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Postgame Quotes – UNLV 30, UCLA 23
POSTGAME QUOTES
UNLV 30, UCLA 23
Allegiant Stadium (Las Vegas, Nev.)
Sept. 6, 2025
UCLA Head Coach DeShaun Foster
opening statement
“(It was) a tale of two halves. First half, we didn’t really show up the way that we wanted to. Second half, we were able to make some plays but were still doing some things we shouldn’t have done, stopping drives and just getting in our own way. But it’s something we can fix. We got a short week this week, so we got to get in there and get ready to go. We’re going to get it fixed.”
on the team’s penalties
“Just being undisciplined. You can get bated into a situation. There’s all types of stuff that can happen out there. You’ve got to maintain your composure out there. It’s football. There’s going to be some high moments when your energy is—you’re flying off the handle, but you’ve still got to maintain composure. We just didn’t do that in certain situations.”
on how he would characterize his level of frustration
“I’m just frustrated because when you know you can execute better than we were and put together two halves like I wish we would have done, then this outcome would have been different. This situation we were in in the first half, we didn’t really help ourselves out. And came out in the second half and finally started to execute, but it still wasn’t enough. Just didn’t make enough plays. (UNLV) played a good game.”
on how he reinforced discipline this week
“Just keep pounding it into them. I think they did a good job in the first week. We had three penalties. Guys got to own it. You got to see what you did out there and ‘did you put your best foot forward? Are you thinking we over me?’”
on falling into an early deficit in the first two weeks
“I’ve been trying to do stuff in practice to help us start fast. Like we do a lot of things at the beginning of practice. It’s just something that-- you’ve got to figure it out.”
on the offensive line change (DiGiorgio to LT, Unije to RT) and if it was related to injury or performance
“A little bit of both. I think Courtland’s (Ford) leg wasn’t 100 percent. So, we were able to move Garrett (DiGiorgio) to the left side and Reuben (Unije) to the right.”
on how he would characterize the second half
“Well, when I was saying it was close last week, it was (in reference to) a dropped pass by Mikey (Matthews), an overthrow pass like that. That’s stuff that’s close because we can catch it and it can keep drives going. It’s not scoring— what our score was. That was getting played like I said ‘the game was close.’ But it’s more of the execution. We were close in our execution. And you saw in the second half that we were able to execute. We weren’t able to continue to execute the way we wanted to, but there was some flashes in there to see that when this offense is really hitting on all cylinders, we can move the ball. It’s going to be effective, slowly but surely. I have a lot of new people. I’m not somebody that’s going to come up here and give you guys excuses, but I have a lot of new people that are still finding ways to come together and really rely on each other. We’re going to continue to build. It’s a long season.”
on Nico Iamaleava’s ability to rally the team in the second half
“He’s a gamer. He’s somebody that wants to make big plays. He’s asking for the ball. Asking to be put in certain situations. You love when you have a quarterback that wants to put it on his shoulders and carry the team to victory. We’re just coming up short.”
on the team’s attitude in the locker room
“The tension is there. I didn’t have to go in there and corral the guys and say, ‘stop doing this.’ They’re standing there looking right at my face saying, ‘yes’ or ‘no, sir’, and understanding what’s going on. It’s a two-half sport. You’ve got to be able to show up for four quarters. We did it for 1 and 3/4 (quarters).”
Redshirt sophomore quarterback Nico Iamaleava
on the team’s slow start in the first two games
“I think it just starts with me, man. I’ve got to be better coming out. I started out a little slow on the first drive coming out. Overall, we got to clean up a lot of stuff.”
on not the offense stalling due to penalties
“Yeah, man, we’ve got to be more disciplined. There was too many penalties out there that cost us points. Man, it was just crucial penalties that we felt that we could have finished off with seven on a lot of those drives. We didn’t, man. We got to go back to the drawing board and execute what the coaches got for us.”
on what he saw on from the defense on his intercepted pass on the final drive
“I saw the (Mike linebacker) come across the middle, lost track of the Mike linebacker and made a bad decision of throwing over the middle. The guy tipped the ball. Yeah, man, I’ve got to be better.”
on if the offensive line change helped the team
“Good, man. We practice with a lot of different O linemen. It’s good to have more depth in there. Like I said, overall, as a group we’ve got to be better.”
on how he would characterize the up-and-down second half
“Yeah, man. I think the whole game you’ve got to be even keel. Can’t get too high or too low. No matter how the game is going, we’ve got to stay even keel and be in the right mental space.”
on how difficult it is opening his UCLA career 0-2
“It’s tough, man. I hate losing, man. It’s a tough position to be in. But it tells us how much harder we’ve got to work.”
on how the team gets back on track
“The discipline has got to be there, man. They came out hungrier than us. We let the school— or how the game was going affect our emotions. I think that caused us some penalties and we’ve got to be better.”
Redshirt senior defensive tackle Gary Smith III
on the defense’s improvement in the second half
“We just made some adjustments and kept playing hard. We ended up turning it around.”
on what adjustments the defense made in the second half
“Basically just focusing on your keys. We got a little overwhelmed, but you know, we just came out and played ball.”
on the team falling behind big early
“We just got to start better. It’s pretty simple. We just got to start better. Play our game and do what we know we can do.”
on UNLV’s quarterback and running back
“They’re good players. It’s a good team that we played.”
on the team’s level of frustration
“I just know that we want to start better. We came out in the second half and kept swinging. I’m just happy we didn’t give up. That’s something to build off of. We just got to go back and make adjustments off the film.”
on how he would describe the team’s urgency after starting 0-2
“I would say that we’re very urgent. Just come in, go to work, and try to get better as a team.”
UNLV 30, UCLA 23
Allegiant Stadium (Las Vegas, Nev.)
Sept. 6, 2025
UCLA Head Coach DeShaun Foster
opening statement
“(It was) a tale of two halves. First half, we didn’t really show up the way that we wanted to. Second half, we were able to make some plays but were still doing some things we shouldn’t have done, stopping drives and just getting in our own way. But it’s something we can fix. We got a short week this week, so we got to get in there and get ready to go. We’re going to get it fixed.”
on the team’s penalties
“Just being undisciplined. You can get bated into a situation. There’s all types of stuff that can happen out there. You’ve got to maintain your composure out there. It’s football. There’s going to be some high moments when your energy is—you’re flying off the handle, but you’ve still got to maintain composure. We just didn’t do that in certain situations.”
on how he would characterize his level of frustration
“I’m just frustrated because when you know you can execute better than we were and put together two halves like I wish we would have done, then this outcome would have been different. This situation we were in in the first half, we didn’t really help ourselves out. And came out in the second half and finally started to execute, but it still wasn’t enough. Just didn’t make enough plays. (UNLV) played a good game.”
on how he reinforced discipline this week
“Just keep pounding it into them. I think they did a good job in the first week. We had three penalties. Guys got to own it. You got to see what you did out there and ‘did you put your best foot forward? Are you thinking we over me?’”
on falling into an early deficit in the first two weeks
“I’ve been trying to do stuff in practice to help us start fast. Like we do a lot of things at the beginning of practice. It’s just something that-- you’ve got to figure it out.”
on the offensive line change (DiGiorgio to LT, Unije to RT) and if it was related to injury or performance
“A little bit of both. I think Courtland’s (Ford) leg wasn’t 100 percent. So, we were able to move Garrett (DiGiorgio) to the left side and Reuben (Unije) to the right.”
on how he would characterize the second half
“Well, when I was saying it was close last week, it was (in reference to) a dropped pass by Mikey (Matthews), an overthrow pass like that. That’s stuff that’s close because we can catch it and it can keep drives going. It’s not scoring— what our score was. That was getting played like I said ‘the game was close.’ But it’s more of the execution. We were close in our execution. And you saw in the second half that we were able to execute. We weren’t able to continue to execute the way we wanted to, but there was some flashes in there to see that when this offense is really hitting on all cylinders, we can move the ball. It’s going to be effective, slowly but surely. I have a lot of new people. I’m not somebody that’s going to come up here and give you guys excuses, but I have a lot of new people that are still finding ways to come together and really rely on each other. We’re going to continue to build. It’s a long season.”
on Nico Iamaleava’s ability to rally the team in the second half
“He’s a gamer. He’s somebody that wants to make big plays. He’s asking for the ball. Asking to be put in certain situations. You love when you have a quarterback that wants to put it on his shoulders and carry the team to victory. We’re just coming up short.”
on the team’s attitude in the locker room
“The tension is there. I didn’t have to go in there and corral the guys and say, ‘stop doing this.’ They’re standing there looking right at my face saying, ‘yes’ or ‘no, sir’, and understanding what’s going on. It’s a two-half sport. You’ve got to be able to show up for four quarters. We did it for 1 and 3/4 (quarters).”
Redshirt sophomore quarterback Nico Iamaleava
on the team’s slow start in the first two games
“I think it just starts with me, man. I’ve got to be better coming out. I started out a little slow on the first drive coming out. Overall, we got to clean up a lot of stuff.”
on not the offense stalling due to penalties
“Yeah, man, we’ve got to be more disciplined. There was too many penalties out there that cost us points. Man, it was just crucial penalties that we felt that we could have finished off with seven on a lot of those drives. We didn’t, man. We got to go back to the drawing board and execute what the coaches got for us.”
on what he saw on from the defense on his intercepted pass on the final drive
“I saw the (Mike linebacker) come across the middle, lost track of the Mike linebacker and made a bad decision of throwing over the middle. The guy tipped the ball. Yeah, man, I’ve got to be better.”
on if the offensive line change helped the team
“Good, man. We practice with a lot of different O linemen. It’s good to have more depth in there. Like I said, overall, as a group we’ve got to be better.”
on how he would characterize the up-and-down second half
“Yeah, man. I think the whole game you’ve got to be even keel. Can’t get too high or too low. No matter how the game is going, we’ve got to stay even keel and be in the right mental space.”
on how difficult it is opening his UCLA career 0-2
“It’s tough, man. I hate losing, man. It’s a tough position to be in. But it tells us how much harder we’ve got to work.”
on how the team gets back on track
“The discipline has got to be there, man. They came out hungrier than us. We let the school— or how the game was going affect our emotions. I think that caused us some penalties and we’ve got to be better.”
Redshirt senior defensive tackle Gary Smith III
on the defense’s improvement in the second half
“We just made some adjustments and kept playing hard. We ended up turning it around.”
on what adjustments the defense made in the second half
“Basically just focusing on your keys. We got a little overwhelmed, but you know, we just came out and played ball.”
on the team falling behind big early
“We just got to start better. It’s pretty simple. We just got to start better. Play our game and do what we know we can do.”
on UNLV’s quarterback and running back
“They’re good players. It’s a good team that we played.”
on the team’s level of frustration
“I just know that we want to start better. We came out in the second half and kept swinging. I’m just happy we didn’t give up. That’s something to build off of. We just got to go back and make adjustments off the film.”
on how he would describe the team’s urgency after starting 0-2
“I would say that we’re very urgent. Just come in, go to work, and try to get better as a team.”