Los Angeles Times - 08.09.2019

LATIMES.COM/SPORTS SS SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2019D15

AUG. 29

@Cincinnati L, 24-14 (0-1)

SEPT. 7

San Diego St. L, 23-14 (0-2)

SEPT. 21

@Wash. St. TBD

SEPT. 28

@Arizona TBD

OCT. 5

Oregon St. TBD

NOV. 30

California TBD

NOV. 23

@USC

TBD

NOV. 16

@Utah TBD

NOV. 2

Colorado TBD

OCT. 26

Arizona St. TBD

OCT. 17

@Stanford 6 p.m. ESPN

SEPT. 14

Oklahoma 5 p.m. Ch. 1 1

UP NEXT >>>The Sooners (2-0), who hung a 49-21 loss on the Bruins last season, are coming off romps over Houston and South Dakota in which they averaged 59.5 points.

UCLA GAME REPORT

San Diego St. 23, UCLA 14 San Diego St.........................10 0 10 3—23 UCLA .....................................7 0 7 0—14 First Quarter UCLA—Kelley 5 run (Molson kick), 12:03 SDSU—Jasmin 2 run (Araiza kick), 4:50 SDSU—FG Araiza 43, :50 Third Quarter SDSU—K.Smith 34 pass from Agnew (Araiza kick), 12:50 UCLA—Dulcich 20 pass from Thompson-Robinson (Molson kick), 8:12 SDSU—FG Araiza 31, :21 Fourth Quarter SDSU—FG Araiza 25, 5:29 Attendance—36,951. STATISTICS TEAM SDSU UCLA First downs ...................................22 16 Rushes-yards ............................47-80 32-62 Passing.......................................293 199 Comp-Att-Int..........................23-31-0 24-35-0 Return Yards..................................17 52 Punts-Avg................................5-29.6 5-41.2 Fumbles-Lost................................1-0 4-2 Penalties-Yards...........................5-50 7-52 Time of Possession ....................38:16 21:44 Individual Leaders RUSHING: San Diego St., Washington 20-41, Agnew 8-19, Byrd 10-19, Jasmin 3-3, C.Bell 3-1, Dunkle 0-0, (Team) 3-(minus 3). UCLA, Kelley 15-53, Felton 10-28, Thompson-Robinson 7-(minus 19). PASSING: San Diego St., Agnew 23-31-0-293. UCLA, Thompson-Robinson 24-35-0-199. RECEIVING: San Diego St., K.Smith 7-131, Matthews 5-59, Washington 4-34, Byrd 4-32, Houston 1-19, Jas- min 1-11, Kothe 1-7. UCLA, Felton 7-36, Asiasi 4-43, Dulcich 3-37, Philips 3-35, Erwin 3-29, Kelley 2-2, M.Martinez 1-14, Cota 1-3. MISSED FIELD GOALS—San Diego St., Araiza 47. UCLA, Molson 45.

Chip Kelly, widely known as an innovator, did some- thing Saturday that none of his UCLA predecessors could do: He lost to San Di- ego State. The coach hit a low with a team careening toward his- toric indifference, the Bruins falling to the Aztecs 23-14 before an announced crowd of 36,951 that was their fourth smallest at the Rose Bowl since making it their home in 19 8 2. There were boos in the second quarter and eerie quiet amid a mostly empty stadium in the final minutes. The only sound was pro- vided by a patch of San Di- ego State fans nestled in one corner of the end zone. “Let’s go Aztecs!” they chanted. UCLA (0-2) got a quick defensive stop to start the game, scored a touchdown on its opening drive and the rest of the game was all Aztecs. It was San Diego State’s first triumph over the Bruins after entering the game with a 0-21-1 record in a series that started in 1922. “It doesn’t matter if we lost to them before or lost to them now,” Kelly said after falling to 3-11 overall with the Bruins and 0-4 against Group of Five opponents. “It hurts when you lose. It hurts when you lose to Cincinnati, it hurts when you lose to San

Diego State.” There could be more losses to come. The Bruins play No. 4 Oklahoma at home next weekend before opening Pac-12 Conference play with road games against Washington State and Arizona. It’s hard notto consider the possibility of an 0-5 start for a second consecutive season given UCLA’s lack of tangible progress. Kelly was hailed as an offensive genius upon his ar- rival, but his turnover-prone team lost two more fumbles Saturday and managed only 261 yards. Through the season’s first two games, the Bruins have committed six turnovers and are averaging 14 points and 239.5 yards of offense. The inability to move the ball was highlighted by two plays in the fourth quarter.

Twice, UCLA needed one yard on fourth down to sus- tain its faint comeback hopes. Twice, the Bruins were stuffed. “I think we had some mis- cues up front and just didn’t execute the play,” UCLA quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson said after getting stopped for no gain on fourth down with about four minutes to play. The Bruins’ final drive ended when running back Joshua Kelley ran into a wall of defenders and was stopped for a four-yard loss. “I have to make a guy miss,” said Kelley, who ran for 53 yards and a touchdown in 15 carries in his season debut after sitting out his team’s loss to Cincinnati with a knee injury. UCLA had plenty of other issues. The Aztecs (2-0)

picked apart the Bruins sec- ondary one week after failing to score a touchdown against Weber State, a Foot- ball Championship Subdivi- sion team. San Diego State quarterback Ryan Agnew com- pleted 23 of 31 passes for 293 yards and one touchdown even though Bruins safety Quentin Lake said he was tipping his passing plays by touching the towel on his waist before snaps. “I would say his success came on poor defensive alignment,” Lake said. “So it was more on us.” Bruins cornerback Elijah Gates was often in the midst of the mess. He was penal- ized twice for pass interfer- ence and once for defensive holding, though he endured a far more regrettable mo- ment. With UCLA trailing by six points and needing to stop the Aztecs on third down midway through the third quarter, Gates was beaten by San Diego State receiver Jesse Matthews for an 18-yard completion. “We just have to make the play,” Kelly said, noting that Gates was in position for a breakup. The Aztecs went on to kick a 25-yard field goal for the game’s final points. Agnew’s big day more than offset a San Diego State ground game that gained just 80 yards and 1.7 yards per carry, helping the Aztecs improve to 5-1 against Pac-12 teams since the start of the 2016 season. There wasn’t anything to celebrate for his UCLA counterpart. Thompson- Robinson bounced back from his season-opening clunker, completing 24 of 35 passes for 199 yards and a 20- yard touchdown to tight end

Greg Dulcich, though he added another fumble to a turnover tally that now stands at five through two games. Tight end Michael Martinez had UCLA’s other turnover, fumbling the ball after making a catch in the first quarter. Kelly could only stare blankly with his arms folded across his chest after one fourth-quarter drive ended with a turnover on downs, his Bruins headed for a third consecutive defeat going back to last season. Lake vowed that happier days remained ahead de- spite the early parallels to 2 018. “Our record is going to be better this year,” Lake said, “and you’ll see us start changing our mind-set and mentality.”

UCLA RUNNING BACKDemetric Felton runs into a wall of San Diego State defenders at the line of scrimmage in the Bruins’ loss.

Photographs byRobert GauthierLos Angeles Times

Bruins reach a low in 0-2 start

UCLA sputters again

and suffers its first loss

to San Diego State,

which came in 0-21-1.

SAN DIEGO STATE 23

UCLA 14

By Ben Bolch

UCLAreceiver Jaylen Erwin, left, is interfered with by Aztecs cornerback Luq Barcoo in fourth quarter.

You can’t do anything
with the ball if you don’t have
it.
UCLA is learning that
painful lesson through the
season’s early going, when it
has committed six turnovers
through its first two games.
Not coincidentally, the
Bruins are 0-2.
Their two fumbles Sat-
urday at the Rose Bowl re-
sulted in 10 points for San Di-
ego State during the Aztecs’
23-14 victory. San Diego
State did not have one turn-
over, greatly enhancing its
chances at its latest triumph
over a Pac-12 Conference
team.
“Any time that one team
turns the ball over and the
other team does not,” Aztecs
coach Rocky Longsaid, “the
team that turned the ball
over has a very little chance
of winning.”
UCLA knows this well.
The Bruins have lost the
turnover battle, 6-2, through
their first two games. Com-
pounding the problem, op-
ponents have scored on four
drives immediately follow-
ing UCLA turnovers.
Giving the ball away also
leads to lopsided time of pos-
session. San Diego State
held the ball for 38 minutes,
16 seconds on Saturday com-
pared to UCLA’s 21:44. The
disparity was particularly
acute in the first quarter,
when UCLA had the ball for
just 2:56.
“You can’t turn the ball
over, is what happened,”
UCLA coach Chip Kelly said
after tight end Michael Mar-
tinez’sfumble late in the
first quarter gave the ball
back to the Aztecs.
Bruins quarterback Do-
rian Thompson-Robinson
had his team’s other turn-
over in the third quarter
when he was hit and lost the
ball. He coughed up the ball
on another play, but it went
out of bounds.
“I still need to improve on
some things,” said Thomp-
son-Robinson, who has gen-
erated five turnovers
through two games. “Obvi-
ously, still with two fumbles –
you can’t have that.”
Turnovers are an on-
going problem for UCLA
under Kelly, whose teams
have committed 23 turn-
overs in 14 games. Oppo-
nents have scored 17 times
on the possessions immedi-
ately following those turn-
overs.
“UCLA is a good football
team,” Long said. “They
should have won last week,
too, but they turned the ball
over four times. I thought
they had outplayed Cincin-
nati. If they had not turned
the ball over today, I think
the outcome would have
been completely different.”

They were missed

UCLA played a second
game without cornerback
Darnay Holmes(ankle), re-
ceiver Theo Howard(wrist)
and offensive lineman
Michael Alves(back).
Offensive lineman Alec
Andersonreturned from the
leg injury that had sidelined
him in the opener against
Cincinnati and filled in at
left guard, allowing true
freshman Sean Rhyanto re-
main at left tackle. But An-
derson was hurt early in the
third quarter and replaced
by Jon Gaines II, who
started at left guard against
the Bearcats.

Etc.

The crowd of 36,951 was
UCLA’s fourth-smallest at
the Rose Bowl since making
it its home stadium in 1982.
The only smaller crowds
were against Oregon State
in October of 1994 (35,347),
November of 1984 (34,116)
and November of 1992
(32,513). ... UCLA generated
only two sacks but had 10
tackles for loss, including
three each by linebacker
Krys Barnesand defensive
lineman Osa Odighizuwa..

NOTES

Turnovers

continue

to have

big effect

By Ben Bolch

teams. When asked by Times beat reporter Ben Bolch to contextualize UCLA’s first- ever defeat to San Diego State, Kelly said, “I mean, you try to compare things all the time, Ben, and I don’t understand.” As if it was Bolch’s fault that UCLA lost to a school it had a 21-0-1 record against. With a visit by No. 4 Okla- homa next week followed by road games at Washington State and Arizona, UCLA should start the season 0-5 for the second time in as many years. The results are disas- trous, but they are only part of the problem. These are the same old Bruins, missing tackles, fumbling footballs, commit- ting inexcusable penalties and allowing their oppo-

gram’s worst coach since the school was known as the Southern Branch of the University of California. “We’re 0-2, so we’re not doing a good enough job right now,” Kelly said. That’s an understated assessment, if there ever was one. “Not doing a good enough job” is what a coach of a Power 5 conference team can say when dropping a game to a comparable program. “Not doing a good enough job” doesn’t capture what’s happening here. This is an absolute calamity. The Bruins opened their season last week by losing in Cincinnati. In a little more than a season with Kelly as their coach, they are 0-4 against Group of Five conference

nents to take free shots at their quarterback. Kelly was supposed to be an offensive guru, but UCLA’s attack looks shock- ingly ordinary. On second thought, ordinary would be an up- grade. The Bruins have scored a combined 28 points in their first two games. Skepticism over the program’s direction was in full view Saturday, as the announced crowd of 36,951 fans was the fourth-smallest for a UCLA home game at the Rose Bowl. The only times the Bruins drew smaller crowds were in games against Oregon State in the early 1990s. Many of the fans who braved the infernal weather were noticeably upset by what they saw. Taking a 10-7 deficit into halftime, the

Bruins retreated to their locker room to a soundtrack of boos and whistles. The stadium emptied after a failed fourth-down attempt with 2 minutes 31 seconds remaining in the game. UCLA’s band might as well have been the orchestra on the Titanic. Images of their cheerleaders could have been used on inspira- tional posters that read, “Dance like no one is watch- ing.” Defeats like this can damage recruiting, an area in which Kelly has already encountered a surprising amount of trouble. His most celebrated class was, ironically, his first, which had to be quickly assembled. In other words, the Bru- ins don’t have a wave of five-star players coming in.

Asked why fans should stick with this team, Kelly responded, “I see what they see. We made too many mistakes to win a football game today and we certainly understand that. It’s on us to correct them. It’s not on us to tell them what to say or what to think or how to act. It’s on us to make the corrections and play better as a football team and to coach better as a coaching staff.” How optimistic is he of that happening? “I believe it will happen,” Kelly said. “I have faith in these guys.” In the long view, however, this isn’t about the players. This is about Kelly and what supporters of the program will mean when in the future they say, “Chip Bleepin’ Kelly.”

Embarrassing losses could hurt recruiting

[Hernandez,from D1]