November night game in the Shoe. Buckeyes under the lights. One more chance to sharpen the edges before everything gets brutally real.

Ohio State comes into this one 9–0, fresh off a clinical 34–10 win at Purdue that looked exactly like a No. 1 team should look on the road: efficient, smothering on defense, and in total control of the tempo with over 40 minutes of possession. UCLA arrives at 3–6, 3–3 in Big Ten play, a program in transition that’s shown flashes of life under interim head coach Tim Skipper but is still searching for consistency after a brutal start and a coaching change.

On paper, this is another game Ohio State should handle comfortably. But with The Game looming and the Big Ten title race tightening, Ryan Day has been crystal clear: anything you think you’ve done up to this point means nothing if you don’t keep stacking performances. Saturday night is about staying locked in, getting healthier and more stable up front, and putting another loud data point in front of the playoff committee.

And, for the second straight week, it’s also about facing a mobile quarterback who can punish mistakes — which makes this matchup more useful than just “another big spread at home.”

UCLA has been on a roller coaster since joining the Big Ten. An 0–4 start with losses to UNLV and New Mexico cost DeShaun Foster his job just 15 games into his tenure. Under Skipper, the Bruins ripped off three straight wins in conference — highlighted by a 42–37 upset at Penn State that helped trigger the James Franklin firing — but have since crashed back to earth with a 56–6 loss at Indiana and a 28–21 home loss to Nebraska.

The identity is pretty clear: Nico Iamaleava is the offense. He’s thrown for 1,659 yards and 12 touchdowns while also leading the team in rushing with 474 yards on the ground. UCLA’s defense, meanwhile, is split down the middle — decent in coverage, leaky against the run. They give up nearly 200 rushing yards per game and 5.0 yards per carry, one of the worst marks in the country.

This is a team that will compete and scrap, but also one that has to play almost perfectly to hang with a roster like Ohio State’s in prime time.

Know The Opponent:

Head Coach: Tim Skipper (interim)
2025 Record: 3–6 (3–3 Big Ten)
Conference: Big Ten
Location: Los Angeles, CA

Ohio State Preview

This Ohio State team looks more and more like a January outfit every week.

Offensively, everything starts with Julian Sayin and Jeremiah Smith, and that’s not changing. Sayin leads the country in completion percentage (just over 80%) and is flirting with 2,500 passing yards already, with 25 total touchdown passes for the season. He’s been deadly efficient — 9.9 yards per attempt — and has shown NFL-level poise against every look thrown at him. Smith is his perfect counterpart: 65 catches, 862 yards, and 10 touchdowns, already tied with Santonio Holmes on the career list for TD grabs. Defenses know what’s coming and still haven’t found a way to stop it.

The run game remains the “work in progress” portion of the offense, but the Purdue game felt like another step forward. The Buckeyes ran it 43 times for 170 yards and three scores, and the backs did a lot of the heavy lifting after contact. Bo Jackson (613 rushing yards on the year) and Isaiah West are running behind their pads, James Peoples is giving quality reps, and CJ Donaldson is turning short yardage into automatic points with nine rushing touchdowns.

Up front, the biggest storyline this week is at right guard. Josh Padilla is working back from injury after missing the Purdue game, and Ohio State will likely keep a rotation with Tegra Tshabola and Ethan Onianwa. It’s not always pretty, but the group has allowed only five sacks all season while still figuring out its best five. The next two weeks are about locking that combination in before Michigan.

Defensively, it’s the same song with a new verse: Matt Patricia’s group is suffocating. Ohio State held Purdue to just 186 total yards and 19 minutes of possession. For the season, Arvell Reese (55 tackles, 10 TFL, 6.5 sacks) has been the heartbeat of a front seven that hits like a sledgehammer but moves like a track team. Caleb Downs and Davison Igbinosun continue to erase big plays on the back end, and the Buckeyes have smothered every “dual-threat QB” they’ve seen so far, holding guys like Demond Williams Jr. and Parker Navarro to season-low rushing numbers.

The goals this week are pretty simple:

• Keep the run game trending up.

• Tighten communication and consistency on the interior offensive line.

• Keep Nico bottled up and get out healthy with win number 10.

UCLA Preview

If UCLA is going to make this uncomfortable, it will be because Nico Iamaleava plays out of his mind.

Buckeye fans know the name — he was Tennessee’s quarterback in last year’s 42–17 playoff win in the Shoe. This year, in blue and gold, he’s essentially the Bruins’ entire operation. Iamaleava is completing almost 64% of his passes for 1,659 yards and 12 touchdowns, but the bigger problem is his legs: strip away the sacks, and he’s at 600+ yards rushing with 4 rushing touchdowns at 8+ yards per carry. When the pocket breaks down, he can turn third-and-forever into a first down in a heartbeat.

The supporting cast is scrappy but not terrifying. Kwazi Gilmer leads the team with 395 receiving yards and 2 scores, while Titus Mokiao-Atimalala and Rico Flores Jr. are solid secondary targets. In the backfield, Jaivian Thomas and Jalen Berger have rotated, but neither has separated the way the Bruins hoped; both sit in the 260–280 yard range on the year with a combined 3 rushing scores.

Defensively, the story is more complicated. The front six has struggled mightily against the run, giving up 191 rushing yards per game and 5.0 per carry. Linebacker JonJon Vaughns has been the bright spot with 88 tackles and a fumble recovery, while Gary Smith III and Keanu Williams try to anchor the middle. In the secondary, Rodrick Pleasant has been their best cover guy, holding opponents to under 50% completions and just 4 yards per target, and safety Key Lawrence gives them a physical presence inside the box. Freshman DB Scooter Jackson leads the team with two interceptions.

Skipper has UCLA playing hard, but they’re undermanned in the trenches and overly reliant on one player to create magic. That’s a tough combination in November in Columbus.

Buckeye Spotlight

Right Guard. We’ll cheat and put the “spotlight” on a position group instead of one player this week, because that’s where November is going to be won or lost.

The right guard spot has been a revolving door — Josh Padilla when healthy, Tegra Tshabola soaking up snaps, Ethan Onianwa rotating in. The group has held up well enough in pass protection (again, only five sacks allowed on the season), but the run fits, double teams, and communication inside are still a notch below where a title team wants to be.

The Purdue game offered promising signs: 170 rushing yards, 4.6 yards per carry if you remove sacks, and a lot of those yards coming after contact thanks to cleaner movement at the line of scrimmage. Bo Jackson’s patience and violence, West’s burst, and Donaldson’s short-yardage hammer all look the part. Now they need that interior three to play in unison for four quarters.

UCLA’s run defense is the right kind of test: bad enough statistically that Ohio State should impose its will, but coached well enough that if you’re sloppy with your assignments, they can get you behind the sticks. If the Buckeyes are ripping off five, six, and seven-yard chunks on early downs, that’s the sign this group is finally turning the corner heading into Rutgers and then the trip to Ann Arbor.

Bruin Spotlight

Nico Iamaleava. Sometimes it really is as simple as one player. Iamaleava is UCLA’s best passer, best runner, and biggest playmaker. He’s already burned Big Ten defenses with designed QB runs, read options, and scrambles that turn broken plays into explosives. His 474 official rushing yards lead the team, but the true threat is how he stresses your structure: if your edge players get too far upfield, he slips underneath; if your spy is late, he’s already at the sticks.

Ohio State has passed every mobile-QB test so far, but this one still matters. Not because UCLA is a title contender, but because this is another live rep at containing an elusive, off-script quarterback — the exact type they’ll see in Bryce Underwood at the end of the month. If the Buckeyes can keep Nico bottled up, force him into 3rd-and-long throws instead of let-him-bail-you-out runs, that film will be very valuable come Thanksgiving weekend.

Water Cooler Stat of the Game

40:56, That was Ohio State’s time of possession at Purdue — over 40 minutes with the football. The Buckeyes ran 76 plays to Purdue’s 44 and turned the game into a slow suffocation. Pair that kind of ball control with the nation’s most efficient passing game and an elite defense, and there just aren’t many paths for opponents to pull an upset.

If Ohio State dominates possession again — especially with long, balanced scoring drives — this one will be over by the middle of the third quarter.

Prediction

On paper, this looks a lot like the last few weeks: an overmatched opponent with a few dangerous pieces running into a Buckeye team that’s starting to feel inevitable.

Expect UCLA to come out swinging. Skipper knows they can’t just line up and trade body blows with Ohio State, so look for early wrinkles: quarterback draws on passing downs, misdirection runs, RPOs that put the linebackers in conflict. Iamaleava will probably hit a couple of early plays with his legs and maybe one shot downfield to Gilmer or Mokiao-Atimalala, especially while Ohio State dials in their rush lanes.

But once Patricia’s defense settles, the Silver Bullets should do what they’ve done all year: squeeze the life out of drives. Reese and Sonny Styles are tailor-made to spy and chase Nico, and the defensive line has been elite at collapsing the pocket without losing contain. Force UCLA into 3rd-and-long, and the Bruins don’t have the protection or the perimeter weapons to hang.

Offensively, this feels like a night where Day could do whatever he wants. UCLA’s run defense is soft enough that Jackson, West, Peoples and Donaldson should be able to churn out first downs and eat clock. At the same time, you know Sayin and Smith are going to get their chances — especially if Ohio State wants to keep their Heisman resumes humming in front of a national audience. Expect an early script heavy on rhythm throws and quick-game to neutralize any pressure, then some vertical shots once the Bruins start creeping safeties down to help against the run.

The other big subplot: stability at right guard. If the Buckeyes are blowing open lanes on inside zone and duo, and you don’t hear Padilla’s or Tshabola’s names much at all, that’s a very good sign heading into the final stretch.

In the end, this should look a lot like the Purdue game: one or two early moments of resistance, followed by Ohio State methodically tilting the field, tightening the screws, and cruising into the fourth quarter with backups getting reps under the lights.

Another statement win, another night of Sayin-to-Smith fireworks, and one more data point that the road to the Big Ten and the playoff still runs through Columbus.

Ohio State 45 – UCLA 7

Photo Credit: Jason Mowry/Getty Images