The UCLA Bruins have gotten off to a bad start to begin the 2025 season. The Bruins, who haven’t won a game so far this year, dropped another one, this time to New Mexico 35-10 Friday night in front of a sparse crowd Friday night at the Rose Bowl.
The loss by the Bruins didn’t go unnoticed. The Pac-12 trolled the team on X with a GIF of Jerry Seinfeld eating popcorn and shaking his head.
The Bruins, along with several other Pac-12 teams, including rivals USC and Oregon, all left for the Big Ten last year. Clearly, there are still some hard feelings from the conference about how things went down.
UCLA paid New Mexico for that home game, which is even more embarrassing considering that they lost. They were a 15.5 point favorite over the Lobos, who hadn’t beaten a power 4 team since 2008 when they defeated the Arizona Wildcats.
The Bruins made headlines earlier this year when former Tennessee quarterback Nico Iamaleava hit the transfer portal and headed to Los Angeles after reports of numerous schools turning down his services.
Iamaleava didn’t have a bad night; he threw a touchdown to cut the lead to 14-7, but he also threw an interception.
Iamaleava has become the poster boy for players hitting the transfer portal over NIL money, a charge he and his family deny, but it’s becoming obvious that he made a mistake.
While he was at Tennessee, he led his team to the College Football Playoff last season and was expected to compete not only for another spot in the playoffs but for an SEC title.
But UCLA’s talent is not even close to what the Vols have, as Iamaleava is finding out. Sometimes the grass is not greener on the other side.