Washington Huskies at UCLA: Keys to the game, how to watch and prediction
Washington (7-3, 4-3 Big Ten) at UCLA (3-7, 3-4)
Kickoff: 7:30 p.m. Saturday
Where: Rose Bowl Stadium, Pasadena, Calif.
TV: NBC
Latest line (via ESPN Bet): Washington -10.5, Total 52.5
All-time series: UCLA leads 42-33-2; Most recent meeting: 31-19 UW win on Nov. 15, 2024
UW key players
QB Demond Williams Jr.: 72.6% completions, 2,508 pass yards, 199 completions, 274 attempts, 17 pass TD, 5 INT, 115 carries, 512 rush yards, 4 rush TD; TE Decker DeGraaf: 26 catches, 281 receiving yards, 1 receiving TD; S Alex McLaughlin: 73 tackles, 1.5 TFL, 2 INT, 5 PBU; LB Xe’ree Alexander: 54 tackles, 4 TFL, 1 PBU.
UCLA key players
QB Nico Iamaleava: 9 games, 63.7% completions, 1,659 pass yards, 165 completions, 259 attempts, 12 pass TD, 7 INT, 96 carries, 474 rush yards, 4 rush TD; WR Kwazi Gilmer: 37 catches, 432 receiving yards, 3 receiving TD; LB JonJon Vaughns: 97 tackles, 4 TFL, 1 PBU, 1 fumble recovery; DB Key Lawrence: 61 tackles, 4 TFL, 1 INT, 1 PBU, 2 forced fumble.
Will Nico Iamaleava play? It has been a difficult season for UCLA. The Bruins fired coach DeShaun Foster on Sept. 14 after a winless start to the season, including two losses against Mountain West opponents. And after a brief revival under interim coach Tim Skipper and promoted offensive coordinator Jerry Neuheisel, UCLA has lost its past three games.
Those results, however, are not due to the play of sophomore quarterback Nico Iamaleava. Just ask Washington defensive coordinator Ryan Walters.
“Nico is as talented a football player as I’ve ever seen,” Walters said. “I didn’t know he was this good. You’re talking about a guy who’s 6-foot-6. He can run. He can throw. He can make every throw. He seems like a good leader, just the way guys kind of respond to him. He is an elite, elite talent at that position. It’s going to be a huge challenge for us.”
Iamaleava has flexed that talent during UCLA’s three wins this season. The Tennessee transfer was 17 of 24 passing for 166 yards and tallied a season-high 128 yards rushing with five total touchdowns – two passing and three rushing – against Penn State during UCLA’s 42-37 win Oct. 4.
He threw a season-high three touchdowns during a 38-13 victory versus Michigan State one week later, before registering 221 yards passing to lead UCLA past Maryland, 20-17. Iamaleava had 277 total yards during a 28-21 loss to Nebraska.
“He has been Superman out there,” Walters said. “I think what you’ve seen with the recent play of UCLA on offense is just sort of him taking games over. Making plays that aren’t there.”
But Iamaleava sat out UCLA’s most recent game, a 48-10 blowout loss against No. 1 Ohio State, because of a concussion. Skipper said Monday that Iamaleava is questionable to play against UW. If he cannot go, the Bruins will likely turn to sophomore Luke Duncan, who was 16 of 23 for 154 yards against the Buckeyes. He did not turn the ball over or get sacked, but did not throw any touchdowns.
Rose Bowl mishaps: Saturday may be UCLA’s final regular-season game at the historic Rose Bowl. The Bruins are reportedly seeking to play their home games at SoFi Stadium – home of the NFL’s Los Angeles Rams and Los Angeles Chargers – in Inglewood, Calif., marking the potential end of a 43-year tenure in Pasadena, Calif.
That might be good for Washington.
The Huskies have an atrocious recent record at the Rose Bowl against the Bruins. UW is 1-9 during its past 10 trips to Pasadena. Washington’s lone win during that stretch came in 2018, when a 116-yard, two-touchdown performance by Myles Gaskin propelled coach Chris Petersen’s team to a 31-24 victory.
Before that, UW’s most recent regular-season win at the Rose Bowl was a 38-14 win in 1995. Damon Huard threw for 259 yards and Rashaan Shehee rushed for three touchdowns to lead coach Jim Lambright’s team – wearing the briefly introduced purple helmets – to a win.
Jedd Fisch, who spent one season at UCLA as Jim Mora’s offensive coordinator in 2017, said it is always an exciting opportunity to play at the Rose Bowl, and added he had briefed UW’s players about not being overwhelmed by the historic stadium.
The UW coach also dismissed any worries about playing on the Rose Bowl’s grass surface. Washington does not have a grass practice field and some of Petersen and former coach Kalen DeBoer’s most notable losses occurred on grass fields against Pac-12 opponents like Stanford, Arizona State, Colorado and, of course, UCLA. Fisch suffered his largest margin of defeat as Washington coach during a 35-6 loss against Penn State in 2024 at Beaver Stadium. Another grass field.
UW has not played on grass in 2025, but Fisch said he is not worried about the field surface or any of the other distractions that may come with playing in Los Angeles.
“We are going to show up there and play to the best of our ability,” Fisch said. “We’re going to play with great energy. We’re going to play smart and take care of the football and attack them defensively, special teams-wise and offensively. We’re not going to worry about if we flew there or bussed there. We’re not going to worry about what hotel we’re staying at. We’re not going to worry about if their field is grass or turf.”
Establishing the run: Washington enjoyed one of its most productive rushing games of the season against Purdue. The Huskies totaled 212 yards rushing, despite missing senior running back Jonah Coleman (knee), starting a new-look offensive line and the Boilermakers sending blitzes on more than half of its defensive snaps, offensive coordinator Jimmie Dougherty said.
“We kind of did what we said we wanted to do,” Dougherty said. “Run the ball from the running back position.”
Coleman has a “really good chance” to return Saturday, Fisch announced Monday, and the Huskies will face a Bruin defense that has struggled massively to stop the run. UCLA is allowing 194.2 yards rushing per game, the second-worst mark in the Big Ten behind only Rutgers – a team UW tallied 177 yards rushing against Oct. 10.
UCLA has surrendered more than 200 yards rushing four times – against No. 1 Ohio State, No. 2 Indiana, No. 12 Utah and a season-high 298 yards rushing against New Mexico. Northwestern barely missed the cut, finishing its game against UCLA with 199 yards rushing. Nationally, UCLA ranks 121st in rushing defense, comparable with UAB (119th), Louisiana (120th) and Temple (122nd).
UW’s strong performance rushing against Purdue also led to an effective play-action passing game. Sophomore quarterback Demond Williams Jr. was 6 of 7 passing for 99 yards on play-action against the Boilermakers, according to Pro Football Focus, including his 3-yard touchdown to freshman wide receiver Dezmen Roebuck during the third quarter. Williams was only 5 of 10 passing for 61 yards and no touchdowns on play-action passes against Wisconsin on Nov. 8, during a game UW rushed for just 116 yards.
Andy Yamashita’s prediction: I have gone back and forth on this game throughout the season. I projected UW to lose this game during my preseason prediction because of its poor history at the Rose Bowl and Iamaleava’s arrival. Then watched UCLA play its first three games and thought this Bruin team might go winless. Once Skipper and Neuheisel rattled off three straight wins in October, I thought this might be a UW loss again because I thought the Huskies had one bad game left in them.
But Washington suffered its surprising defeat in the snow at Wisconsin. Add in Iamaleava’s uncertain status, and it is hard to imagine the Huskies stumbling here.
Prediction: Huskies 24, Bruins 17