San Diego State's offense can't match defense's performance in loss to UCLA
Alex Hutton
Host · Writer
PASADENA — San Diego State’s defense did practically everything they could to keep the Aztecs in the game against UCLA. They just needed the offense to come along for the ride.
Despite the defense largely holding UCLA’s offense in check, SDSU’s offense managed just 189 yards and one touchdown — coming effectively in garbage time — in a 28-10 loss to the Bruins at the Rose Bowl on Saturday.
“Inefficiency on offense led to a bunch of snaps for the defense,” head coach Sean Lewis said. “Starting three and out there constantly, we were behind in the field position game. So I think just the culmination of snaps, the inefficiency on offense. It starts with the play calling, with myself, the leadership throughout the course of the week, so that we can have more success and flip the field.”
Nowhere was SDSU’s offensive struggle more apparent than in the passing game. The Aztecs completed just six passes for 45 yards, and several deep shots by quarterback Jayden Denegal were wildly off-target.
“[We] felt like we had good matchups on the edge,” Lewis said. “There was a lot of single-high coverage. Again, those are good, calculated shots downrange. We got balls on hands that we didn’t catch. We had other guys wide open that we missed.”
San Diego State held up defensively for the majority of the game. They kept UCLA scoreless in the first half and limited them to just seven points through three quarters.
“I think we did a good job with our aggression,” said sophomore cornerback Mike Lindsay, who intercepted UCLA quarterback Nico Iamaleava in the second quarter. “I think that caught them by surprise. I think that they’re thinking we were going to be a little bit weaker than how we came out there, and we did a good job stopping the run and containing [Iamaleava] because he likes his ground, he likes to run around, but we kept him in the pocket [and] kept him on the ground.”
Despite the defense’s containment of UCLA’s offense, SDSU’s own unit generated even less. They failed to score in the first three quarters and managed their only touchdown with 2:28 remaining in the fourth.
“We knew how to scheme up and get our guys in the right spot,” sophomore offensive lineman Michael Watkins said. “I think it was just blocking in the moment. You know, it was just the little letups … it would be [blowing off] technique and it would let up.”
Eventually, the defense collapsed under the weight of the pressure. As Lewis noted, having the defense on the field for as long as they were led to exhaustion. UCLA won the time-of-possession battle by nearly 10 minutes, and SDSU ran out of gas, allowing three rushing touchdowns in the fourth quarter for a final result that was closer than the score indicated.
“Good teams are able to play balanced and use special teams as a weapon to flip the field,” Lewis said. “So when you got two out of three phases doing well, you’ve got to evaluate and assess what’s going on with that other phase as you go forward with it.”
The Aztecs’ next attempt to produce a more balanced performance will take place at home, against James Madison at 7 p.m. on Sept. 19. Despite Saturday’s difficult results, Watkins expressed optimism that his group is capable of a stronger outcome.
“We just know what we can do, and we know we can keep punching them in the mouth, and we know how it feels like,” he said. “You know, we [weren’t] finishing, we [weren’t] getting the end zone, but the way we [were] coming off the field, it felt like we’re [really] close. We just gotta get it in.”
