3-2.

Penn State football fell to the winless UCLA Bruins 42-37 in one of the most embarrassing and stunning losses in program history at the Rose Bowl on Saturday. As a result, the Nittany Lions crashed out of the AP Top-25 rankings for the first time since 2022.

Saturday was a mess from start to finish. Penn State never led while UCLA clutched its first lead of the season and never let go.

Unfortunately, we have to sift through each position group’s performance and grade them. Here goes nothing.

Quarterbacks: A-

Say what you want about Drew Allar, but he looked like one of the only Penn Staters on the field with any semblance of emotion and heart against the Bruins. Allar put the offense on his back, dueling with UCLA quarterback Nico Iamaleava in a back-and-forth affair.

Allar went 19-for-26 with an even 200 passing yards and two touchdowns. He had his best passer rating of the season with a 79.9 score. He truly shined on the run against the Bruins, though.

Allar pounded the rock 11 times for 78 yards, which led the Nittany Lions on the day. He rushed for 57 yards on a crucial Penn State touchdown drive that bled from the third quarter into the fourth. He consistently had to escape the pocket and extend broken plays due to a lack of blocking, but he held strong and did what needed to be done to give the Nittany Lions a fighting chance.

Sure, Allar missed a few easy throws and even a good look at Luke Reynolds in the end zone in the fourth quarter for the go-ahead score, but Penn State wouldn’t have been anywhere near that position without his consistent play and leadership after going down early.

Allar was not the problem against UCLA.

Running Backs: C+

Same story, different day.

It’s fair to say that Kaytron Allen has established himself as the clear RB1 for Penn State in 2025. He’s quicker than Nick Singleton, finds more holes, and provides a little more in pass protection.

So why is Singleton still getting more carries?

Singleton rushed 11 times for 39 yards, good for a 3.5-yard average. He’s simply not producing enough for Penn State when compared to Allen.

Allen got the ball rolling for Penn State with a 13-yard rushing touchdown in the first quarter. He added another score behind a 2-yard rush at the top of the fourth quarter. He ended his day with only eight rushes for 50 yards.

It’s time for Penn State to look past the two running backs as a duo. Allen has been better in each and every game so far through the young season, and the earlier Penn State adheres to that, the better the running game will be.

Wide Receivers: B-

Allar did a decent job at spreading the love on Saturday between pass catchers, but only two receivers recorded receptions on the day.

Kyron Hudson reeled in four balls for 52 yards and an acrobatic 15-yard score in the fourth quarter to bring Penn State within one possession in his personal homecoming game. It was his most productive game since his 89-yard performance in week one against Nevada.

The only other Penn State receiver to catch a pass was Trebor Peña. Peña tabbed 15 yards on three receptions. He rushed once but lost 10 yards on the play.

Tight Ends: B

The tight ends combined for 109 receiving yards between Luke Reynolds, Khalil Dinkins, and Andrew Rappleyea in one of the unit’s most productive games of the young season.

Dinkins led the way with 49 yards on three receptions, highlighted by a 40-yard dart down the sideline at the beginning of the third quarter. Reynolds followed suit with four catches for 46 yards, connecting with Allar three times in the final frame. The only misfire between the two came on an end zone shot as the Penn State offense stalled at UCLA’s 17-yard line for the go-ahead score with 1:34 left in the contest. Rappleyea caught two passes for 14 yards.

Offensive Line: D+

Penn State’s experienced front line should really be performing better at this point in the season. Whether Singleton’s and Allar’s struggles boil down to their own decision-making or not, there’s no doubt that the offensive line has been subpar through five games.

The offensive line also committed two false starts in the fourth quarter. Just a poor showing with disciplinary issues creeping up.

Front Seven: D

Penn State definitely missed Tony Rojas on Saturday. James Franklin said postgame that Rojas would have been predominantly responsible for the quarterback spy on Iamaleava, and Iamaleava definitely took advantage of the Nittany Lions’ lack of linebacker depth.

Iamaleava was the game’s leading rusher with 128 yards and three touchdowns on 16 carries. The Bruins running backs combined for an extra 152 yards on the ground, bringing UCLA’s total to a staggering 269 yards with an 11-yard team loss in the mix.

Dom DeLuca stepped in for Rojas’ starting will linebacker role. While he led the team in tackles, DeLuca simply didn’t match Amare Campbell’s speed in the middle of the field like Rojas does.

Speaking of Campbell, he showed out once again with five solo tackles, one sack, and 2.5 tackles-for-loss. However, Penn State’s defensive line truly represents a lot of Penn State’s problems on Saturday.

Zane Durant and Dani Dennis-Sutton combined for only seven tackles. While the Nittany Lions did sack Iamaleava three times, it didn’t feel like they had any sort of grasp on the slippery Bruin signal caller all game. Campbell, Durant, and Zuriah Fisher all recorded one sack each.

On top of that, Durant committed a killer offsides penalty on 4th-and-1 that handed UCLA a free first down just as Penn State was on the verge of a much-needed stop. Iamaleava scored four plays later on a 7-yard touchdown run to send UCLA up 42-28 after a successful two-point conversion.

Franklin noted postgame that Penn State made mistakes that it doesn’t normally make. That Durant offsides call killed the defensive drive and vibe for the Nittany Lions. Messy, messy, messy.

Secondary: C-

Iamaleava also had a solid day through the air. Wide receiver trio Kwazi Gilmer, Rico Flores, and Titus Mokiao-Atimalala combined for 12 receptions for 145 yards and two touchdowns.

The Penn State secondary was mostly responsible for cleaning up the front seven’s mess as Bruin runners consistently entered the second level. However, Zakee Wheatley, King Mack, and Elliot Washington made their presence known throughout the game. The defensive back trio combined for 24 total tackles and one tackle-for-loss, and they came extremely close to picking off Iamaleava.

However, the forced turnover simply never happened. Iamaleava played his best game as a Bruin and diced up both levels of the Penn State defense. There’s no way around that.

Special Teams: C+

Liam Clifford scored a touchdown on a blocked punt return forced by Dennis-Sutton. It was electric. However, the Bruins did successfully recover an onside kick after their first score and used it to go up
10-0 before Penn State even touched the ball.