LAS VEGAS – The old adage “It’s not how you start, it’s how you finish” doesn’t always ring true, especially not in UCLA’s 30-23 loss at UNLV on Saturday.
UCLA fell behind 23-0 in the first half and fought nearly all the way back in the second half before a fateful Nico Iamaleava pass was deflected and intercepted by UNLV defensive back Aamaris Brown as the Bruins drove toward a would-be touchdown.
Iamaleava had taken UCLA 57 yards downfield on nine plays in the closing moments, but his untimely pass ended what was looking to be either the game-tying or game-winning drive.
After pulling within 10 points in the third, UCLA nearly erased another 17-point UNLV lead in the final 12 minutes before falling just short.
“I'm just frustrated because when you know that you can execute better than we were, and put together two halves,” UCLA coach Deshaun Foster said. “Like, I wish we would have done that, and the outcome would have been different, but the situation that we were in the first half, we didn't really help ourselves out.”
The seeds were planted for the Bruins’ second-half comeback bid on their closing possession of the first half, as kicker Mateen Bhagnani capped off a nine-play, 65-yard march downfield with a 34-yard field goal that cut UNLV’s lead to 23-3.
UCLA would go on to score the first 10 points of the third quarter, trimming UNLV’s lead to 23-13 after Iamaleava found tight end Noah Fox-Flores from four yards out preceding a second Bagnani field goal.
In total, UCLA held the ball for all but 0:58 seconds in the third quarter.
UNLV’s lone touchdown in the second half would prove to be all the team needed.
A 14-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Anthony Colandrea to tight end Var’Keyes Gumms put UNLV ahead 30-13 with 12:04 remaining and gave the Rebels just barely enough wiggle room to escape their most highly anticipated matchup of the season with a win.
Discipline continued to be a problem for UCLA, as the Bruins committed eight costly penalties that were accepted for a total of 69 yards.
Against a similarly undisciplined UNLV team, UCLA was only able to gain a slight edge in allowed penalty yardage even with the added benefit of BIG 10 refs for an out-of-conference road game.
“(In the) second half, we were able to make some plays but we were still doing some things that we shouldn't have done, stopping drives and just getting in our own way,” Foster said. “But there's something that we can fix, we got a short week this week, so we really gotta get in there and be ready to go.”
UCLA will look to rebound next weekend against another Mountain West foe in New Mexico, although the Bruins are fortunate enough to get that date at home.
They’ll embark on a nine-game BIG 10 conference schedule immediately following that game, which will surely present even more challenges for this team if Foster can’t right the ship fast.