IU, UCLA Using Tight Game as Launching Pad

10.10.2025College Men

Last week’s cross-continental meeting between Indiana and UCLA was a bit of a thriller, and will be hugely important for both teams going forward.

UCLA won the game 28-27, and while it was the Bruins’ first 15s runout of the season and it was Indiana’s 5th, it was also an indication of how close these teams could be.

“There were plenty of positives to build off,” said UCLA Head Coach Harry Bennett. “But we also left a lot of rugby and points out there.”

This was also a bit weird for UCLA because they were coming out of the 1st leg of the West Coast 7s and will be in the 2nd left this coming week at Stanford.

So bouncing between 7s and 15s is not particularly easy, and might have affected how UCLA approached the game. Still, stats are stats.

“Six trips into the attacking 22 in the second half and we converted points once,” said Bennett. “We were certainly some impatient play at times but it’s to be expected with a young team in first game.”

For Indiana Head Coach Luke Gross, the entire first half of the fall has been one conference game and then a series of non-conference tests. Those games included Marian, Kentucky, and Lindenwood. The Hoosiers beat Illinois, lost to Marian, edged Kentucky 24-20 (in a game where both teams felt they missed chances), and lost to Lindenwood.

“I was happy about the game in spurts,” said Gross. “We are showing signs of our potential, but it’s all about consistency. Our boys weren’t really focused in the first 40, but we picked it up. Our boys are learning a new system and we have some young players.”

Attack Coach Nick Taylor has been at the center of all of this, implementing a new formation and pattern, and Gross was full of praise for the Chicago Hound pro. But it takes time.

Gross says the talent is there; it’s all about the execution.

“We have really good backs, and if our forwards can match the opposing forwards, we can score,” said Gross.

All of that was figured out, to a certain extent, in this Indiana-UCLA game, a game that showed both teams someone they don’t see very often.

“It's a baseline for us to work from now and always pleasing to win tough close games,” said Bennett. “We defended 14 phases and forced a mistake to close it out—that was very impressive all things considered.”

Moving forward, UCLA will play the West Coast 7s and then officially kick off their 15-a-side season with a game vs Cal State Long Beach on November 8.

The Bruins will have four more game weekends before the Christmas break and then 10 more games through March into the D1A playoffs. Those matches include Cal, BYU, Arizona, and Saint Mary’s.

For Indiana, the 15s issue is much more immediate. They take on a very good Wisconsin team that basically decides who will win the Big 10 West.

“Wisconsin is big and they have a hell of a #10 [Karter Bell] and play a bit of a different alignment, so it will be a challenge,” said Gross.

Two different directions, but it was fun that they met in the middle.