UCLA Football: Three things fans want to see for the SDSU game

There are things UCLA fans want to see in the Bruins’ game against the Aztecs that are different from what may be needed for UCLA to defeat San Diego State.

First, from possibly the point of view of the Bruin’s coaches, UCLA football needs to do these three things to beat San Diego State:

Stop the run. San Diego State is a run-first team, and they have a strong running back in Jaylon Armstead and a quarterback in Jalen Mayden who leads the teams in total rushing yards and rushing towndowns through two games. The Bruins need to stop SDSU’s running game and force the Aztecs to pass more often than they feel comfortable doing in order to win the game.

Allow the UCLA quarterbacks time to throw.  Both UCLA quarterbacks who played against Coastal Carolina threw at least one interception. In all three cases, it appeared that the Bruin quarterbacks were being pressured and threw those interceptions to avoid a possible sack. The Bruins need to protect him from the Aztec pass rush in order to give them time to throw the ball to avoid turning the ball over. Accountability still must be on the quarterbacks for the interceptions, but giving them just a little more time to throw can cut down on the possible turnovers in their game against SDSU.

Get pressure on Jalen Mayden. Mayden is the Aztecs’ quarterback, and he is a mobile quarterback. The Bruins need to put pressure on him and make him throw under pressure. He has only passed for 85 more yards than he has rushed for this season and taking away his ability to run and forcing him to pass would more than likely benefit UCLA and their ability to slow down the Aztec offense.

These three game-day objectives are more in line with what the UCLA coaching staff is focused on in their attempt to defeat San Diego State on the road. However, now let’s take a look at what the UCLA fans want to see in the Bruins’ game against the Aztecs.