San Diego State lost its third straight game to a middling Pac-12 team which put up 28 first-half points and stymied Aztecs offense in second half
San Diego State’s bread and butter the past decade has been a run game designed to impose its will, put points on the scoreboard and enable the Aztecs to dominate time of possession.“Obviously, we’ve got to be better at the point of attack,” said SDSU coach Brady Hoke, whose team gained 63 yards on 33 carries .
So difficult were yards to come by that SDSU running back Kenan Christon needed second, third and fourth efforts on a second-quarter carry that went for 16 yards, making it the Aztecs’ longest run of the day. UCLA had three players — including backup quarterback Collin Schlee — with longer runs than that 16-yarder.Here are three thoughts from the Aztecs’ 35-10 loss to UCLA on Saturday at Snapdragon Stadium.The updated Associated Press Top 25 rankings came out Sunday morning and seemingly every other team is from the Pac-12.Not far behind are No. 12 Utah, No. 13 Oregon, No. 16 Oregon State and No. 18 Colorado, the country’s most surprising team.And a sobering thought occurs: San Diego State lost — decisively — to a school regarded as the Pac-12’s eighth-best team.“We have to learn from this one because next week is just as difficult,” SDSU coach Brady Hoke said. Actually, an even bigger challenge awaits this weekend in Corvallis, Ore., where the Beavers are poised for their third straight winning season after a dormant decade. For much of the previous decade, SDSU made a case that it could compete with the Pac-12, going 7-2 on the field against “The Conference of Champions.” Not to diminish the accomplishment, but none of the games were against three of the conference’s top programs — USC, Oregon and Washington. It was early in the 2021 season when social media posts were poking at the Pac-12, touting SDSU as the leader in the Pac-12 standings after back-to-back victories over Arizona and Utah. The Aztecs now have three losses the past year — to Arizona, Utah and now UCLA — suggesting maybe they can’t compete. “Each team is a hell of a lot better than the last time that we played them,” Hoke said. “That means that we’ve got to get better.”With the Pac-12’s demise, leftovers Oregon State and Washington State figure to join forces in some fashion with the Mountain West.And it’s not as if the Aztecs have been dominating their old one. They haven’t won a Mountain West title in seven seasons.The contrasts between UCLA and SDSU were most striking when it came to the Bruins making big plays on offense and the Aztecs unable to make even a little one. This point was driven home when SDSU’s defense presented the offense with the ball less than a yard from UCLA’s end zone in the third quarter and an opportunity, with the score 28-10, to get back in the ballgame. Two rushes for no gain were followed by a Jalen Mayden pass that went off the hands off running back Martin Blake and was intercepted by the Bruins. Not scoring there simply can’t happen, especially when UCLA is coming up with an 81-yard touchdown pass and a 59-yard touchdown run and a fourth-and-1 rush that goes for a 13-yard TD. Contrasted, again, to SDSU wide receiver Josh Nicholson having a potential 27-yard touchdown pass go off his fingertips in the end zone.They wouldn’t score again. “I think we’re a pretty good football team, and that’s sincere,” Hoke said. “I think we’ve gotten better. I even think we did some things better today from the offensive side.”SDSU’s defense allowing 28 first-half points and 550 yards in total offense got the headlines.The 6-foot, 220-pound sophomore linebacker from Las Vegas collected six tackles in the season’s first two games.He finished with a game-high 12 tackles , more than twice as many as his closest teammate .His line included a sack, two tackles for loss, two forced fumbles, one fumble recovery, a pass breakup and a quarterback hurry. The two forced fumbles put Fiaseu in select company. Only 13 other players in school history have accomplished the feat.
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