gives hope to Bruins fans because it shows how good Iamaleava will/can be against lesser opponents. UCLA won't be playing as bad opponents this season as Tennessee did last season, being in the Big Ten and only having three non-conference games, but the Bruins should be favored against their first three opponents anyways.

They open the season against Utah, UNLV and New Mexico before opening up Big Ten play against Northwestern. Coupling Iamaleava's expected leap ahead of his redshirt sophomore season and how good he was against non-conference opponents last season, UCLA has a great chance at starting next season 4-0.