UCLA Football Have No Good Answers After Big Blowout: ‘We Just Played A Good Team’

Is it a great day to be alive and to be a Bruin?

UCLA Head coach DeShaun Foster didn’t mince words. “A lot of stuff to learn from,” Foster said. “Not the outcome that we wanted in the first game, but we just have to learn from this… They understand that we didn’t do enough, and they’re ready to put in some more work and be ready to go on Monday.”

Asked what concerned him most, Foster kept it simple: “We just played a good team. That was it. We played a good team that came out and played their style of play… You can’t just go in there and point the finger at other people. You’ve got to see ‘What did I do to help this team?’”

Foster also praised his young quarterback despite a tough stat line — 11-of-22 passing for 136 yards, 1 TD, and 1 INT. “Nico’s a competitor. He’s not going to quit; he keeps playing hard. Kept motivating the guys around him. We’ve got to do a better job of protecting him and keeping him upright.”

UCLA Football QB Nico Iamaleava: “Me personally, I have to be better.”

For Iamaleava, the numbers didn’t need explaining. “We just didn’t execute well,” he said. “Coach Tino [Sunseri] put us in the right position to execute, but me personally, I have to be better. We all have to be better as a unit.”

On missed opportunities early, he added, “Those first three drives are critical. Our defense was playing hard, and we went down early, so we need to pick our defense up and respond well as a unit.”

Even after the Bruins cut it to 20-7 late in the first half, the offense sputtered. “It was all self-inflicted,” Iamaleava said. “Coach Tino put us in a great position to make plays. We didn’t execute well tonight.”

Still, the young QB kept his focus on what’s ahead. “Everything we want is still ahead of us,” he said. “It’s week one and our mindset is shifted to our opponent in week two. We have to go out there and dominate, execute at a high level like our coaches are putting us in a position to do.”

UCLA Defense Struggles to Contain Dampier

Utah quarterback Devon Dampier looked unstoppable, throwing for 206 yards and 2 TDs while adding 87 rushing yards. Foster credited the sophomore: “Just a slippery guy. It was hard to get our hands on him and really get him down… he did a good job playing off schedule and [was] able to continue to move the chains the whole game.”

Devon Dampier called the night a statement for Utah’s offense. “Man, awesome,” he said. “First time I got to wear that Ute jersey. It means a lot to this program to be a Ute. To get out there with my boys was great. I felt like we were clicking on all cylinders today.”

The junior quarterback credited his offensive line for making his job easy. “Regardless of who is running that ball, we’re going to get the first down,” Dampier said. “I think we showed that we are capable of being consistent running the ball.” For a player some had doubted last season, his confidence stood out. “My personal goal was to come in here and show that Utah can score on offense, too… We made an emphasis that we are going to play all four quarters and put points on the board.”

Linebacker Isaiah Chisom said the tackling issues came down to fundamentals. “It’s really about eye position,” he said. “If you try to reach around somebody’s shoulders, you’re going to fall off. It’s about eye discipline. It’s a first-game thing, first-game jitters. Everybody was just trying to get their footing. We’ll be better next week.”

The stats tell the story of a team that wasn’t ready for Utah’s physicality and execution. But the locker room tone made clear that this group isn’t splintering. “We’ve got to stay together, and they can’t splinter,” Foster said. “We are a team… they’re disappointed in the outcome of this game. But they’re ready to work and stay together and move forward.”

With UNLV and New Mexico up next, UCLA Football has a chance to regroup before the grind of Big Ten play begins. Whether that optimism turns into results will depend on how quickly the Bruins can turn Week 1 lessons into growth.