Ranking Nico Iamaleava's 2024 Performances: #8 Chattanooga

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. 8 -- Aug. 31 vs. Chattanooga.

This was Iamaleava's first start for Tennessee last season, and it was a shellacking. The Vols dominated the FCS Mocs 69-3 to open up the season, marking the second-most points the Vols scored since 1937.

Iamaleava finished with an impressive stat line of 314 passing yards and three passing touchdowns on 22-of-28 (78.6%) completions, and a 208.1 passer rating and 81.5 ESPN Adjusted QBR Rating in just two quarters on the field.

This undoubtedly would have been higher on the list for the stat line alone if it weren't against an FCS school. Yes, Iamaleava dominated this game, but a star of his calibre is almost expected to put up these types of numbers against a team like Chattanooga.

Iamaleava had two passing touchdowns within two minutes of each other in the first quarter. The first one was a four-yard pass to tight end Ethan Davis at the 8:34 mark to cap off an 11-play, 65-yard scoring drive, and the second was a 36-yard pass to wide receiver Dont'e Thornton Jr. with 7:18 remaining. His third touchdown was a 10-yard pass to Thornton with 10:14 left in the second quarter.

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.