Iowa played its first game against UCLA in almost 40 years, but the result was a familiar one: a turnover-plagued loss in the Rose Bowl.

After the Hawkeyes jumped out to a 10-0 lead, Brendan Sullivan coughed the ball up three times and the defense allowed 17 unanswered points. Iowa briefly tied the game in the fourth quarter, but the defense let Bruins QB Ethan Garbers engineer a game-winning field-goal drive as UCLA beat the visiting Hawkeyes, 20-17, dropping Iowa to 6-4 this year.

Four Downs looks at the biggest takeaways from the game.

The road has not been friendly territory for the Iowa defense this season. Iowa has some of the most jarring home/road splits in the Big Ten this season.

HOME: 270 ypg allowed (5th), 4.49 ypp allowed (5th)

ROAD: 389.3 ypg allowed (15th), 6.05 ypp allowed (14th)

Friday night's game did not change that narrative. UCLA finished with over 200 yards running the ball (211) and throwing it (204), just like Michigan State in Iowa's last road trip, and finished with a total of 415 yards and 5.7 yards per play. It's unusual to see an Iowa defense look a step slow consistently, but that was the case for Iowa on Friday night, especially in the secondary and whenever a Hawkeye defender tried to tackle a UCLA running back or wide receiver.

The Bruins looked more physical than the Hawkeyes on a consistent basis, which is also an unfamiliar sight for a Phil Parker defense. Especially in the trenches, the Iowa defense struggled to match UCLA in terms of strength and toughness. Iowa finished with just four tackles for loss and no sacks (though the Hawkeyes were credited with seven QB hurries).

Defensive leader Jay Higgins went down with a pulled hamstring in the first half; after trying to play through it for a few series, he left the game at halftime and did not return. While his absence certainly made things harder on the Iowa defense, Iowa's struggles started long before Higgins had to leave the field.

UCLA mauled Iowa for 265 yards (6.2 per play) in the first half, including 146 yards (6.6 per carry) on the ground. Only a trio of turnovers, including a pair of takeaways for Iowa in its own end zone with UCLA poised to score, kept the halftime score from being much more lopsided than 17-10 in favor of the Bruins.

Outside of a solid third quarter, in which Iowa held UCLA to just 44 yards (4.4 per play) and only seven rushing yards on four carries, the Hawkeye defense got overwhelmed, by a team that hasn't done much overwhelming this season.

The larger concern is that this is not the first time this year that's happened.

It's one thing for Iowa's defense to struggle against Ohio State's fleet of future NFL Draft picks; getting torched by Michigan State and a (now) 4-5 UCLA team are much more worrying signs.

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There's a lot more to be said about Brendan Sullivan's topsy-turvy and ultimately injury-shortened performance in his second start for Iowa, but if the Wisconsin performance was the exciting part of the Brendan Sullivan roller coaster (7-of-10, 93 yards, 1 TD; 9 carries, 58 yard,s 1 TD), this outing was the terrifying dive.

After going 7-of-10 for 93 yards and a touchdown through the air last week, Sullivan finished 6-of-9 for 157 yards passing, with no touchdowns and two costly picks this week.

There were some good moments in the passing game, particularly a 59-yard laser he threw to roommate and fellow Northwestern transfer Jacob Gill, but Sullivan showed more erratic decision-making as well, including holding onto the ball too long and throwing poor passes; bad decisions and worse throws led to both of his interceptions.

Sullivan has made an impact with his legs throughout the season, highlighted by rushing for 58 yards and a touchdown on nine attempts last week. This week, a curiously timid Sullivan couldn't get a ground game going, finishing with 10 yards on nine attempts and a lost fumble.

Again, Sullivan's decision-making was poor as he often waited too late to commit to run, then failed to cut runs short and slide or head out of bounds. That resulted in Sullivan taking a bevy of brutal hits from UCLA defenders, which led to the injuries that contributed to more turnovers and ultimately took him out of the game.

Sullivan's recklessness running the ball was made even worse by Iowa's threadbare depth chart at quarterback coming into this game.

With Cade McNamara and Marco Lainez both out with injury and James Resar injured (and moved to wide receiver), Iowa's next man in at quarterback was Colorado State walk-on transfer Jackson Stratton, who's spent time at scout team linebacker in recent weeks.

Stratton got the nod here when Sullivan's injuries forced him out of the game and, to Stratton's credit, he did lead Iowa on a game-tying drive in the fourth quarter. Unfortunately, not much went right for Stratton after that drive, as he missed Jarriett Buie on a 3rd-down hitch route to force a three-and-out on Iowa's ensuing drive; the defense never got the ball back in the last four minutes.

The Wisconsin game and this game were a platform for Sullivan to prove that he should be Iowa's QB, both for the remainder of this season and for next season. His erratic play tonight certainly cracked the door open at QB1. Iowa has over two weeks to rest up and prepare for Maryland; they'll certainly need all of that time to sort through this muddled QB situation.

Rushing stats entering Friday night:

Iowa: 222.3 yards per game (5.75 ypc), 1st in the Big Ten

UCLA: 73.9 yards per game (2.84 ypc), 18th in the Big Ten

Rushing stats on Friday night:

Iowa: 80 yards (2.6 ypc)

UCLA: 211 yards (5.4 pc)

Talk about a Freaky Friday situation.

Kaleb Johnson, the Big Ten's leading rusher, was held to 49 yards and a touchdown on 18 carries (2.7 ypc). UCLA revived a familiar defensive game plan against Iowa: stack the box, swarm the running game, and make the quarterback beat you. The holes Johnson has galloped through so often this season simply weren't there; the Bruins had eight tackles for loss in this game and UCLA defenders spent almost as much time as Johnson in the Iowa backfield as Johnson.

Meanwhile, UCLA made mincemeat of Iowa's run defense. For the third consecutive road game, Iowa was absolutely gashed on the ground and gave up over 200 rushing yards. UCLA mauled Iowa up front, with running back T.J. Harden being the biggest beneficiary -- he finished with 125 yards on 20 carries (6.3 ypc). Iowa's run defense couldn't match UCLA in speed or physicality, which is a recipe for disaster on defense.

The struggles of the Iowa running game were a little more explicable, given that UCLA ranked 3rd in the Big Ten in rush defense entering the game. But the Big Ten's worst rushing attack getting almost three times its season average against Iowa? That was a much bigger shock. But the bad habits Iowa has shown in past defensive meltdowns reared their head again here, leading to some familiar results.

The last time an Iowa player had 100+ receiving yards? Sam LaPorta with 101 against Illinois in 2022, 31 games ago.

The last time an Iowa wide receiver had 100+ receiving yards? Charlie Jones with 106 yards against Minnesota in 2021, 41 games ago.

The 100-yard receiving yard drought is officially over, thanks to Jacob Gill's big night. Gill, who transferred from Northwestern in the offseason, had six receptions for 138 yards on eight targets. Those six receptions included a 32-yard bubble screen that set up Iowa's first touchdown of the game, a 59-yard dime from Brendan Sullivan (Iowa's longest pass play of the season, by far), and a pair of clutch third down conversions (including a 15-yard pick-up on 3rd and 14) from Jackson Stratton that set up Iowa's second touchdown of the game.

Jacob Gill entered Friday's game as the Iowa wide receiver with the most receptions (21) and yards (198); his big night only extended his lead in those categories (and moved him ahead of Luke Lachey for the team leads in receptions and receiving yards). Iowa has been seeking playmaking capability at the wide receiver position for several seasons; on Friday night, Jacob Gill showed a glimpse that he might be able to fill that role.