PASADENA, Calif. – The start of year two of the Chip Kelly era at UCLA looked awfully familiar as the Bruins lost to Cincinnati in the opener for the second straight season. Kelly's young squad looks to bounce back from the lackluster outing on Saturday against visiting San Diego State, which has lost its last 19 meetings in the series.
TV: 4:15 p.m. ET, Pac-12 Network. LINE: UCLA -7
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UCLA's offense sputtered in the 24-14 loss to Cincinnati as sophomore quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson finished 8-for-26 for 156 yards and two touchdowns while committing four turnovers – including two interceptions. UCLA recorded just 218 yards of offense and clearly missed running back Joshua Kelley, receiver Theo Howard and offensive linemen Michael Alves and Alec Anderson, who were all out due to injuries but hope to return this week. San Diego State had its own struggles on offense in last Saturday's 6-0 victory over FCS member Weber State, which held the Aztecs to a pair of field goals. "Obviously, a poor performance on offense," coach Rocky Long told reporters. "That's about as ugly an offensive performance as I've been around in a long time. But the objective is to win the game, and we found a way to win the game."
ABOUT SAN DIEGO STATE (1-0)
The Aztecs' transition to a spread offense opened with a thud as senior quarterback Ryan Agnew threw for 108 yards and saw his longest completion go for 11 yards. Running back Juwan Washington averaged 2.5 yards per carry as the Aztecs relied on their defense, which held Weber State to 154 yards of total offense and allowed only five first downs and one snap across midfield. Dwayne Johnson Jr. had a career-high 12 tackles and Tariq Thompson recorded his eighth career interception in the Aztecs' first shutout since 2016.
ABOUT UCLA (0-1)
Injuries and academic issues cut into the Bruins' depth at running back in the opener and forced Kelly to lean on junior Demetric Felton, who generated 174 all-purpose yards and could receive another heavy workload if Kelley isn't cleared to return from a knee injury. The Bruins also struggled defensively without star cornerback Darnay Holmes, who hopes to face the Aztecs after missing the opener due to an undisclosed injury. The Bruins are thin at linebacker, but senior Josh Woods provided a spark with six tackles last week after missing most of the past two seasons due to injury.
EXTRA POINTS
1. The teams are meeting for the first time since 2009, when UCLA posted a 33-14 win at the Rose Bowl.
2. San Diego State has won 30 straight games when holding opponents to 17 or fewer points.
3. UCLA is 45-8-2 all-time against teams in the current Mountain West Conference.
PREDICTION: UCLA 24, San Diego State 12