Postgame Quotes – Washington 48, UCLA 14
POSTGAME QUOTES
Washington 48, UCLA 14
Los Angeles, Calif. (Rose Bowl Stadium)
November 22, 2025
UCLA interim head coach Tim Skipper
on Nico Iamaleava’s health
“Not completely sure. He was talking with me when we went out there. When he came out, he went to the tent then came into the locker room. We’ll get updates as we go, but that’s all that I really know, that he was out. We’ll see what we get when we get into more stuff throughout the week.”
on the team’s first half performance
“We just couldn’t stop the bleeding. They just kept making plays, and making plays. Turnovers are always going to kill you. We got to find a way to fix that as we get into next week.”
on the fans who stayed for the duration of the game
“Always much love for the fans that stayed throughout all four quarters. Even on our Bruin Walk there were a lot of people, supporting us and things. That felt good. The guys kept playing until the end. We always appreciate the people behind us. We’ll just keep on fighting. Tonight, the score wasn’t our way, but we kept fighting. We’ll need to do that next week also.”
on the team’s defensive performance
“We were definitely fighting out there. We knew we had to contain the quarterback. I thought we did a pretty good job of that in the beginning of the game. As it kept going, and kept wearing down on us, there was a little bit of bleeding out there, but the guys kept playing. I liked our plan. I liked the way we attacked them. I think we made them think a little bit out there. We were just out on the field to much, and it kept wearing on us. Then the score got out of hand.”
on the fake field goal attempt
“It was probably too complicated to be honest with you. They were in a block look and then they stemmed out of it. The communication, on our end, got all jacked up when they stemmed out of it. I’ll take the heat on it. It was probably a little bit too complicated. It was too much communication. We miscommunicated, and that’s what happened.”
on what was said to Luke Duncan following his touchdown pass to Mikey Matthews
“He handled himself well. He went out there and threw the rock. We were just telling him ‘Let’s get our next chance to get out there’. Hopefully we can get a stop and let’s go do it again. It was all positive. Just trying to keep on going.”
on what the Rose Bowl Stadium means to UCLA Football
“It’s obviously our home stadium right now, and it’s a big time venue. The main thing is just the aura of being in here, and the field, and all that good stuff. It’s a blessing to be able to play out here. We were hoping to get a win in this game, but we send the seniors out next week and that’s going to have to be our final thinking process. We’ll go do what we have to do. Always love playing in here. No doubt about it.”
UCLA redshirt senior offensive lineman Garrett DiGiorgio
on the team’s struggles throughout the game
“I think we're just focusing on the next possible thing that we could. Things like that happen in football and all we can do is put our best foot forward and go to the next rep and not let those things happen. Just trying to drive the ball down better and not turn that over.”
on walking off the Rose Bowl for the final time
“It’s unreal, I mean win or lose. These last five years have been amazing. I was super grateful to be at this university and to be able to play in the historic Rose Bowl. It was just a very high emotional game afterwards too because I have a lot of family here. It’s good having people out and supporting you for the last game.”
on Nico Iamaleava’s injury during the game
“It’s unfortunate to see him go down again. I hope nothing but the best for his health and he recovers fast. It’s honestly a part of the sport we play and we’re forced to face those injuries. All we can do is try and get back as fast as possible and I know that’s what Nico is going to do to prioritize his health and get back to the sport he loves.”
on the motivation given from the late touchdown from Luke Duncan
“I feel like we're a gritty team and we're not going to give up even when the odds are stacked against us. We’re going to play all four quarters, no matter what happens. I think that those momentum swings just made us want to play a little bit harder.
on the leadership Nico Iamaleava provided for Luke Duncan
“ Honestly, I would just say that Nico’s been there for Luke. Obviously, stepping in at Ohio State is not an easy task for the second-string quarterback. I think he was just in his corner supporting him as he could and just trying to lift him up. I’m not sure throughout the week what he was doing for Luke because I'm not in that room, but I know Nico was super supportive, and he only wanted him to perform at the best he could
UCLA redshirt sophomore defensive back Cole Martin
on if Luke Duncan’s touchdown pass gave them the motivation to continue fighting
“It was huge. Anytime you can create some momentum is good. We played our butts off the entire game, and that play sparked us for sure.”
on how the locker room environment has felt
“The biggest thing for us is that standard is standard. Going out every day, putting our heads down and going to work. As Garrett [DiGiorgio] said, the expectation is to lay down and give up, but that’s not the type of team we are. We’re a team that’s going to keep on fighting, no matter what’s happening.”
on what the Rose Bowl means to him
“The Rose Bowl is everything to me. Born and raised in Pasadena, California, the Rose Bowl means a lot to me. It makes me emotional thinking about it. It’s everything to me for sure.”
Washington head coach Jedd Fisch
opening statement
“Okay, good win. Good win by the team. Jeff told me it’s the second time in 30 years that Washington was able to win here [at the Rose Bowl]. And I know we were 1-9 the last 10 times. So, excited the way our guys played. The guys competed from the very beginning. I thought our defense played outstanding. They were aggressive. They were physical. They went after the ball. Really proud of those guys, the way they played. Love how they took the ball away. You know, when you count fourth downs and turnovers, I think it was five, six times we took it away. Just a great job there. Scored on defense, with Alex [McLaughlin], which was awesome. And then we missed a few things early that we had great opportunities at, to really put the score ahead of them. We had a few touchdowns early on in the game, but we got to 20-0 with Alex’s play. I think in the second half, the offense clicked pretty well, and proud of our guys. I know it’s a tough situation being an interim coach, and I think that those guys have competed all season long and continue to compete, so hats off to coach Skipper there. That is a big challenge to get teams ready every week. And I thought that our coaching staff did a great job getting our guys ready to go this week. Proud of our team being 3-2 on the road in the Big Ten. As we saw today, it’s not easy to win on the road, I think we might have been the only one that did it today. So proud of our guys there, proud of the fact that we got our eight win this season so far. And obviously looking forward to the game on Saturday [against Oregon]. I was told that it would be at 12:30, and I would hope that there is not a seat in the house.”
on Jonah Coleman’s availability
“Our goal was to play 10 plays with him. 10 to 12, I think that’s what we got to. I wanted to get him a touchdown if we were close. Talked to Adam about that ahead of time, he said if we can get Jonah another touchdown, 16 puts him in the top 10 in UW history. I wanted to make sure we got that if we had that opportunity, and felt like 10 to 12 was probably good, maybe 15, so we can get him probably full go next Saturday or close to it.”
on the importance of this win
“I think winning on the road is really hard, and when you can do it, it’s good. And I thought that today, I always think that when we go out on the road, that we’re really prepared, that we’re going to play really well. Sometimes it doesn’t always work out that way. But, you know, other times you just play really well and it falls in your favor, and I’m glad that it did today.”
on Demond Williams Jr.’s second half response
“I just said, you know, we must be at higher altitude than I thought because we just missed by a yard a couple times, right? We just missed by a yard to Audric [Harris] twice, and those could have been big time plays. And then, you know, on a third and five, and then one on the rollout. So we just told him, just take a deep breath, you’re excited. You know, it’s exciting when you see a guy that you think, you know, you’re open. I thought he played really, really well in that second half. I think his completion percentage was really clean in the second half.”
Washington safety Alex McLaughlin
on what Washington saw on UCLA’s fake field goal attempt
“I was just the edge, and I saw him pitching, and I saw a ball on the ground and picked it up, got great blocks from my teammates…We’ve seen their special teams, they fake a lot of punts, so we were definitely expecting it and Coach Petrilli [Chris Petrilli] and Coach Kaufusi [Jason Kaufusi] drew up a great game plan.”
on at what point did he know he was going to score
“I had never run that far before, so I didn’t really know I was gone. I was just making sure that I got in the endzone.”
on the messaging that has been helping the defense
“Just harping on playing our best football in November. We’ve been trying to get better each week, and we need to create turnovers to get the ball back to our offense because we know what Demond can do with the ball in his hand, so we got to keep getting the ball back.”
on what the defense has been doing in recent games that they weren’t doing early in the season
“I would say, just harping on taking the ball away a lot more, and we’re playing more gap-sound, a lot of people just understand that if we do our job, including myself, we just do our job, the plays will come to you, we’ll make the big plays and get the ball back to the offense.”
Washington quarterback Demond Williams Jr.
on today’s game plan
“We were definitely trying to take shots. We knew that they were going to play man and we especially wanted to test our young guys out. They knew that [WR] Denzel [Boston] was injured and Braden was injured, so it was up to us to win those one-on-ones. My receivers did, especially in the first half, and that's my job to hit him on those and those wide open touchdowns. That’s 100% on me, and I take full accountability as far as that goes. But, I know I have to keep taking extra reps with those guys and continue to gel with them. So you know, when those moments come, you don't miss.”
on why they found more rhythm in the second half
“I would say just calming down, relaxing, and understanding that it’s taking one play at a time. Looking at the scoreboard, understanding what the situation was, and just taking one snap at a time. Don't think ahead or anything like that.”
on the importance of handling business against a team on the road
“It's super important. We hopped on it all week in practice. Understanding that playing on the road is difficult, and the history that we have playing here, so understanding that coming into the game and just being able to execute when given the opportunity.”
on playing on grass at the Rose Bowl
“It was definitely different. I don't think I’ve played on grass since the Penn State game last year. So definitely a different surface, but that didn't change my feel for the game as far as running the ball, finding cut lanes, things like that. So, it wasn't too much of a difference, but it was fun, definitely.”
Washington 48, UCLA 14
Los Angeles, Calif. (Rose Bowl Stadium)
November 22, 2025
UCLA interim head coach Tim Skipper
on Nico Iamaleava’s health
“Not completely sure. He was talking with me when we went out there. When he came out, he went to the tent then came into the locker room. We’ll get updates as we go, but that’s all that I really know, that he was out. We’ll see what we get when we get into more stuff throughout the week.”
on the team’s first half performance
“We just couldn’t stop the bleeding. They just kept making plays, and making plays. Turnovers are always going to kill you. We got to find a way to fix that as we get into next week.”
on the fans who stayed for the duration of the game
“Always much love for the fans that stayed throughout all four quarters. Even on our Bruin Walk there were a lot of people, supporting us and things. That felt good. The guys kept playing until the end. We always appreciate the people behind us. We’ll just keep on fighting. Tonight, the score wasn’t our way, but we kept fighting. We’ll need to do that next week also.”
on the team’s defensive performance
“We were definitely fighting out there. We knew we had to contain the quarterback. I thought we did a pretty good job of that in the beginning of the game. As it kept going, and kept wearing down on us, there was a little bit of bleeding out there, but the guys kept playing. I liked our plan. I liked the way we attacked them. I think we made them think a little bit out there. We were just out on the field to much, and it kept wearing on us. Then the score got out of hand.”
on the fake field goal attempt
“It was probably too complicated to be honest with you. They were in a block look and then they stemmed out of it. The communication, on our end, got all jacked up when they stemmed out of it. I’ll take the heat on it. It was probably a little bit too complicated. It was too much communication. We miscommunicated, and that’s what happened.”
on what was said to Luke Duncan following his touchdown pass to Mikey Matthews
“He handled himself well. He went out there and threw the rock. We were just telling him ‘Let’s get our next chance to get out there’. Hopefully we can get a stop and let’s go do it again. It was all positive. Just trying to keep on going.”
on what the Rose Bowl Stadium means to UCLA Football
“It’s obviously our home stadium right now, and it’s a big time venue. The main thing is just the aura of being in here, and the field, and all that good stuff. It’s a blessing to be able to play out here. We were hoping to get a win in this game, but we send the seniors out next week and that’s going to have to be our final thinking process. We’ll go do what we have to do. Always love playing in here. No doubt about it.”
UCLA redshirt senior offensive lineman Garrett DiGiorgio
on the team’s struggles throughout the game
“I think we're just focusing on the next possible thing that we could. Things like that happen in football and all we can do is put our best foot forward and go to the next rep and not let those things happen. Just trying to drive the ball down better and not turn that over.”
on walking off the Rose Bowl for the final time
“It’s unreal, I mean win or lose. These last five years have been amazing. I was super grateful to be at this university and to be able to play in the historic Rose Bowl. It was just a very high emotional game afterwards too because I have a lot of family here. It’s good having people out and supporting you for the last game.”
on Nico Iamaleava’s injury during the game
“It’s unfortunate to see him go down again. I hope nothing but the best for his health and he recovers fast. It’s honestly a part of the sport we play and we’re forced to face those injuries. All we can do is try and get back as fast as possible and I know that’s what Nico is going to do to prioritize his health and get back to the sport he loves.”
on the motivation given from the late touchdown from Luke Duncan
“I feel like we're a gritty team and we're not going to give up even when the odds are stacked against us. We’re going to play all four quarters, no matter what happens. I think that those momentum swings just made us want to play a little bit harder.
on the leadership Nico Iamaleava provided for Luke Duncan
“ Honestly, I would just say that Nico’s been there for Luke. Obviously, stepping in at Ohio State is not an easy task for the second-string quarterback. I think he was just in his corner supporting him as he could and just trying to lift him up. I’m not sure throughout the week what he was doing for Luke because I'm not in that room, but I know Nico was super supportive, and he only wanted him to perform at the best he could
UCLA redshirt sophomore defensive back Cole Martin
on if Luke Duncan’s touchdown pass gave them the motivation to continue fighting
“It was huge. Anytime you can create some momentum is good. We played our butts off the entire game, and that play sparked us for sure.”
on how the locker room environment has felt
“The biggest thing for us is that standard is standard. Going out every day, putting our heads down and going to work. As Garrett [DiGiorgio] said, the expectation is to lay down and give up, but that’s not the type of team we are. We’re a team that’s going to keep on fighting, no matter what’s happening.”
on what the Rose Bowl means to him
“The Rose Bowl is everything to me. Born and raised in Pasadena, California, the Rose Bowl means a lot to me. It makes me emotional thinking about it. It’s everything to me for sure.”
Washington head coach Jedd Fisch
opening statement
“Okay, good win. Good win by the team. Jeff told me it’s the second time in 30 years that Washington was able to win here [at the Rose Bowl]. And I know we were 1-9 the last 10 times. So, excited the way our guys played. The guys competed from the very beginning. I thought our defense played outstanding. They were aggressive. They were physical. They went after the ball. Really proud of those guys, the way they played. Love how they took the ball away. You know, when you count fourth downs and turnovers, I think it was five, six times we took it away. Just a great job there. Scored on defense, with Alex [McLaughlin], which was awesome. And then we missed a few things early that we had great opportunities at, to really put the score ahead of them. We had a few touchdowns early on in the game, but we got to 20-0 with Alex’s play. I think in the second half, the offense clicked pretty well, and proud of our guys. I know it’s a tough situation being an interim coach, and I think that those guys have competed all season long and continue to compete, so hats off to coach Skipper there. That is a big challenge to get teams ready every week. And I thought that our coaching staff did a great job getting our guys ready to go this week. Proud of our team being 3-2 on the road in the Big Ten. As we saw today, it’s not easy to win on the road, I think we might have been the only one that did it today. So proud of our guys there, proud of the fact that we got our eight win this season so far. And obviously looking forward to the game on Saturday [against Oregon]. I was told that it would be at 12:30, and I would hope that there is not a seat in the house.”
on Jonah Coleman’s availability
“Our goal was to play 10 plays with him. 10 to 12, I think that’s what we got to. I wanted to get him a touchdown if we were close. Talked to Adam about that ahead of time, he said if we can get Jonah another touchdown, 16 puts him in the top 10 in UW history. I wanted to make sure we got that if we had that opportunity, and felt like 10 to 12 was probably good, maybe 15, so we can get him probably full go next Saturday or close to it.”
on the importance of this win
“I think winning on the road is really hard, and when you can do it, it’s good. And I thought that today, I always think that when we go out on the road, that we’re really prepared, that we’re going to play really well. Sometimes it doesn’t always work out that way. But, you know, other times you just play really well and it falls in your favor, and I’m glad that it did today.”
on Demond Williams Jr.’s second half response
“I just said, you know, we must be at higher altitude than I thought because we just missed by a yard a couple times, right? We just missed by a yard to Audric [Harris] twice, and those could have been big time plays. And then, you know, on a third and five, and then one on the rollout. So we just told him, just take a deep breath, you’re excited. You know, it’s exciting when you see a guy that you think, you know, you’re open. I thought he played really, really well in that second half. I think his completion percentage was really clean in the second half.”
Washington safety Alex McLaughlin
on what Washington saw on UCLA’s fake field goal attempt
“I was just the edge, and I saw him pitching, and I saw a ball on the ground and picked it up, got great blocks from my teammates…We’ve seen their special teams, they fake a lot of punts, so we were definitely expecting it and Coach Petrilli [Chris Petrilli] and Coach Kaufusi [Jason Kaufusi] drew up a great game plan.”
on at what point did he know he was going to score
“I had never run that far before, so I didn’t really know I was gone. I was just making sure that I got in the endzone.”
on the messaging that has been helping the defense
“Just harping on playing our best football in November. We’ve been trying to get better each week, and we need to create turnovers to get the ball back to our offense because we know what Demond can do with the ball in his hand, so we got to keep getting the ball back.”
on what the defense has been doing in recent games that they weren’t doing early in the season
“I would say, just harping on taking the ball away a lot more, and we’re playing more gap-sound, a lot of people just understand that if we do our job, including myself, we just do our job, the plays will come to you, we’ll make the big plays and get the ball back to the offense.”
Washington quarterback Demond Williams Jr.
on today’s game plan
“We were definitely trying to take shots. We knew that they were going to play man and we especially wanted to test our young guys out. They knew that [WR] Denzel [Boston] was injured and Braden was injured, so it was up to us to win those one-on-ones. My receivers did, especially in the first half, and that's my job to hit him on those and those wide open touchdowns. That’s 100% on me, and I take full accountability as far as that goes. But, I know I have to keep taking extra reps with those guys and continue to gel with them. So you know, when those moments come, you don't miss.”
on why they found more rhythm in the second half
“I would say just calming down, relaxing, and understanding that it’s taking one play at a time. Looking at the scoreboard, understanding what the situation was, and just taking one snap at a time. Don't think ahead or anything like that.”
on the importance of handling business against a team on the road
“It's super important. We hopped on it all week in practice. Understanding that playing on the road is difficult, and the history that we have playing here, so understanding that coming into the game and just being able to execute when given the opportunity.”
on playing on grass at the Rose Bowl
“It was definitely different. I don't think I’ve played on grass since the Penn State game last year. So definitely a different surface, but that didn't change my feel for the game as far as running the ball, finding cut lanes, things like that. So, it wasn't too much of a difference, but it was fun, definitely.”