UCLA Football: Why UCLA could easily lose to San Diego State

The UCLA Football Bruins lost to Cincinnati in Week 1 for the second straight year and could start 0-2 for the second straight year as well.

Despite the Bearcats losing a lot of pieces this season, the UCLA Football Program was unable to start the year with a win and dropped the first game of the season, 24-14.

The offense was understandably sluggish in the first game of the season as the team was missing key running back Joshua Kelley while quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson did not have an impressive game, by any means.

Thompson-Robinson completed just eight of 26 passes for 156 yards and two interceptions, although he did have two touchdowns.

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Now, the Bruins head into Week 2 and host a team that they are favorited against, the San Diego State Aztecs. Right now, the Bruins are currently eight-point favorites over the Aztecs. Not a big line by college football standards, but this is absolutely a game that UCLA should win.

And while Vegas is probably right in making UCLA the favorites, there absolutely is a route in which the Bruins dropped their second game of the season. It is not going to take much for the Aztecs to defeat the Bruins.

The Aztecs are one of the best defensive teams in the entire nation and even shut out Weber State in Week 1. Yes, it is Weber State, but a shutout is still impressive, especially when you only score six points yourself.

San Diego State ranked 23rd in the nation in yards allowed per game and 31st in points allowed per game.

That is not bad for a Mountainwest team that played two ranked opponents last year as well as Stanford.

So how do the Bruins lose? Kelley either missing the game or not being 100 percent, which we still do not know if he is, will play a big factor in that. Not having your team’s best running back against a defense like San Diego State is going to cause a lot of problems.

That puts the game back on DTR’s shoulders. And while he has shown some good signs in his time as the starter, last week’s game is absolutely worrying and it would not be all that surprising to see him have another clunker.

The Aztecs’ offense is not that great either but 17 points might be enough to win this game for either side. All it takes is San Diego State to force some turnovers and get food field position and they could easily score 17 points.

Hopefully, the Aztecs’ offense is as poor as it was last week and the UCLA Football Bruins can get the win, even if it is in a very low scoring affair.

But as far as that eight-point betting line: I would definitely stay away. The San Diego State Aztecs have a viable path to win this game.