The Bruins flew east carrying slim hopes against the undefeated and top-ranked Buckeyes. Now those hopes took another significant blow.
Sophomore quarterback Nico Iamaleava, the talented Samoan signal-caller from Long Beach Poly who has carried UCLA’s offense all season, has been ruled out for tonight’s primetime showdown at Ohio Stadium due to concussion protocol, multiple sources confirmed Saturday afternoon.
The injury stemmed from last weekend’s bruising 28-21 loss at Nebraska. Iamaleava played the entire game, completing 17 of 25 passes for 191 yards and two touchdowns while rushing for 86 more, but symptoms emerged during the week that forced him into the protocol. Redshirt sophomore Luke Duncan, who has yet to attempt a collegiate pass, will make his first career start under the lights against college football’s most talented roster.
This is a crushing absence for UCLA (3-6, 2-5 Big Ten), which already faced long odds as a 28.5-point underdog before the news broke. Iamaleava has started all nine games since transferring from Tennessee, throwing for 1,824 yards, 14 touchdowns, and seven interceptions while adding 412 rushing yards and four scores on the ground. His dual-threat ability represented the Bruins’ only realistic path to moving the ball consistently against an Ohio State defense that ranks top-five nationally in yards per play allowed.
Without him, DeShaun Foster’s offense loses its entire identity. Duncan, a former three-star recruit from Texas, has been praised in practice for his arm talent and football IQ, but facing this Buckeye front in his debut — on the road, at night, in front of 105,000 — is the ultimate trial by fire.
For the proud Samoan football community, Iamaleava has been one of the bright young faces of Pacific Island excellence at the highest level of the sport, and seeing him sidelined by injury rather than taking another shot at the Buckeyes — the same program that ended his Tennessee tenure in last year’s playoff — feels like unfinished business.
Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m. ET on NBC. The line has already moved to Ohio State -31.5 in some shops.
The Bruins will need a miracle in the Shoe tonight. Unfortunately for them, their best one was ruled out this morning.
