UCLA Football Has Become A National Embarrassment

How is it even possible for the UCLA Bruins football program to be this bad?

The UCLA campus is located in arguably the nicest part of Los Angeles, especially now that political incompetence allowed Pacific Palisades to be destroyed in a fire earlier in 2025. The Bruins play their home games in the literal Rose Bowl, the most iconic college football stadium in the country in a spectacular setting. Their uniforms are classic and timeless. 

UCLA's now in the Big Ten, providing more revenue, recruiting opportunities, and marquee national television matchups. UCLA has an historic rivalry game with the USC Trojans. There's a long list of former players to reach and excel in the NFL. 

The Bruins even brought in top quarterback transfer Nico Iamaleava from the Tennessee Volunteers to revamp the team's offense heading into a difficult 2025 schedule. And yet, after Friday night's disastrous, embarrassing, blowout loss at home to the New Mexico Lobos, there's a real chance that UCLA doesn't win a single game this season. Seriously.

PASADENA, Calif. - UCLA Bruins quarterback Nico Iamaleava scrambles during the college football game between the Utah Utes and the UCLA Bruins on August 30, 2025, at the Rose Bowl. (Photo by Jevone Moore/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

UCLA Program Is In Extremely Bad Shape And It Isn't Getting Better

UCLA entered Friday as 15.5-point favorites over New Mexico. The Bruins lost 35-10, and it wasn't even that close.

New Mexico simply dominated, from start to finish. It was 14-3 at halftime. The Lobos dominated time of possession, grinding the overmatched UCLA defense into dust to the tune of 298 rushing yards on 46 attempts for a 6.5 per carry average. Damon Bankston had 15 carries for 154 yards and two touchdowns, D.J. McKinney had 21 carries for 89 yards and a touchdown. And Lobos quarterback Jack Layne completed 12 of 16 passes for 152 yards and two TD's. 

How bad was the Bruins' defense? They didn't have a single sack, pass deflection or tackle for loss. Against New Mexico. At home. The score would have been even more lopsided had the Lobos not turned the ball over twice inside the UCLA 10-yard-line. 

It was a demolition. By a 15.5 point underdog New Mexico team. It's so bad the Big Sky Conference trolled them on social media.

Then there's the upcoming schedule. Take a look and try to find the next win for the Bruins program:

• Sep 27 (Sat): at Northwestern — Evanston, IL
• Oct 4 (Sat): vs Penn State — Rose Bowl, Pasadena, CA
• Oct 11 (Sat): at Michigan State — East Lansing, MI
• Oct 18 (Sat): vs Maryland — Rose Bowl, Pasadena, CA
• Oct 25 (Sat): at Indiana — Bloomington, IN
• Nov 8 (Sat): vs Nebraska — Rose Bowl, Pasadena, CA
• Nov 15 (Sat): at Ohio State — Columbus, OH
• Nov 22 (Sat): vs Washington — Rose Bowl, Pasadena, CA
• Nov 29 (Sat): at USC — LA Memorial Coliseum, Los Angeles, CA

If you're being optimistic, the home game against Maryland seems the most likely choice. But there's a very real possibility UCLA does not win a game. Again, how could this happen?

The answer is simple, and complicated: the UCLA administration does not care much about football, its athletic department is a mess, aiming low when replacing Chip Kelly, way, way too low, and has almost certainly invested too much of its limited NIL budget in one player.

DeShaun Foster was a running backs coach who didn't even have coordinator experience. Yet he was hired to run a Big Ten program, primarily because he was a former UCLA player. The AD, Martin Jarmond, doesn't seem to take football seriously, and he's getting unserious results. 

When UCLA is good, the Rose Bowl is a fantastic atmosphere. But when there's no effort to try, fans don't come. And it's hard to get players to sign up to play in front of an empty stadium.

 There's no doubt that UCLA could be a sleeping giant. But holy cow are the Bruins sleeping.