The National Football League have played their first game in Melbourne, Australia that saw the San Francisco 49ers defeat the Los Angeles Rams 27-7 on Friday, Sept. 11 in Australian Eastern Standard Time.
The game featured three former UCLA Bruins— Rams
safety Quentin Lake, 49ers center Jake Brendel and 49ers defensive tackle Osa Odighizuwa — play in the game with each of them making plays across the world.Lake made the first play of the three as he snagged his first interception of the season off an errant pass by San Francisco's star quarterback Brock Purdy with a little over 12 minutes left in the second quarter.
Quentin Lake with his first INT of the season 🙌
— NFL (@NFL) September 11, 2026
SFvsLAR on Netflix pic.twitter.com/Sc480Qx4C7
The veteran safety led the Rams defense
with 10-total tackles with seven solo tackles, three pass deflections and the interception.
On the other team, Odighizuwa made life difficult for the NFL's reigning MVP Matthew Stafford as he hit the veteran quarterback four times to lead the game in quarterback hits.
Odighizuwa's play was a welcome addition to the Bay Area, which had the least amount of sacks last season with 20 in the regular season. He was acquired for a third round pick from the Dallas Cowboys in the offseason and left Dallas with 17-sacks and two forced fumbles over his five years with the Cowboys.
The final former Westwood alumnus to make a play was Brendel, who caught his first professional reception after Rams defensive tackle Kobie Turner swatted one of Purdy's passes from the air.
In his ninth NFL season, @jakebrendel hauls in his first career reception! Never give up 💪 https://t.co/wwBYpaQOK9
— UCLA Football (@UCLAFootball) September 11, 2026
Brendel was also a key part of San Francisco's offensive line to allow no sacks while creating run lanes for the 49ers ground attack to put up 174-rushing yards.
This article originally appeared on UCLA Wire: Three former UCLA Bruins make plays in historic NFL matchup
