San Diego State coach Sean Lewis was complimentary in his opening remarks this week about UCLA heading into the teams\u2019 nonconference game this weekend.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve got a great opponent, obviously, here in UCLA, who had a great showing this past weekend and we get to play at a great venue in the Rose Bowl,\u201d Lewis said. \u201cWhat a unique and cool opportunity for a Pac-12 opponent to meet a Big Ten opponent and to create another great moment of history in the next chapter in college football up there in Pasadena.\u201d<\/p>\n
What caught fire in midweek on social media, however, was one of Lewis\u2019 follow-up comments from Monday\u2019s press conference. It was reported without complete context: \u201cI\u2019ve got plenty of experience where there\u2019s a galaxy of stars and talents on the other sideline, and I\u2019ll take me and mine against theirs \u2013 all their polos, all their khakis, all their resources, all that. Put the ball down. Let\u2019s go play.\u201d<\/p>\n
The front part of that comment:<\/p>\n
\u201cPut the ball down. I\u2019ll play anyone, anytime, anywhere. Our Aztec standard is built for championship behavior. It\u2019s built for these opportunities. It happens to be the Bruins on that sideline. And I\u2019m not (pause), Coach (Bob) Chesney, he\u2019s been a head coach almost as long as I\u2019ve been coaching. He\u2019s done a tremendous job. We\u2019ll give them all the due respect and all those things, but at the end of the day it ain\u2019t got nothing to do with them. It\u2019s got nothing to do with them. It has everything to do with our standard, our process, how we go about it. Aztecs are responsible for the Aztecs. I\u2019m going to respect who that opponent is, but \u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
That\u2019s where the rest of the quote began that sites clipped into a 12-second sound bite. It got clicks \u2014 2.2 million of them for On3.com as of Friday afternoon. Word is that sales of powder blue polos are also way up in the UCLA bookstore.<\/p>\n
SDSU (1-0) is an 11 1\/2-point underdog against UCLA (1-0) for Saturday\u2019s game. Kickoff is 4:15 p.m. (Big Ten Network) at the Rose Bowl.<\/p>\n
Here are five things to watch:<\/p>\n
1. Who wins the line of scrimmage?<\/p>\n
This game, like most, will likely be won at the line of scrimmage. UCLA looked very good against Cal on both sides of the ball. SDSU was adequate on the O-line against Portland State.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a physical football team,\u201d Lewis said. \u201cThey do a really good job of running the ball and they do a really good job of stopping the run. We\u2019ve got to meet and exceed that physicality.\u201d<\/p>\n
UCLA rushed for 277 last week against Cal, averaging 8.7 yards a carry. Running backs Anthony Woods (8 carries, 118 yards, 2 TDs) and Wayne Knight (8 carries, 71 yards, 3 TDs) led the way, and quarterback Nico Iamaleava (9 carries, 29 yards, TD) also is a threat carrying the ball.<\/p>\n
\u201cHoly cow,\u201d Lewis said. \u201cYou\u2019ve got to get multiple hats to the ball, tackle the talent.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Aztecs rushed for 237 yards on 42 carries, but starting running back Lucky Sutton (18 carries, 58 yards, 3 TDs) was limited to 3.2 yards a carry, two yards below last year\u2019s season average. Javion Kinnard (8 carries, 79 yards) led the Aztecs in rushing, most of it on a 55-yard run when he made a man miss.<\/p>\n
Neither team had to do much in the passing game last week, UCLA because it was running the ball so well (six rushing TDs) and SDSU because it dominated the scoreboard after the first quarter. Aztecs quarterback Jayden Denegal attempted only three passes in the second half.<\/p>\n
2. UCLA QB Nico Iamaleava<\/p>\n
Lewis has high regard for the 6-foot-5 Iamaleava, who passed for 1,928 yards for the Bruins last year with 13 TDs and seven interceptions.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe has all the tools,\u201d Lewis said. \u201cHe has all the capabilities. The success he was able to have shows his football IQ. And now the early success that he\u2019s had through one opportunity with this new staff and scheme. He processes well. He\u2019s got a quick release. He\u2019s got a strong arm. I mean, he\u2019s ripping balls outside the numbers, frozen ropes. And he can go off script, tuck it. Real dual threat, so special, special kid.\u201d<\/p>\n
Iamaleava has plenty of motivation to perform well this season. He\u2019s viewed as a fourth-round draft prospect whose stock could rise substantially with a good season.<\/p>\n
3. Testing the DBs<\/p>\n
SDSU has five new starters in the secondary.<\/p>\n
Portland State quarterback Gabe Downing tested the Aztecs with 52 passes last week, completing 31 of them for 280 yards and one touchdown. It\u2019s notable that Downing was the Vikings\u2019 backup QB who played only because starter Tyrese Smith was injured.<\/p>\n
SDSU cornerback Mike Lindsay and safety Isiah Green did come away with interceptions, but the Aztecs will have to be better against Iamaleava than they did against Downing.<\/p>\n
Iamaleava will throw to several quality receivers, led by senior wide receivers Mikey Matthews and Landon Ellis.<\/p>\n
4. Special purpose<\/p>\n
SDSU\u2019s special teams starred against Portland State, sparking the offense with short fields after blocked punts by Jelani McLaughlin and Oberhiri Eyafe while receiving immediate returns on Jaylon Hawkins\u2019 100-yard kickoff return for a touchdown.<\/p>\n
Special teams is historically overlooked across the country since there are so few plays compared to offense and defense and teams often devote little practice time to the special units. The Aztecs have taken the opposite view, that the relatively few plays can have an oversized impact on the outcome.<\/p>\n
The Aztecs put some of their best athletes on the various units \u2014 for instance, wide receiver Bert Emanuel Jr. is on four of five special teams \u2014 to go make plays.<\/p>\n
5. Finish strong<\/p>\n
A couple of dozen UCLA players were dancing to the music at Cal\u2019s Memorial Stadium during a pause between the third and fourth quarters of a 24-24 game.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s pretty organic,\u201d UCLA coach Bob Chesney said. \u201cI don\u2019t think anybody set that up. We didn\u2019t talk about that. I think you\u2019re just watching people that love playing this game, that have a ton of joy out there and love the people they\u2019re doing it with.\u201d<\/p>\n
When the Bruins followed with a 21-point fourth quarter, some pointed to how the team was loose, confident and full of energy entering the final period.<\/p>\n
Fourth-quarter sparks were provided on a pair of interceptions by UCLA defensive back Ta\u2019Shawn James, whose picks set up 31- and 4-yard touchdown runs by Knight.<\/p>\n
UCLA capped the scoring with its longest play of the game, a 53-yard TD run by Woods in the game\u2019s final two minutes.<\/p>\n
It was quite a contrast to UCLA\u2019s fourth-quarter performances last season, when the Bruins totaled 39 fourth-quarter points in 12 games. They failed to score in the final period in seven of those contests.<\/p>\n
The Aztecs scored 10 points in the fourth quarter last week against Portland State, though their foot eased off the gas after taking a 30-point lead through three quarters.<\/p>\n
Expect the team that leans into the tape to come out on top.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"San Diego State coach Sean Lewis was complimentary in his opening remarks this week about UCLA heading into…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":461092,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[1327,181,74,76,75,305,127,1696],"class_list":["post-461091","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-college-sports","tag-latest-headlines","tag-san-diego","tag-san-diego-headlines","tag-san-diego-news","tag-sdsu-aztecs","tag-sports","tag-top-stories-sdut"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/461091","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=461091"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/461091\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/461092"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=461091"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=461091"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=461091"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}