UCLA Struggles in Second Half, Loses to Southern Cal, 29-10
Some might even call tonight's game a mercy killing as the Bruins' long, awful season is finally over.
Tonight’s game closely resembled the entire tenure of UCLA interim head coach Tim Skipper. When they gave up the first score of the game, it mirrored the loss to Northwestern. Then, the Bruins got a few stops and scored ten points before halftime to take a 10-7 lead into the locker room. In the second half of the game, just like the second half of Skipper’s tenure, UCLA wasn’t able to do much.
But Skipper does deserve some credit.
UCLA fought hard the entire game. In the end, Southern Cal had too much talent for these Bruins to keep up.
UCLA won the toss and deferred to the second half. So, Southern Cal began the game with the ball on their own 25. The Trojans ran ten plays to move 75 yards with King Miller running it in from five yards out for the game’s first score.
The Bruins’ first drive resulted in a three-and-out, and Southern Cal got the ball back on their own 32 after a 50-yard punt by Will Karoll. Eventually, they worked their way down to the Bruin 21-yard line but the drive stalled and Ryon Sayeri came out to try a 38-yard field goal. But freshman linebacker Scott Taylor got through the right side of the Trojan line and managed to block the kick. As a result, the Bruins took over on their own 21.
UCLA took almost eight minutes to run 13 plays. On the 13th play of the drive, Nico Iamaleava found Kwazi Gilmer in the end zone to tie the game, 7-7.
Southern Cal’s third drive began on their own 25 following after Mateen Bhaghani sent the kickoff into the end zone for a touchback. The Trojans used 12 plays to move 63 yards down to the Bruin 12, but again the UCLA defense stopped Southern Cal short of the end zone. Lincoln Riley opted to send out Sayeri for his second field goal attempt. This time, Sayeri’s kick went wide right and was no good.
UCLA got the ball back on the 20 after the field goal attempt with 5:35 left in the half. On third-and-seven at the Southern Cal 26 with 1:03 left in the half, Iamaleava took off with the ball. In what may have been the first time this season, he started to slide. While the officials on the field initially gave him the first down, that call was overturned by replay and it was fourth-and-one with 47 seconds left after a mandatory 10-second run off.
UCLA lined up and tried to draw Southern Cal offsides, but the Trojans remained disciplined, forcing Skipper to call a timeout. He also sent Bhaghani out for a 38-yard field goal that gave the Bruins a 10-7 lead heading into the half.
When the Bruins got the ball to start the second half, they immediately went three-and-out. Southern Cal did the same on their first possession of the second half.
UCLA took over on their own 25. They used the next nine plays to move down the Trojan 34. On third-and-five, Iamaleava was sacked by Jide Abasiri for a loss of eight. The sack took the Bruins out of field goal range and forced their second punt of the half. Karoll’s punt gave Southern Cal the ball on their own nine-yard line.
On the tenth play of the drive, Jayden Maiava found Makai Lemon for a 32-yard touchdown, and Southern Cal took a 14-10 lead. Ultimately, that would prove to be the game-winning score.
The Bruins’ next drive started off with a promising 23-yard run by Jalen Berger. After a 4-yard run by Berger on first down, Iamaleava threw two incompletions to force another punt by Karoll.
Southern Cal took of on the own 43, and they made the most of the short field. It only took them four plays to move 57 yards This time, Maiava found Lake McRee for a two-yard touchdown pass, and the Trojans now led 21-10.
Ultimately, the undisciplined Bruins finally showed up. When UCLA began the nnext drive, they began on their own 25 after a touchback. The Bruins managed to move 22 yards on just three plays, but the drive was threatened by a Reuben Urije false start, a sack which lost three yards and a delay of game call, which set up a second-and-23. A two-yard pass to Anthony Woods didn’t help much and gave the Bruins a third-and-21. On the next play, Iamaleava found Titus Mokiao-Atimalala for 24 yards and a first down at the Southern Cal 40. An incompletion on first down and a two-yard loss on a sack by Braylan Shelby set up third-and-twelve.
Then, as if on cue, the UCLA offense imploded again. A delay of game was immediately followed by another false start by Urije and the Bruins were facing third-and-22. This time, there was no deep completion to Mokiao-Atimalala to be found. Instead, Iamaleava threw a seven-yard pass to Anthony Woods, setting up fourth-and-15. Iamaleava completed his fourth down pass to Gilmer but because Iamaleava threw to someone short of the sticks, they only gained ten yards not the fifteen they needed and the Bruins turned it over on downs.
Four plays, 65 yards, and a two-point conversion later, the Trojans had a 29-10 lead. After the 41-yard touchdown run by King Miller, Ja’Kobi Lane was called for unsportsmanlike conduct and the ensuing kickoff was backed up to Southern Cal’s 20-yard line. Cole Marting fielded the kickoff at the UCLA 14 and was able to return it 33 yards to the Bruin 47 with 2:15 left.
Five plays later, UCLA had moved the ball to to the Trojan 11-yard line. Iamaleava found Gilmer for a five-yard gain to the Southern Cal six-yard line, but two incompletions set up fourth-and-five. In one final demonstration of the Bruins’ inability to control the line of scrimmage, Iamaleava was sacked for a five-yard loss and they turned the ball over on downs with 46 seconds left.
Maiava went into Victory formation and the home team had won for the first time since 2019.
Iamaleava finished the game 27 of 38 for 200 yards and a touchdown. Gilmer caught ten passes in this game for 73 yards and a score to lead the receivers. Meanwhile, Berger slashed his way to seven carries for 57 yards to lead the running backs.
Tim Skipper’s interim job now appears to be over. While internet speculation seems to have UCLA close to hiring James Madison head coach Bob Chesney, whose team defeated Coastal Carolina 59-10 today, completing an undefeated Sun Belt Conference slate, anything can happen before UCLA actually makes an official announcement.
With JMU set to play in the Sun Belt Championship game for sure, that announcement could be delayed by a week, or more if JMU makes it into the College Football Playoff.
For Bruin fans, a Chesney announcement cannot come soon enough, but the longer it’s delayed, the longer UCLA may end up looking elsewhere.
With the season officially over and other schools announcing their new hires, the Bruins are now on the clock. Let’s hope it’s a short one.
Go Bruins.
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It was 2025 UCLA football in a nutshell.
The players hung tough last night and made it a closer game than many, including myself, expected. In the end, our own mistakes more than anything cost us that game. A couple key dropped passes killed one drive. A series of preventable false start and delay of game penalties killed another. The overturned interception was a joke of a call, too. Our overmatched defensive line got no help when numerous holds and hands to the face went unflagged. It was a hill too steep to climb.
But we were starting out from such a hole in the first place. Play after play showed our game but woefully slow defensive players fruitlessly running after trogan ballcarriers and highlighted the vast talent gap between the teams. Our OL has been a weak spot all season (well, for a decade or longer tbh) and finally fell apart in the last 20 minutes of the game. I thought Little Neu called a pretty smart game by regularly getting the ball out of Nico's hands quickly to offset our vulnerable pass pro, but that limited downfield throws and bigger gains. Our skill players made a few good plays but didn't make them all when we couldn't afford to miss on any opportunity. The effort was there last night. The skill level and execution and playbook were not. The sum of all that got us to that sad final score last night and sadder final record this season.
Football fans talk about "any given Sunday" and that's a true thing, because if a bad team plays way up and a good one plays way down, anyone really can beat anyone. The first half showed that. *$c was highly overrated as usual, and Riley is a poser who will continue to have the trogans reasonably competitive but perennially underachieving, but we didn't play up enough for 60 minutes to overcome all the hurdles in our way.
Credit and thanks to Coach Skipper and Little Neu and Coyle and the rest of the staff for taking over this train wreck. The three wins in retrospect were a bit of a miracle, but they should get some credit for them happening at all. But even with that miracle, this was the worst Bruin football season since 1972 and tied Chump Kelly's first year in 2018. Hopefully the new staff has the will and the smarts - and a new AD who gives and is worth a damn - to rebuild this program into something which meets our opponents on equal footing. My daughter is a senior in Westwood this year and I feel so awful that she and her friends didn't get to experience the joy and excitement and pride and fun that a winning football team brings to the students.
Finally, a deep heartfelt respect and gratitude to you all for sticking it out this season in the virtual stands through these articles and game threads that DD and Joe thankfully build for us every day. My misery has truly loved your outstanding company.
Onward.
GO BRUINS!! 💙🏈💛
"Our long national nightmare is finally over.."
Well, not national but otherwise a nightmare. However, thanks is due to Joe Piechowski and Dimitri Dolis for their reportage on both football but UCLA athletics -- including the Fetus intrigues and coaching searches -- and analyses making our life a little brighter.
I also would like to thank my fellow comrades and comrade-ettes for your humor, pathos, sharp wit, and perseverance. Ladies and gentlemen, it's been real.
An afterthought: Like the Buffalo NFL franchise who has suffered four Super Bowl defeats, mightn't we label this season "2025 UCLLLLLLLLLA Football"?
..The happiest of holidays to all! I'll see myself out.