Nico Iamaleava went 16-of-24 passing for 180 yards and three touchdowns as UCLA followed a major upset last week with a 38-13 victory to spoil Michigan State’s homecoming Saturday at East Lansing, Mich.
Jalen Berger ran for 83 yards and a touchdown on 13 carries and caught two touchdown passes to help UCLA (2-4, 2-1 Big Ten) follow up its upset home win over then-No. 7 Penn State with another strong performance.
UCLA had 418 yards of total offense, with 238 of it rushing, to 253 yards of total offense for Michigan State.
Quarterback Aidan Chiles was 8-of-17 passing for 66 yards and ran for 9 yards and a touchdown for Michigan State (3-3, 0-3) before he was knocked from the game on the opening drive of the third quarter after absorbing a hit from UCLA’s Keanu Williams.
The Spartans have followed a three-game winning streak to start the season with three consecutive defeats in conference play. It was Michigan State’s first home loss of the season.
Trailing 7-0 in the first half, UCLA scored 38 unanswered points to take a 38-7 lead in the third quarter.
Berger gave the Bruins a 10-7 lead with 1:39 left in the first quarter on a 16-yard touchdown run and increased the advantage to 17-7 with 10:17 remaining until halftime on a 3-yard TD pass from Iamaleava.
With 4:09 to go in the second quarter, Iamaleva hit Titus Mokiao-Atimalala for a 12-yard touchdown pass for a 24-7 UCLA advantage.
After stopping Michigan State on downs at the UCLA 38-yard line, the Bruins drove the field in 11 plays and took a 31-7 lead with 3:55 left in the third quarter on a 1-yard touchdown run by Jaivian Thomas.
Following another turnover on downs by Michigan State — this time at its own 33-yard line — UCLA took advantage of the field position and took a 38-7 lead on a 13-yard touchdown pass from Iamaleva to Berger.
Michigan State finally broke UCLA’s run, making it a 38-13 game with 13:09 remaining in the game on a 5-yard touchdown run from backup quarterback Alessio Milivojevic to Nick Marsh. The extra point was missed.
Michigan State got off to a good start, taking a 7-0 lead on a 2-yard rushing touchdown by Chiles.
After taking over for Chiles, Milivojevic completed 8 of 18 passes for 100 yards.
–Field Level Media
