Caleb Komolafe rushed for 119 yards and a touchdown as Northwestern slipped past winless UCLA 17-14 on Saturday afternoon in Big Ten play at Evanston, Ill.
Preston Stone completed 12 of 18 passes for 115 yards and a touchdown without an interception, guiding a balanced attack for Northwestern (2-2, 1-1 Big Ten).
Joseph Himon II carried eight times, accounting for 58 of the Wildcats’ 199 yards on the ground against the nation’s worst rushing defense among power conference schools.
While it was an unsuccessful debut for interim head coach Tim Skipper, UCLA (0-4, 0-1) made an inspired comeback after trailing by 17 points late in the first half.
Skipper replaced DeShaun Foster after the Bruins’ 35-10 loss at home to New Mexico two weeks ago.
Tennessee transfer Nico Iamaleava led the rally, completing 19 of 27 passes for 180 yards and a touchdown. He also rushed for a team-high 65 yards.
Iamaleava drew the Bruins close with a 29-yard touchdown pass to Kwazi Gilmer with 6:19 left in the game. Iamaleava followed with a two-point conversion pass to Anthony Wood to make it 17-14.
UCLA got the ball two more times but produced just one first down.
Northwestern took control early, scoring on its first three possessions. In the first quarter, the Wildcats ran more than nine minutes off the clock with a 17-play, 74-yard march which set up a 33-yard field goal by Jack Olsen.
On two possessions in the first quarter, UCLA gained just one first down. The Bruins have yet to score this season in the opening period and have not yet led in a game.
Himon opened the second quarter with a 24-yard burst. Two plays later, Komolafe mishandled a pitchout but gathered the bouncing ball in stride and scored on a 9-yard run to expand the Wildcats’ lead to 10-0.
Stone highlighted Northwestern’s next possession with three completions to Griffin Wilde covering 41 yards, including the last 10 for a touchdown and a 17-0 advantage.
Wilde finished with seven receptions for 98 yards.
In the third quarter, UCLA’s Kechaun Bennett was ejected for a helmet-to-facemask hit on Stone. Bennett was called for targeting and will sit out the first half of next week’s game at home against Penn State.
