PASADENA — The UCLA football team took the field with a depleted offense on Friday night against Iowa.
Tight end Moliki Matavao and receivers Rico Flores and J. Michael Sturdivant were dressed in street clothing during the game. Flores has missed multiple games due to an undisclosed injury, but it was Matavao and Sturdivant’s first absence.
UCLA lost another piece of its offense when lineman Nicki Prongos was helped off the field due to injury with 6:47 remaining in the first quarter. Jaylan Jeffers came in to take his place at left guard but received a false start penalty on his first play in the game.
Running back T.J. Harden, who is second on the team in terms of receiving yards, was in uniform but appeared to have a limited role in the first quarter but gained carries as the game went on. He finished the first half with 11 carries for 82 yards.
Keegan Jones and Jalen Berger received three and six handoffs, respectively as UCLA went into halftime with a 17-10 advantage.
Matavao led UCLA in receiving yards heading into the game with 303 yards and an average of 37.88 per game. Sturdivant had 188 receiving yards and a touchdown and averaged 23.5 yards per game.
Something new, something blue
The Rose Bowl Stadium marquee was illuminated powder blue on Friday night as the football team donned throwback jerseys based on the 1967 team that went 7-2-1 and was led by Heisman-Trophy-winning quarterback Gary Beban.
The blue jerseys featured white lettering and were matched with all-black cleats. Spieker field was decorated with a powder blue UCLA logo at the 50-yard line and four white diamonds in each of the end zones.
“The kids like those uniforms and they get to wear some cool shoes, so they’re pretty fired up about it,” head coach DeShaun Foster said earlier in the week. “Those are historic UCLA uniforms. Just the fact that Gary Beaver wore those and he won the Heisman makes them iconic uniforms.”
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Alumni appearance
Former UCLA and current NFL running back Zach Charbonnet was in attendance for Friday’s game and on the sidelines during pregame.
Charbonnet led the nation in all-purpose yards per game with 168 and was best in the Pac-12 in rushing yards per game at 135.9 in his senior year at UCLA in 2022. He was the 52nd pick in the second round of the NFL Draft in 2023.
The running back has rushed for 213 yards and four touchdowns on 61 carries for the Seattle Seahawks this season while tacking on an additional 189 receiving yards and one touchdown on 25 catches.