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Speaker 1: Game is over. But the intensity remains high.
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Speaker 2: This is where the game gets broken down and answered for. Time for the fallout as.
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Speaker 3: We take you into the locker room of the Scarlet and Black with the Aztec Fast Locker Room Report. Sponsored by Alaska Airlines, Mission Personal Injury.
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Speaker 1: Attorneys, Cal Coast Credit Union, Pepsi.
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Speaker 4: It's a handoff for Napier with blockers out front.
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Speaker 5: Breaks the tackle and scores.
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Speaker 1: What a job.
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Speaker 3: Collegiate Mobile, Dave and Busters, Dos Equis, and J-Lab.
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Speaker 2: Now let's get it going with your host, Ben Fletcher.
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Speaker 5: Welcome into the Aztecs locker room. Rough night for.
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Speaker 6: San Diego state as the offense never really got anything going and the defense held out for as long as possible, but eventually UCLA would get the win 28 to 10. We got plenty of time here tonight for you. The head coach, the Aztecs, Sean Lewis is going to be jumping on shortly. Feel free to text us 7 0 4 7 0 7 Start your message with.
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Speaker 5: The word team.
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Speaker 6: We'll leave some time at the end of the night for some texts while we're getting ready for JMU. Look, the defense for San Diego state really did hold out as long as possible in this game. In fact, it was about 53 minutes of nearly perfect defense for San Diego state and coach. Some but it was about seven minutes left in the game. Niko had a big play on third down. The score was seven to three. He was tackled about three yards short of the first down line by Tano Latuli in somehow squirmed and weaseled his way over the first down line, a truly terrific play by the UCLA quarterback. And from then on, it feel like that was the play that broke San Diego state's defense. So after 53 minutes of keeping the run game in check for keeping Niko completely uncomfortable all night long, it was one play that he made with the legs that really opened up the game for UCLA.
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Speaker 5: And then there was no turning back.
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Speaker 6: The final seven minutes was just a scorefest by both teams, by the way, as San Diego state got their first touchdown of the game, UCLA scored a few within the last seven minutes of the game, final score 28 to.
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Speaker 5: 10, obviously a bitter pill to swallow for.
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Speaker 6: San Diego state who knew the opportunity that they had coming into the Rose bowl tonight. It could have been the equivalent to what Cal was last year for San Diego state. When they had that dominant win over the Cal golden bears tonight could have been that. And then some considering just how the levels have changed with joining into the pack 12. So a rough night and opportunity may be missed a little bit for San Diego state. And we'll spend the next 45 minutes to an hour talking about just that. Now there was some weirdness tonight. We can all admit that it was a scoreless first half for both teams. I think that the separator on the night or one of the separators on the night was deep into the second half. When you kind of saw UCLA's defense cycling out and putting in some of their second teamers, who were fresh and getting fresh legs in on the second half, San Diego state hardly made any substitutions on the defensive side of the football all night long. And that's kind of the separator of power for a group of six, right? It's the backups and the power four are still on that same level of competition where the depth of San Diego state maybe wasn't all there. So the Aztecs, while they had fresh legs in the first half and that defense was playing dominant really all the way through the third quarter, it was the end of the fourth quarter where some running lanes started to really open up. where Niko was able to get outside of the pocket and take some big chunk plays. And it was his legs that really did become the differentiator in the second half. UCLA really, really started to lean on their quarterback and his run game, especially in the second half. Now maybe we get into this a little bit more later on and it wasn't a super consequential play, But it was a weird play. Can we talk about that inadvertent whistle there at the end on, on the Jalen Hawkins second kickoff return for a touchdown of the year that called got called back because a ref blew their whistle. It's been a hell of a start to the season for the big 10 officiating crews between what happened with Western Michigan and Michigan a week ago to a couple of different plays tonight that again, we're just sort of weird.
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Speaker 5: And it's definitely an early season storyline.
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Speaker 6: Maybe the early season storyline in college football this year is big 10 officiating, just kind of making some head scratching decisions. But if you miss the play, Jalen Hawkins kind of awkwardly received the kickoff. It bounced off his face mask. He picks it up when he's about a foot inside the end zone.
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Speaker 5: And runs it back.
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Speaker 6: But there's a whistle that blows basically as soon as he picked up the football, no reason for a whistle to blow, but it does. And so some of the UCLA guys kind of pulled up and in fact, Jalen pulled up a little bit and then everyone just decided, Oh, it's go time again. And he makes a couple of guys miss rips it all the way down the field for a touchdown. And then the ref gets on the intercom or the, the in house PA system. It says inadvertent whistle. We're replaying the play. And Brent and I kind of looked at each other here in studio. We're like, have you ever seen that before? And both our answers were no. So again, just kind of weirdness happening out at the Rose bowl in Pasadena. Now let's talk about the offense for San Diego state. We'll get back to the defense offensively for the Aztecs, very little success tonight.
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Speaker 5: And I'm talking in the run game and in the.
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Speaker 6: Past game, I think zero explosive plays outside of maybe that one touchdown pass from Jaden Denigle. But you look at his final stats on the night and you might want to close your ears a little bit for these six completions for 46 yards, one touchdown, one interception. And the touchdown was wide open, a really well-designed play actually by San Diego state. But you look at on the night, six completions for 45 yards. I'm seeing now. It's just not good enough. And it's not good enough against UCLA. Hell, it's not good enough against JMU next week against Texas state and the opener.
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Speaker 5: Like it's just, it's not good enough. You need more out of your quarterback.
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Speaker 6: And I think that some of the decision-making in that game was where the head scratching stuff comes in because a lot of the plays that were called or the, a lot of the looks that Jaden was taking were deep shots down the field.
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Speaker 5: And we didn't get too much of the intermediate action.
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Speaker 6: We'll get some more of that in just a little bit here on the Aztecs locker room report. but it seems like we're going to get the head coach of the Aztecs, Sean Lewis, any minute now here on San Diego sports, seven 60. So final score, UCLA 28, San Diego state 10, the Aztecs open up their year one and one. They'll be back home next week at Snapdragon stadium to take on James Madison. Let's get to the head coach of the Aztecs, Sean Lewis with his post-game analysis.
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Speaker 3: Time to talk to the man in charge this is Aztecs head coach Sean Lewis it's.
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Speaker 1: The Sean Lewis post game.
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Speaker 2: Report presented by Sequan Casino Resort make it yours the.
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Speaker 6: Head coach of the Aztecs always appreciate his time coach Lewis welcome on to the Aztecs locker room report I guess your first thoughts coming off the sideline after tonight's game yeah.
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Speaker 7: I mean we we need to do a great job in our preparation, in our process, and earning the right to win on Saturday. I thought the kids played extremely hard tonight. I need to do a better job leading throughout the course of the week so that we have a better week of preparation leading up into these opportunities so that we can really maximize them as we go off. So a really talented UCLA team. We knew they had a really strong rushing attack. I thought our defense played really hard and bottled them up early. There was a couple explosive runs late, and I'll see the turnover setting up the short field didn't help. there. So you do a better job on sustaining drives offensively. And, you know, just winning in the margins more than we did tonight. And that starts with the way that we prepare and that we practice throughout the course of the week.
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Speaker 6: .
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Speaker 7: he's fine. He got the wind knocked out of them there at the end, obviously before the score was, you know, it was time to get some run for the younger guys and, you know, get the guys that we know are good players out of harm's way there.
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Speaker 5: Speaker 0 5,0 All right.
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Speaker 6: Now in terms of Jayden's play on the field, it seemed like it was a combination of some overthrows early, a couple of drops in the first half and maybe some really good corner play by UCLA. They got one of the better ones in the country, but just 45 passing yards on the night for Jayden. What'd you think about his play tonight?
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Speaker 7: Yeah, I mean, I thought the decision-making process was good. There's some things technically that we've got to refine, we've got to clean up. And, you know, again, that starts with the way that I lead in practice, the time that we're devoting to, you know, certain techniques and fundamentals that we know are going to have to show up and carry over. So we'll assess what we're doing there. Obviously, now that that's on tape, we know that we're going to get challenged that way from other teams. It's a way that we've been challenged in the past as well, obviously given the strength of our rushing attack.
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Speaker 5: Coach of the defense.
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Speaker 6: We talked about it, but they held out so long tonight. It was about 53 minutes of damn good defense from San Diego state tonight.
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Speaker 5: And it seemed like there was one play.
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Speaker 6: It was a Nico who got kind of wrapped up by Tano Latuli. And he just makes an athlete play and stretches out to get the first down with about three with about seven minutes left in the game. That play, it felt like once that happened, the defense just kind of broke a little bit. How'd you feel about the boys on that side and the job coach some did.
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Speaker 7: Yeah, I thought they flew around. I thought they played extremely hard. Again, they were out there for a lot, right? And that's where, again, we got to, in all three phases, play complimentary football with one another. But I really thought there was growth defensively from week one to week two. Obviously, some of the things that we discussed at the end of week one that we needed to shore up, we did. And there's still a lot of good that we can grow from there as we go forward.
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Speaker 6: Seems like coach Chesney really went to trusting his quarterback's legs in the second half. What, how do you feel like your defense responded to Nico started to run a little bit more?
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Speaker 7: Yeah, I mean, again, if an opponent starts doing that, it's because you've bottled up their run game and they're looking to get plus one runs. So you have to have respect. Obviously, he's a dynamic athlete that can hurt you with both his arms and his legs, forces one-on-one tackles. As you alluded to, he made some plays, we made some plays. That's the way that the game's going to go, especially in these high-stake ones, right, where one-on-one opportunities are going to occur. So we've got to continue to do a great job preparing accordingly, the right way, and then earn the right to win on Saturday because of how we do our work throughout the course of the week.
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Speaker 2: Coach.
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Speaker 6: Appreciate your time tonight. Good luck getting ready for JMU. We'll talk to you throughout the week here on seven 60.
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Speaker 5: Sounds good guys.
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Speaker 7: Thank you.
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Speaker 5: Head coach of the Aztecs. Sean Lewis joining us here. Post game. Always appreciate his time.
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Speaker 6: And the Sean Lewis post game report is presented by Saquon casino resort.
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Speaker 5: You can make it yours.
00:10:01
Speaker 7: All right.
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Speaker 5: It is San Diego sports, seven 60.
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Speaker 6: We'll hang on for a little bit here as we kind of talk through the events of the last three or four hours or so since four 15, when this game kicked off of a final score, UCLA 28, San Diego state 10.
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Speaker 5: We kind of talked through a few of the things with coach Lewis there.
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Speaker 6: Just the lack of success in the passing game, as well as the defense kind of just hitting their breaking point there in the fourth quarter. We'll continue to break it down. If you want to jump in, you are more than welcome to text us 7 0 4 7 0. Start your message with the word team. My name is Ben Fletcher with you here for another 40 minutes or so on San Diego sports, seven 60 live on the heart radio app.
00:10:39
Speaker 1: Find out who.
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Speaker 2: Made the difference as we look at the play of the game.
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Speaker 1: Easy to drink, easy to enjoy.
00:10:47
Speaker 4: San Diego State will look to hold here on a first and goal from the 7-2 all right. It's 7-3 Bruins. There's 7.25 remaining in the game. Knight out of the pistol. and the shotgun takes the snap, hands it off. And it is going to be night fighting the edge and he's in for a second score today. And UCLA extends their.
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Speaker 6: Lead way night with a hell of a night for UCLA tonight. He had three more touchdowns adding onto his three touchdowns from game number one against Cal way night in two games has stacked up six touchdowns for UCLA as a total. The team has just rushing touchdowns galore to start the year. Cause his running mate also scored two touchdowns last week against Cal.
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Speaker 5: So UCLA is rushing attack proving early. They are one of the more lethal attacks in the country.
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Speaker 6: The play of the game is brought to you by Bud light, easy to drink, easy to enjoy that touchdown run by Wayne night happened with seven minutes and 17 seconds on the clock in the fourth quarter.
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Speaker 5: Before that final seven minutes.
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Speaker 6: This was an incredibly tightly contested game. I hate the cliche of it's a lot closer than the final score was. This is kind of the epitome of it being a lot closer than the final score was. That first half was 0-0. It was neither team really had the edge. If UCLA would make a big play in the first half, San Diego State's defense would make a big play right back. And then throughout the entire third quarter as well, they had the early touchdown on UCLA's first drive at the second half, I believe, which was also a Wayne Knight touchdown.
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Speaker 5: And then San Diego state was able to come.
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Speaker 6: Back and on their first drive of the fourth quarter, knocked through a field goal, making it seven, three. And then that play that we talked about a little bit happened where Nico, the quarterback for UCLA looked like he was tackled four or five yards short of a first down by Tano Latuli. It makes a really, really athletic play using all six foot, six inches of his frame to stretch out and get a first down to extend a drive. And then Wayne Knight would finish that drive up with the seven yard touchdown run you just heard. So that is your play of the game brought to you by Bud Light. Easy to drink, easy to enjoy. You can text us 70470 if you would like to. If you want to be a part of the postgame show here tonight, 70470. Start your message with the word team. We'll have some time from some reaction from you a little bit later on on the night. But I think if we're just tying a bow on this game itself. There's a lot to like.
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Speaker 5: Out of San Diego state's defense.
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Speaker 6: And that was true a year ago. That's true here tonight. I think coach some has done a hell of a job picking up right where the defense left off a year ago with coach Rob Alrich. And he's doing it with essentially 10 new starters on the defensive side of the football with Tano Latuli really being the only starter who played a ton of minutes last year as the guy back, they play with the same ferocity that they played with a year ago. I would say where the defense hurts is is it's not a very deep defense, at least as of right now. Obviously, as the season goes on, we're going to meet a lot of new guys on this defense who we probably haven't seen play a ton yet, who will jump in and kind of adopt that Aztec warrior mentality on the defensive side. But what I'll say for you right now is maybe our preseason notions of what this team was were a little bit wrong, which I happen to think that because of how many people the offense were returning, that the first few weeks, the offense would be far ahead of the defense.
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Speaker 5: I don't know that that's true.
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Speaker 6: Maybe in week one, it was against Portland state against the team that You were bigger than you were stronger than you were faster than, but tonight against the team who was probably a little bigger, stronger, faster than you, the defense held tough. The offense looked pretty overmatched. Now UCLA has one of the best corners in the country. They have a really, really good secondary and a couple of people on the defensive line who can really mash, but San Diego state's offense was not up for the task here tonight. And that's the part where I'm just a little disappointed.
00:14:35
Speaker 5: Things will change.
00:14:36
Speaker 7: We're early.
00:14:37
Speaker 5: That's game number two for San Diego state.
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Speaker 6: I think, and I was kind of having this conversation with myself throughout the game. It doesn't seem like they know who their number one receiver is right now. And that's a bit of a problem, a problem that time will solve. But as of right now, it seems like Jaden doesn't quite have that comfortability. Like he had early in the season last year with Jacob Bostic on some of those deep routes.
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Speaker 5: I think it was three times tonight.
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Speaker 6: He targeted Donovan Brown on deep shots in something was just a little bit out of sync.
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Speaker 5: Like I said to coach Lewis.
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Speaker 6: Either the ball was overthrown or or it was a drop or the coverage was, he was thrown into double coverage deep. And I really think if they could figure out a way, especially next week to find some intermediate routes that get Jaden started and get some momentum heading into the game, I feel like that's going to do him a ton of benefits. So we'll see next week is a brand new week and you got a whole week of preparation and get ready for JMU.
00:15:28
Speaker 5: Guess what?
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Speaker 6: They got an awesome offense as well. They just put up a ton of points. And so that's what they're going to come in and try to do at Snapdragon stadium. And the Aztecs defense will have to be ready to go. Now, if we're going to try to take some positives away from tonight, which I always like to do, UCLA put up a 40 burger on Cal just seven days ago, San Diego state until that last kind of garbage time, touchdown had UCLA at 21.
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Speaker 5: And in fact, until seven minutes left in the.
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Speaker 6: Game, they had them at seven San Diego state's defenses for real San Diego state's defense is legit. and against teams that they're a little more on par with recruiting wise. It's going to look very, very good throughout the rest of this season tonight. It looked really, really good for 53 minutes. You need to figure out a way to make that 60 minutes. Now the offense started taking some more risks late in the game that put the defense in some disadvantageous positions. And so UCLA was kind of able to run up the score a little bit, but this San Diego state defense is for real. And I feel really confident in that loved what the secondary.
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Speaker 5: Had to do today.
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Speaker 6: Really just Two big explosive pass plays are all I can remember. And in a college football game here in 2026, it's pretty good to hold the team to two explosive passing plays. The run really was bottled up all night until the final seven minutes when Wayne Knight really got going. And I think that the run up the middle with the running backs got going because of how good Nico got running the ball on the outside. And it wasn't all planned runs for Nico. It was a lot of the pocket was starting to break down. He got outside and ran and would just pick up 10, 12 yards.
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Speaker 5: And that happened a number of times in the second half.
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Speaker 6: So San Diego state's gonna face some mobile quarterbacks in the pack 12.
00:17:02
Speaker 5: That's something they're gonna have to adjust to. And a lot of this is on tape.
00:17:04
Speaker 6: Now, this is why you play these non-conference games to put yourself in the best position by the time that the conference comes around.
00:17:11
Speaker 5: But there's definitely some stuff to build on.
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Speaker 6: I thought last week after the Portland state game, there was three or four parts of that game where I was like, Ooh, these need to be right away adjusted for San Diego state. Cause there's some stuff that just won't fly against the UCLA of the world. Definitely against the Boise states of the world. And San Diego state will do that, but there's more stuff to clean up this week. And I'm sure that they'll be getting in the film room. They'll be getting back out on the practice field on the Mesa and they'll be ready to go for Saturday night at snap dragon stadium to take on JMU who once again are looking like a real legit team, 28, 10 final score, probably a rough pill to swallow. I think a lot of Aztec fans, myself included, we're looking at tonight as a huge opportunity for San Diego state, not the end all be all by the way, this wasn't a must win game.
00:17:54
Speaker 5: This was a must compete game.
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Speaker 6: And San Diego State absolutely competed for 53 minutes. So you take from that what you want to. And San Diego State wasn't supposed to win this game. They were dogged by 12 and a half, I think, coming into it. And they didn't get it done here tonight. It would have been incredible if they had gotten it done. We talked about it a little bit pregame. But with a win tonight, San Diego State would vault themselves to the top of the group of six. They would vault themselves to every major outlet covering college football, the top of their college football playoff ranking from the group of six. but they didn't get it done tonight. So now time to go back home, strap up the boots, get ready for JMU. Cause you still have a crack at it. You still have a very, very real path at it. And this team has shown a lot through a couple of games, but what it needs to show more of is success on the offensive side of the football. I'm a little surprised. We haven't seen it yet, to be honest. And I think a lot of Aztec fans are, but we'll see it. I feel confident in that. I feel confident in the fact that Jaden Denigal is maybe still a little jumpy through the first couple of games. Remember he is still recovering from that surgery he had in the off season. Maybe there's a little bit of lack of trust with his arm at this point. I think job number one is for Jaden to figure out who that number one receiver is. If it's going to be Donovan Brown, maybe it's more time on the practice field with him and Donovan. If it's going to be Nathan Acevedo, maybe it's more practice time with him. Jordan Napier has been awfully quiet through the first two games of the season.
00:19:14
Speaker 5: We know what he's capable of.
00:19:15
Speaker 6: He's also recovering from an injury, but they just have little things to figure out like that. Another positive I'll say lucky sudden looked a whole hell of a lot better today than he did in game one, which I know is crazy to say, because in game one, lucky son had three touchdowns, but he didn't quite look like lucky. Two of those were goal line opportunities. One of them was a 12 yard touchdown run. But tonight, I feel like he got his burst back. He kind of got his nose down, run forward back. And I thought Lucky looked a lot better tonight. And Chopkinard really impressed me again. So rushing yards, I was fine with how San Diego State ran the football. My problems were all with how San Diego State passed the football. but they finished with one 44 on the ground. And you would think that had they had more longer extended drives, that number easily could have crossed over 200. And then you think about the little moments right in the first half, the throw down the right sideline to Donovan Brown, which he was wide open and he had a step on his guy. If that gets converted, that is a touchdown for San Diego state. So little things like that, man, they come back to bite you. They come back to bite you in a big way, especially in a game that was as scoreless as it was for as long as it was, but San Diego state doesn't get the job done tonight. We'll see if they can get it done next week. 2810 was your final score. That play of the game was from Wayne Knight, the running back for UCLA, who now has six touchdowns, six touchdowns on the year so far for Wayne Knight.
00:20:33
Speaker 7: Crazy.
00:20:34
Speaker 5: Is that how he's been watching? I think it has to be.
00:20:35
Speaker 6: Does anyone else have six touchdowns on the year so far? So Wayne Knight having a hell of a start to his year. UCLA 2-0 to start the year. San Diego State falling to 1-1. Take a quick break here. On the other side, we'll name you the player of the game brought to you by Pepsi. That's next on the Aztecs. Locker Room Report here on San Diego Sports 760.
00:20:55
Speaker 1: Who is the standout for the Aztecs? Find out right now as we name the player of the game. Brought to you by Pepsi.
00:21:02
Speaker 7: Take your fandom to the next level with an ice cold Pepsi.
00:21:06
Speaker 4: Formation, Knight the tailback, Nico the quarterback. And on second down, a call for the snap. And he's going to hand it off for Knight.
00:21:14
Speaker 5: And Knight breaks free.
00:21:15
Speaker 2: There he goes.
00:21:16
Speaker 5: Four, six more.
00:21:18
Speaker 4: His third today.
00:21:20
Speaker 5: Four rushing touchdowns for the Bruins. It's now 27-10.
00:21:25
Speaker 6: Wayne Knight broke through. He is the player of the game tonight presented by Pepsi. Take your fan to the next level with an ice cold, refreshing Pepsi man.
00:21:33
Speaker 5: A Pepsi does sound good right now.
00:21:35
Speaker 6: A way night, three touchdowns on the night for UCLA. What was his final rushing total in terms of yardage? 97 yards, just under the a hundred yard threshold on 13 attempts. He and quarterback Nico both went rushed 13 times. Nico had 57 yards on a long at 25. That one was down the right sideline. Wayne Knight, that 36 yard touchdown run near the end of the game. There was kind of after the game was in hand, San Diego state had attempted an onsite kick.
00:22:01
Speaker 5: They didn't get it.
00:22:02
Speaker 6: And then just a couple of plays later, that was Wayne Knight's biggest run of the night and his biggest touchdown on the season. So far three touchdowns for Wayne Knight tonight. He's up to six on the season. Incredibly impressive start to the year for UCLA is running back. Text line is lit up.
00:22:17
Speaker 5: We got a lot of them.
00:22:17
Speaker 6: We'll get to them in just a little bit. 7 0 4 7 0. Start your message with the word team. We could react to this one altogether.
00:22:24
Speaker 5: Final score.
00:22:24
Speaker 6: If you missed it, 28, 10 San Diego state loses and kind of the recap of the game, which it's going to be hard to believe. Probably if you're listening score was 0 0 at halftime score was seven to three at the end of the third quarter touchdowns really didn't start coming for either team until there was about seven minutes left in the game.
00:22:43
Speaker 5: And then it was a bit of a touchdown fest.
00:22:45
Speaker 6: But to win the two teams with San Diego State getting into pay dirt once, UCLA getting into pay dirt three times in the final seven minutes, four times total on the night. I think that if you're an Aztec fan here tonight, you're probably a little bit frustrated in the offense. And I understand that. Coach Lewis was frustrated in the offense too. If you missed it, he joined us just a little bit ago. You'll be able to listen back to the podcast probably an hour or so after the game or after we finish up here tonight. But I think the biggest takeaway for you tonight is that That defense just hung really, really tough with a team that just dropped 40 plus points on Cal a week ago. This game was a low scoring game for the majority of it. It wasn't until the very end when the offense started to take some risks that defense really gave up the big ones.
00:23:26
Speaker 5: And that's understandable, right?
00:23:27
Speaker 6: But with seven minutes left in this game, it was seven to three with a third and seven. on the line and Nico email lava or whatever his name is making a huge play at the very end. So for San Diego state, I was very impressed with the defense tonight. The offense left a lot to be desired in 2026. You probably can't win many games with your quarterback only throwing for 45 yards. And that's what San Diego state was dealing with tonight. And we talked a lot about it, but it was, there was very little, if any intermediate passing plays for San Diego state today. Now I don't know the answer to whether It was how the plays were called or whether it.
00:24:03
Speaker 5: Was the decisions Jaden Denigle was making.
00:24:05
Speaker 6: Because I will say this, a lot of the deep balls he was throwing, the receivers were open. Donovan Brown routinely had a step on the cornerbacks today. Now the cornerbacks for UCLA have incredible closing speed and they were doing so tonight while the ball was in the air. But there were a couple of plays, especially in the first half, that deep ball to Donovan Brown down the sideline could have completely changed the game. But it was overthrown by about five yards. And I think a lot goes into that. a lot goes into that. Jaden Denigold does have a surgically repaired shoulder from this off season. He might still be working out some of the kinks with that. And I think playing in the Rose bowl has something to do with that too. A historic venue, really good defense you're playing against. How many of us would be able to throw that ball perfectly? I don't know, but that's what Jaden Denigold is there for. And he's got to make those throws. And I do think he will make those throws later in the season. But right now that was, that was a frustrating night. If you were hoping for some fireworks from the Aztecs offense. And it wasn't just him, right? There were some drops by the wide receivers for the Aztecs, but I think the majority of the, the lack of success on offense comes down to the play of Jaden Denigle tonight, which is unfortunate, but it's also a learning experience. And hopefully coming out next week, like I have all the faith in the world that Jaden Denigle will be right back to that guy who found justice low for the 40 yard touchdown a week ago against Portland state. So lots of rooms to grow, especially on the offensive side of the football, but the rushing attack was good. I'll tell you an underrated part of tonight. was the offensive line in run protection. I thought the big fellows up front did a really, really nice job opening up holes for chop canard and for lucky Sutton. And I thought lucky and chop did a really good job of hitting the hole.
00:25:42
Speaker 5: The run game. Wasn't the issue for the Aztecs tonight. Past protection could use a little work.
00:25:46
Speaker 6: It seems like UCLA's defensive line was on top of Jaden for quite a bit of the night. He took a big hit, a huge hit in the second half. Coach Lewis telling us afterwards, he got the wind knocked out of him. And I think that was the last drive Jaden played. But it was a big hit, man. Nothing will wake you up quite like that. And so for Jaden Denigle, hopefully those ribs are okay, but he'll have a full week to get ready for JMU. And we'll see him back out there next week against a very good JMU team. All right, quick break here. We'll read some of your texts on the other side. It's San Diego sports, seven 60 final score, 28, 10 UCLA with the wind, San Diego state falling to one-on-one on the season, UCLA. improving to two and O and in back-to-back weeks, UCLA doesn't turn it on fully until the fourth quarter back-to-back weeks with three plus touchdowns in the fourth quarter for UCLA. Very impressive late team, very impressive late team. All right, quick break texts on the other side. We'll get you ready for JMU. Plus tell you about a packed play by play day coming up tomorrow here on seven 60.
00:26:43
Speaker 1: Now we return to the Aztecs wrap-up show. Just make the play. We're in the backyard, man. It's like when we were little. Taking a look back at tonight's game with stats and highlights. Back to Ben Fletcher.
00:26:53
Speaker 6: For a final time here, it's the Aztecs locker room.
00:26:56
Speaker 5: Ben Fletcher with you. Thank you for being here.
00:26:58
Speaker 6: If you're looking forward to more episodes of the Aztecs locker room, make sure you go subscribe and add us to your presets on the free iHeartRadio app.
00:27:04
Speaker 5: Easy to do.
00:27:05
Speaker 6: Just find the little plus icon after you search the Aztecs locker room.
00:27:08
Speaker 5: You can find us there. All right.
00:27:10
Speaker 6: Saturday, September 12th ends up being a really, really good day in college football all around. In fact, we got a hell of a game going on between number one, Ohio state and number four, Texas 23, 17, 51 seconds left. Ohio state in the lead, Texas threatening on the goal line.
00:27:26
Speaker 5: Really impressive.
00:27:27
Speaker 6: Come from behind effort for the Texas Longhorns here tonight out of Austin.
00:27:32
Speaker 5: All right.
00:27:32
Speaker 6: Around the top 25 tonight and the PAC 12 for some of them here, Oregon state really, really threatening Texas tech and a hell of a game. Oregon state trailing by four, two and a half minutes left. Texas tech has the ball 28, 24 with the lead in Utah, Arkansas and Utah, just getting going a minute left in the first quarter, seven, three Utah in the lead USC taking on Louisiana tonight, that game just getting going as well. Tennessee and Georgia tech went final earlier today. Tennessee put the beat down on them out in Atlanta, Georgia, 45, 24, final score LSU handled business against Louisiana tech, 45, 14, Iowa took down Iowa state 16 to 13 in a closely competed game. Ole miss got the win 41, nine over Charlotte in Oxford, Georgia, number two in the country beat Western Kentucky 70 to 20. I believe this was another one of those games by the way, where they just put 10 minutes on the clock for the fourth quarter, which I don't know how that's legal, but it's happened twice now in college football, Notre Dame and rice number three, Notre Dame beats rice 52 to nothing. Indiana take down Howard 55 to nothing. Number six, Oregon is the stunner of the day. on the road at Oklahoma state, Oklahoma state.
00:28:43
Speaker 5: Did something today.
00:28:44
Speaker 6: That's never been done in college football, 39 31, Oklahoma state wins the game. The first time ever a 10 game losing streak has been snapped by facing off with a top 10 opponent in Oregon. Who was ranked number six coming into the day, big result earlier today, Michigan who had all the controversy in the world around them in week one with that Michigan, Western Michigan game gets the win over number 11, Oklahoma.
00:29:09
Speaker 5: College football, man. You never know what's going to happen.
00:29:11
Speaker 6: Chaos has ensued in the pack 12 tonight, plenty of action going on, not just with San Diego state.
00:29:16
Speaker 5: I mentioned Texas tech and Oregon.
00:29:18
Speaker 6: They have hit the two minute warning or what are they called in college football?
00:29:22
Speaker 5: Now the two minutes stoppage time. That's what it is. 28, 24, Texas tech in the lead.
00:29:28
Speaker 6: We'll see if Oregon state can Mount a comeback here in the final couple of minutes, Sacramento state, Fresno state, just getting going there five minutes left in the first quarter.
00:29:35
Speaker 5: Nothing, nothing.
00:29:36
Speaker 6: You dub in Utah state, very close game up in Washington today. 1614 was the final score. You dub getting the wind Texas state falls there now. Oh, and two to UTSA 31 26 at Texas state Washington state falls to Kansas state 34 to seven Memphis loses to Boise state. And that's a big result for San Diego state, Boise state improving to one-on-one Memphis dropping to two and one 38 20 was the final score. Maddox Madsen had himself a night man through for a touchdown, ran for a touchdown and Dylan Riley, that excellent running back had 206 yards on the night. But Boise state winning that game is big for the pack 12 because Memphis has already beaten UNLV so far this year, UNLV expected to be the best out of the mountain West this year.
00:30:20
Speaker 5: So pack 12.
00:30:21
Speaker 6: Showing some early gains over some of the other conferences who are behind them. As of now, Colorado state improves to two and oh, they beat Southern Utah 58 to 24.
00:30:32
Speaker 5: And of course here in San Diego.
00:30:34
Speaker 6: The Aztecs lose actually in Pasadena 28 to 10 final score UCLA with 21 fourth quarter points to take down the Aztecs. Let's get to some of these texts here tonight. We will start with this one from The six one nine. It was almost the exact same score as when we played UCLA last time in 2023, when it was 35, 10, but this game was much more competitive, much more competitive. I remember that game at snap dragon stadium as sex, never really in it. In that one, they were in it the entire night tonight until about seven minutes left in the game. 7 1 4 Denigal did not do anything productive today. The defense turned in an excellent effort, but if we continue to be one dimensional on offense, the defense is going to be on the field long enough for opposing teams to wear them down.
00:31:19
Speaker 5: Change at QB incoming. I doubt it. 7 1 4.
00:31:21
Speaker 6: I doubt any change at quarterback is coming. Then it goes a good quarterback, man. He's going through some stuff right now. He was not good tonight. He is a good quarterback. And I think we've seen enough to know that, but he's going to have to get better in a hurry here. JMU, not an easy opponent coming in. And by the way, UCLA does have some of the better cornerbacks in the country, especially one of them, I'm blanking on his name right now, but he is excellent.
00:31:45
Speaker 5: Probably going to be playing in the NFL next year. Seven, five, seven.
00:31:49
Speaker 6: Welcome in use was UCLA's past defense that good. The Denigal couldn't make any reads to other receivers or did it seem like he was just chucking the ball downfield because they thought there was a flaw of UCLA secondary. Thanks from Jason in point Loma. We've talked about that a lot, Jason. Thank you for texting by the way. It seemed like there just wasn't Jaden was not finding any five to 10 to 15 yard intermediate routes. And a lot of the throws down the field, the big shots he was taking receivers did have a step or it was single coverage and you were trusting your guys, none of them hit.
00:32:22
Speaker 5: And that's a problem. But imagine if one of them.
00:32:25
Speaker 6: Does, especially in the first half that throw to Donovan Brown, that would have been just such an opportunity for San Diego state to go into halftime with a seven, nothing lead.
00:32:32
Speaker 5: That would have been huge.
00:32:33
Speaker 6: Probably changes the outcome of the game, but it was an overthrow and there was a couple of drops and that stuff happens. But football being a game of inches, if one, one of those hit things could have been very, very different. And also UCLA is past defense is excellent.
00:32:46
Speaker 5: For one three.
00:32:47
Speaker 6: Why no passes five to 10 yards downfield. Is it the quarterback or the play calling or both? We just can't play with this bad at quarterback this season.
00:32:56
Speaker 5: Yeah.
00:32:57
Speaker 6: Same thing we've been saying, man, it's tough. Five to 10 yards downfield was a missed opportunity here tonight. And I'm sure they'll get back to it next week.
00:33:03
Speaker 5: Eight, five, eight.
00:33:04
Speaker 6: Hey, I thought the offense was going to be really strong, but so far, extremely disappointing, horrible play from Denigal and what's going on with the wide receivers. That was supposed to be a real strength this year. In terms of the wide receivers, two of your main ones from a year ago are still working their way back from injury. We haven't really heard a lot from Napier or Bostic yet this year. Both of them had serious knee injuries a year ago. So I think as those guys get worked back in, things will start to get a little bit better. You're also dealing with a couple of new guys. Bert Emanuel Jr., the former backup quarterback, turn wide receiver. He was in there a few plays tonight. Looked good. Nathan Acevedo, young guy from the very end of last year. He looked good once again tonight. But it's going to take a little bit of time, I think, with the receivers. They are incredibly deep at receiver level. But the connection doesn't seem to be there. And it's something we talked about a lot tonight is that he, Jaden Denigle seems to have not found his clear cut number one this year, where if you remember a year ago, early in the season, before he got hurt, it was clearly Jacob Bostic through the first couple of games. And a couple of those big, deep 40 yard connections were there early in the season. And then it transitioned to Jordan Napier, to Nathan Acevedo towards the end of the season. And so he hasn't figured out who that guy is yet.
00:34:12
Speaker 5: I'm sure he will.
00:34:14
Speaker 6: Let's see. 619 concur with all your thoughts on defense. However, this offense was flat out overmatched and exposed. No tight end play at all. Receivers absolutely poor play calls from the staff were awful. They have dozens of hours and practice and spring ball should at least be competitive on offense.
00:34:29
Speaker 5: They'll get better, man.
00:34:30
Speaker 6: 619 on the big 10 telecast. They said that the ref crew was from the pack 12.
00:34:34
Speaker 1: Interesting.
00:34:35
Speaker 6: I thought this was a big 10 crew. I did not hear that on the broadcast, but A Schaefer's impression. My impression was that this was a big 10 group and the big tens had a rough couple of weeks of officiating.
00:34:47
Speaker 5: Maybe I'm wrong on that. Thank you. 6 1 9. Thank you for listening. 9 1 6. I liked our punter Dorji. So did I. And he has a very different way of punting. Doesn't he?
00:34:57
Speaker 6: They're all like line shots, but he's creative with the angles. I think a couple of them didn't work out tonight, but it is very different. Like we remember at San Diego state, Matt horizon, Jack Browning, and the big high arcing deep punts that they would hit. this is a little bit different, but I kind of like it too. It's it's he's using the angles to his advantage. He's hitting some line drives, trying to pin guys deep. He's got a little bit of swagger about him. I like him too. So curious to see how this continues to develop San Diego state, whether they've earned it or not.
00:35:26
Speaker 5: And they have.
00:35:27
Speaker 6: I mean, punter, you as a thing, you got two partners over the last six, seven years who are playing on Sundays now, Jack Browning with the Cardinals most recently.
00:35:36
Speaker 5: So yeah, it's a, he is fun.
00:35:37
Speaker 6: Dorji is a fun little punter for San Diego state. It will see if he continues to improve. And if he can get those line drive ones where he's getting them out at the seven, the eight yard line multiple times this year, that'll.
00:35:48
Speaker 5: Be a big strength for San Diego state. All right.
00:35:51
Speaker 6: Text line close seven zero four seven zero. Start your message with team. I'll start answering them again on Monday at noon. Coming up tomorrow here on San Diego sports, seven 60, big, big day.
00:36:01
Speaker 5: The NFL's first Sunday.
00:36:02
Speaker 6: We'll get things kicked off at nine 30 tomorrow morning bills and Texans massive game where CJ Stroud begins his campaign to see if he's going to get a contract at the end of this year with the Houston Texans, a one 25 dolphins at Raiders, a winnable game for the Raiders. How many of those are going to be on the board this year? I don't know, but week one, they got one. And also Chris Johnson will make his debut in that game. The excellent cornerback from San Diego state. We'll be playing against the Raiders tomorrow, five 30 MLS action, SDFC hosting Philadelphia union, Adrian Garcia, Marquez, and Darren Smith will be on the call right here on San Diego sports, seven 60.
00:36:38
Speaker 5: If you haven't done so yet, add us to your presets, the.
00:36:41
Speaker 6: Station, San Diego sports, seven 60 on the free. I heart radio app. Also the Aztecs locker room. So you can get all of these games, all of these postgame shows straight to your phone.
00:36:49
Speaker 5: As soon as they're done.
00:36:50
Speaker 6: If you missed the interview with Sean Lewis, he had a lot of really good thoughts on tonight's game. So you're going to make, want to make sure to go back and listen to that. Follow me on social media at Fletch sports, follow John Schaefer at John Schaefer.com. We'll keep you up to date on everything that goes down with the Aztecs this week. And then Thursday night, a brand new edition of the Sean Lewis coaches show here on seven 60 at six o'clock. Thank you for being here tonight. Thank you to Mike Usher up in Pasadena, John and rich on the call.
00:37:15
Speaker 2: J.R.
00:37:15
Speaker 5: Tolver, my pregame co-host Tim piles on the highlights tonight.
00:37:19
Speaker 6: And of course, Brent's Perry. running the ones and twos all night long. My name is Ben Fletcher. I will see you Monday, starting at noon with the Fletch Zone on San Diego Sports 760.
00:37:28
Speaker 5: This has been the Aztecs Wrap-Up Show.
00:37:31
Speaker 3: You've been listening to the Aztec Fast Locker Room Report.
00:37:34
Speaker 2: Brought to you by Alaska Airlines, Mission Personal Injury Attorneys.
00:37:39
Speaker 1: Cal Coast Credit Union. Pepsi. From the one, handoff to Sutton.
00:37:43
Speaker 4: He is near the end zone and in for the Aztec touchdown.
00:37:46
Speaker 1: Collegiate Mobile. Dave and Busters. Dos Equis. And J-Lab.
00:37:51
Speaker 2: Listen all season long for every second of San Diego State football as they roll through their first season in the Pac-12.
00:37:58
Speaker 1: Right here on the Aztecs Radio Network.
Speaker 1: Game is over. But the intensity remains high.
00:00:06
Speaker 2: This is where the game gets broken down and answered for. Time for the fallout as.
00:00:14
Speaker 3: We take you into the locker room of the Scarlet and Black with the Aztec Fast Locker Room Report. Sponsored by Alaska Airlines, Mission Personal Injury.
00:00:23
Speaker 1: Attorneys, Cal Coast Credit Union, Pepsi.
00:00:26
Speaker 4: It's a handoff for Napier with blockers out front.
00:00:29
Speaker 5: Breaks the tackle and scores.
00:00:31
Speaker 1: What a job.
00:00:33
Speaker 3: Collegiate Mobile, Dave and Busters, Dos Equis, and J-Lab.
00:00:37
Speaker 2: Now let's get it going with your host, Ben Fletcher.
00:00:43
Speaker 5: Welcome into the Aztecs locker room. Rough night for.
00:00:46
Speaker 6: San Diego state as the offense never really got anything going and the defense held out for as long as possible, but eventually UCLA would get the win 28 to 10. We got plenty of time here tonight for you. The head coach, the Aztecs, Sean Lewis is going to be jumping on shortly. Feel free to text us 7 0 4 7 0 7 Start your message with.
00:01:05
Speaker 5: The word team.
00:01:06
Speaker 6: We'll leave some time at the end of the night for some texts while we're getting ready for JMU. Look, the defense for San Diego state really did hold out as long as possible in this game. In fact, it was about 53 minutes of nearly perfect defense for San Diego state and coach. Some but it was about seven minutes left in the game. Niko had a big play on third down. The score was seven to three. He was tackled about three yards short of the first down line by Tano Latuli in somehow squirmed and weaseled his way over the first down line, a truly terrific play by the UCLA quarterback. And from then on, it feel like that was the play that broke San Diego state's defense. So after 53 minutes of keeping the run game in check for keeping Niko completely uncomfortable all night long, it was one play that he made with the legs that really opened up the game for UCLA.
00:01:53
Speaker 5: And then there was no turning back.
00:01:54
Speaker 6: The final seven minutes was just a scorefest by both teams, by the way, as San Diego state got their first touchdown of the game, UCLA scored a few within the last seven minutes of the game, final score 28 to.
00:02:06
Speaker 5: 10, obviously a bitter pill to swallow for.
00:02:08
Speaker 6: San Diego state who knew the opportunity that they had coming into the Rose bowl tonight. It could have been the equivalent to what Cal was last year for San Diego state. When they had that dominant win over the Cal golden bears tonight could have been that. And then some considering just how the levels have changed with joining into the pack 12. So a rough night and opportunity may be missed a little bit for San Diego state. And we'll spend the next 45 minutes to an hour talking about just that. Now there was some weirdness tonight. We can all admit that it was a scoreless first half for both teams. I think that the separator on the night or one of the separators on the night was deep into the second half. When you kind of saw UCLA's defense cycling out and putting in some of their second teamers, who were fresh and getting fresh legs in on the second half, San Diego state hardly made any substitutions on the defensive side of the football all night long. And that's kind of the separator of power for a group of six, right? It's the backups and the power four are still on that same level of competition where the depth of San Diego state maybe wasn't all there. So the Aztecs, while they had fresh legs in the first half and that defense was playing dominant really all the way through the third quarter, it was the end of the fourth quarter where some running lanes started to really open up. where Niko was able to get outside of the pocket and take some big chunk plays. And it was his legs that really did become the differentiator in the second half. UCLA really, really started to lean on their quarterback and his run game, especially in the second half. Now maybe we get into this a little bit more later on and it wasn't a super consequential play, But it was a weird play. Can we talk about that inadvertent whistle there at the end on, on the Jalen Hawkins second kickoff return for a touchdown of the year that called got called back because a ref blew their whistle. It's been a hell of a start to the season for the big 10 officiating crews between what happened with Western Michigan and Michigan a week ago to a couple of different plays tonight that again, we're just sort of weird.
00:03:57
Speaker 5: And it's definitely an early season storyline.
00:04:00
Speaker 6: Maybe the early season storyline in college football this year is big 10 officiating, just kind of making some head scratching decisions. But if you miss the play, Jalen Hawkins kind of awkwardly received the kickoff. It bounced off his face mask. He picks it up when he's about a foot inside the end zone.
00:04:16
Speaker 5: And runs it back.
00:04:17
Speaker 6: But there's a whistle that blows basically as soon as he picked up the football, no reason for a whistle to blow, but it does. And so some of the UCLA guys kind of pulled up and in fact, Jalen pulled up a little bit and then everyone just decided, Oh, it's go time again. And he makes a couple of guys miss rips it all the way down the field for a touchdown. And then the ref gets on the intercom or the, the in house PA system. It says inadvertent whistle. We're replaying the play. And Brent and I kind of looked at each other here in studio. We're like, have you ever seen that before? And both our answers were no. So again, just kind of weirdness happening out at the Rose bowl in Pasadena. Now let's talk about the offense for San Diego state. We'll get back to the defense offensively for the Aztecs, very little success tonight.
00:04:57
Speaker 5: And I'm talking in the run game and in the.
00:04:59
Speaker 6: Past game, I think zero explosive plays outside of maybe that one touchdown pass from Jaden Denigle. But you look at his final stats on the night and you might want to close your ears a little bit for these six completions for 46 yards, one touchdown, one interception. And the touchdown was wide open, a really well-designed play actually by San Diego state. But you look at on the night, six completions for 45 yards. I'm seeing now. It's just not good enough. And it's not good enough against UCLA. Hell, it's not good enough against JMU next week against Texas state and the opener.
00:05:30
Speaker 5: Like it's just, it's not good enough. You need more out of your quarterback.
00:05:33
Speaker 6: And I think that some of the decision-making in that game was where the head scratching stuff comes in because a lot of the plays that were called or the, a lot of the looks that Jaden was taking were deep shots down the field.
00:05:45
Speaker 5: And we didn't get too much of the intermediate action.
00:05:48
Speaker 6: We'll get some more of that in just a little bit here on the Aztecs locker room report. but it seems like we're going to get the head coach of the Aztecs, Sean Lewis, any minute now here on San Diego sports, seven 60. So final score, UCLA 28, San Diego state 10, the Aztecs open up their year one and one. They'll be back home next week at Snapdragon stadium to take on James Madison. Let's get to the head coach of the Aztecs, Sean Lewis with his post-game analysis.
00:06:13
Speaker 3: Time to talk to the man in charge this is Aztecs head coach Sean Lewis it's.
00:06:17
Speaker 1: The Sean Lewis post game.
00:06:19
Speaker 2: Report presented by Sequan Casino Resort make it yours the.
00:06:24
Speaker 6: Head coach of the Aztecs always appreciate his time coach Lewis welcome on to the Aztecs locker room report I guess your first thoughts coming off the sideline after tonight's game yeah.
00:06:33
Speaker 7: I mean we we need to do a great job in our preparation, in our process, and earning the right to win on Saturday. I thought the kids played extremely hard tonight. I need to do a better job leading throughout the course of the week so that we have a better week of preparation leading up into these opportunities so that we can really maximize them as we go off. So a really talented UCLA team. We knew they had a really strong rushing attack. I thought our defense played really hard and bottled them up early. There was a couple explosive runs late, and I'll see the turnover setting up the short field didn't help. there. So you do a better job on sustaining drives offensively. And, you know, just winning in the margins more than we did tonight. And that starts with the way that we prepare and that we practice throughout the course of the week.
00:07:11
Speaker 6: .
00:07:28
Speaker 7: he's fine. He got the wind knocked out of them there at the end, obviously before the score was, you know, it was time to get some run for the younger guys and, you know, get the guys that we know are good players out of harm's way there.
00:07:39
Speaker 5: Speaker 0 5,0 All right.
00:07:39
Speaker 6: Now in terms of Jayden's play on the field, it seemed like it was a combination of some overthrows early, a couple of drops in the first half and maybe some really good corner play by UCLA. They got one of the better ones in the country, but just 45 passing yards on the night for Jayden. What'd you think about his play tonight?
00:07:55
Speaker 7: Yeah, I mean, I thought the decision-making process was good. There's some things technically that we've got to refine, we've got to clean up. And, you know, again, that starts with the way that I lead in practice, the time that we're devoting to, you know, certain techniques and fundamentals that we know are going to have to show up and carry over. So we'll assess what we're doing there. Obviously, now that that's on tape, we know that we're going to get challenged that way from other teams. It's a way that we've been challenged in the past as well, obviously given the strength of our rushing attack.
00:08:19
Speaker 5: Coach of the defense.
00:08:20
Speaker 6: We talked about it, but they held out so long tonight. It was about 53 minutes of damn good defense from San Diego state tonight.
00:08:26
Speaker 5: And it seemed like there was one play.
00:08:27
Speaker 6: It was a Nico who got kind of wrapped up by Tano Latuli. And he just makes an athlete play and stretches out to get the first down with about three with about seven minutes left in the game. That play, it felt like once that happened, the defense just kind of broke a little bit. How'd you feel about the boys on that side and the job coach some did.
00:08:44
Speaker 7: Yeah, I thought they flew around. I thought they played extremely hard. Again, they were out there for a lot, right? And that's where, again, we got to, in all three phases, play complimentary football with one another. But I really thought there was growth defensively from week one to week two. Obviously, some of the things that we discussed at the end of week one that we needed to shore up, we did. And there's still a lot of good that we can grow from there as we go forward.
00:09:07
Speaker 6: Seems like coach Chesney really went to trusting his quarterback's legs in the second half. What, how do you feel like your defense responded to Nico started to run a little bit more?
00:09:16
Speaker 7: Yeah, I mean, again, if an opponent starts doing that, it's because you've bottled up their run game and they're looking to get plus one runs. So you have to have respect. Obviously, he's a dynamic athlete that can hurt you with both his arms and his legs, forces one-on-one tackles. As you alluded to, he made some plays, we made some plays. That's the way that the game's going to go, especially in these high-stake ones, right, where one-on-one opportunities are going to occur. So we've got to continue to do a great job preparing accordingly, the right way, and then earn the right to win on Saturday because of how we do our work throughout the course of the week.
00:09:44
Speaker 2: Coach.
00:09:44
Speaker 6: Appreciate your time tonight. Good luck getting ready for JMU. We'll talk to you throughout the week here on seven 60.
00:09:48
Speaker 5: Sounds good guys.
00:09:50
Speaker 7: Thank you.
00:09:51
Speaker 5: Head coach of the Aztecs. Sean Lewis joining us here. Post game. Always appreciate his time.
00:09:55
Speaker 6: And the Sean Lewis post game report is presented by Saquon casino resort.
00:09:59
Speaker 5: You can make it yours.
00:10:01
Speaker 7: All right.
00:10:01
Speaker 5: It is San Diego sports, seven 60.
00:10:02
Speaker 6: We'll hang on for a little bit here as we kind of talk through the events of the last three or four hours or so since four 15, when this game kicked off of a final score, UCLA 28, San Diego state 10.
00:10:15
Speaker 5: We kind of talked through a few of the things with coach Lewis there.
00:10:17
Speaker 6: Just the lack of success in the passing game, as well as the defense kind of just hitting their breaking point there in the fourth quarter. We'll continue to break it down. If you want to jump in, you are more than welcome to text us 7 0 4 7 0. Start your message with the word team. My name is Ben Fletcher with you here for another 40 minutes or so on San Diego sports, seven 60 live on the heart radio app.
00:10:39
Speaker 1: Find out who.
00:10:39
Speaker 2: Made the difference as we look at the play of the game.
00:10:45
Speaker 1: Easy to drink, easy to enjoy.
00:10:47
Speaker 4: San Diego State will look to hold here on a first and goal from the 7-2 all right. It's 7-3 Bruins. There's 7.25 remaining in the game. Knight out of the pistol. and the shotgun takes the snap, hands it off. And it is going to be night fighting the edge and he's in for a second score today. And UCLA extends their.
00:11:10
Speaker 6: Lead way night with a hell of a night for UCLA tonight. He had three more touchdowns adding onto his three touchdowns from game number one against Cal way night in two games has stacked up six touchdowns for UCLA as a total. The team has just rushing touchdowns galore to start the year. Cause his running mate also scored two touchdowns last week against Cal.
00:11:33
Speaker 5: So UCLA is rushing attack proving early. They are one of the more lethal attacks in the country.
00:11:38
Speaker 6: The play of the game is brought to you by Bud light, easy to drink, easy to enjoy that touchdown run by Wayne night happened with seven minutes and 17 seconds on the clock in the fourth quarter.
00:11:48
Speaker 5: Before that final seven minutes.
00:11:50
Speaker 6: This was an incredibly tightly contested game. I hate the cliche of it's a lot closer than the final score was. This is kind of the epitome of it being a lot closer than the final score was. That first half was 0-0. It was neither team really had the edge. If UCLA would make a big play in the first half, San Diego State's defense would make a big play right back. And then throughout the entire third quarter as well, they had the early touchdown on UCLA's first drive at the second half, I believe, which was also a Wayne Knight touchdown.
00:12:19
Speaker 5: And then San Diego state was able to come.
00:12:21
Speaker 6: Back and on their first drive of the fourth quarter, knocked through a field goal, making it seven, three. And then that play that we talked about a little bit happened where Nico, the quarterback for UCLA looked like he was tackled four or five yards short of a first down by Tano Latuli. It makes a really, really athletic play using all six foot, six inches of his frame to stretch out and get a first down to extend a drive. And then Wayne Knight would finish that drive up with the seven yard touchdown run you just heard. So that is your play of the game brought to you by Bud Light. Easy to drink, easy to enjoy. You can text us 70470 if you would like to. If you want to be a part of the postgame show here tonight, 70470. Start your message with the word team. We'll have some time from some reaction from you a little bit later on on the night. But I think if we're just tying a bow on this game itself. There's a lot to like.
00:13:11
Speaker 5: Out of San Diego state's defense.
00:13:13
Speaker 6: And that was true a year ago. That's true here tonight. I think coach some has done a hell of a job picking up right where the defense left off a year ago with coach Rob Alrich. And he's doing it with essentially 10 new starters on the defensive side of the football with Tano Latuli really being the only starter who played a ton of minutes last year as the guy back, they play with the same ferocity that they played with a year ago. I would say where the defense hurts is is it's not a very deep defense, at least as of right now. Obviously, as the season goes on, we're going to meet a lot of new guys on this defense who we probably haven't seen play a ton yet, who will jump in and kind of adopt that Aztec warrior mentality on the defensive side. But what I'll say for you right now is maybe our preseason notions of what this team was were a little bit wrong, which I happen to think that because of how many people the offense were returning, that the first few weeks, the offense would be far ahead of the defense.
00:14:05
Speaker 5: I don't know that that's true.
00:14:06
Speaker 6: Maybe in week one, it was against Portland state against the team that You were bigger than you were stronger than you were faster than, but tonight against the team who was probably a little bigger, stronger, faster than you, the defense held tough. The offense looked pretty overmatched. Now UCLA has one of the best corners in the country. They have a really, really good secondary and a couple of people on the defensive line who can really mash, but San Diego state's offense was not up for the task here tonight. And that's the part where I'm just a little disappointed.
00:14:35
Speaker 5: Things will change.
00:14:36
Speaker 7: We're early.
00:14:37
Speaker 5: That's game number two for San Diego state.
00:14:40
Speaker 6: I think, and I was kind of having this conversation with myself throughout the game. It doesn't seem like they know who their number one receiver is right now. And that's a bit of a problem, a problem that time will solve. But as of right now, it seems like Jaden doesn't quite have that comfortability. Like he had early in the season last year with Jacob Bostic on some of those deep routes.
00:14:58
Speaker 5: I think it was three times tonight.
00:15:00
Speaker 6: He targeted Donovan Brown on deep shots in something was just a little bit out of sync.
00:15:05
Speaker 5: Like I said to coach Lewis.
00:15:06
Speaker 6: Either the ball was overthrown or or it was a drop or the coverage was, he was thrown into double coverage deep. And I really think if they could figure out a way, especially next week to find some intermediate routes that get Jaden started and get some momentum heading into the game, I feel like that's going to do him a ton of benefits. So we'll see next week is a brand new week and you got a whole week of preparation and get ready for JMU.
00:15:28
Speaker 5: Guess what?
00:15:29
Speaker 6: They got an awesome offense as well. They just put up a ton of points. And so that's what they're going to come in and try to do at Snapdragon stadium. And the Aztecs defense will have to be ready to go. Now, if we're going to try to take some positives away from tonight, which I always like to do, UCLA put up a 40 burger on Cal just seven days ago, San Diego state until that last kind of garbage time, touchdown had UCLA at 21.
00:15:52
Speaker 5: And in fact, until seven minutes left in the.
00:15:54
Speaker 6: Game, they had them at seven San Diego state's defenses for real San Diego state's defense is legit. and against teams that they're a little more on par with recruiting wise. It's going to look very, very good throughout the rest of this season tonight. It looked really, really good for 53 minutes. You need to figure out a way to make that 60 minutes. Now the offense started taking some more risks late in the game that put the defense in some disadvantageous positions. And so UCLA was kind of able to run up the score a little bit, but this San Diego state defense is for real. And I feel really confident in that loved what the secondary.
00:16:26
Speaker 5: Had to do today.
00:16:27
Speaker 6: Really just Two big explosive pass plays are all I can remember. And in a college football game here in 2026, it's pretty good to hold the team to two explosive passing plays. The run really was bottled up all night until the final seven minutes when Wayne Knight really got going. And I think that the run up the middle with the running backs got going because of how good Nico got running the ball on the outside. And it wasn't all planned runs for Nico. It was a lot of the pocket was starting to break down. He got outside and ran and would just pick up 10, 12 yards.
00:16:55
Speaker 5: And that happened a number of times in the second half.
00:16:58
Speaker 6: So San Diego state's gonna face some mobile quarterbacks in the pack 12.
00:17:02
Speaker 5: That's something they're gonna have to adjust to. And a lot of this is on tape.
00:17:04
Speaker 6: Now, this is why you play these non-conference games to put yourself in the best position by the time that the conference comes around.
00:17:11
Speaker 5: But there's definitely some stuff to build on.
00:17:12
Speaker 6: I thought last week after the Portland state game, there was three or four parts of that game where I was like, Ooh, these need to be right away adjusted for San Diego state. Cause there's some stuff that just won't fly against the UCLA of the world. Definitely against the Boise states of the world. And San Diego state will do that, but there's more stuff to clean up this week. And I'm sure that they'll be getting in the film room. They'll be getting back out on the practice field on the Mesa and they'll be ready to go for Saturday night at snap dragon stadium to take on JMU who once again are looking like a real legit team, 28, 10 final score, probably a rough pill to swallow. I think a lot of Aztec fans, myself included, we're looking at tonight as a huge opportunity for San Diego state, not the end all be all by the way, this wasn't a must win game.
00:17:54
Speaker 5: This was a must compete game.
00:17:56
Speaker 6: And San Diego State absolutely competed for 53 minutes. So you take from that what you want to. And San Diego State wasn't supposed to win this game. They were dogged by 12 and a half, I think, coming into it. And they didn't get it done here tonight. It would have been incredible if they had gotten it done. We talked about it a little bit pregame. But with a win tonight, San Diego State would vault themselves to the top of the group of six. They would vault themselves to every major outlet covering college football, the top of their college football playoff ranking from the group of six. but they didn't get it done tonight. So now time to go back home, strap up the boots, get ready for JMU. Cause you still have a crack at it. You still have a very, very real path at it. And this team has shown a lot through a couple of games, but what it needs to show more of is success on the offensive side of the football. I'm a little surprised. We haven't seen it yet, to be honest. And I think a lot of Aztec fans are, but we'll see it. I feel confident in that. I feel confident in the fact that Jaden Denigal is maybe still a little jumpy through the first couple of games. Remember he is still recovering from that surgery he had in the off season. Maybe there's a little bit of lack of trust with his arm at this point. I think job number one is for Jaden to figure out who that number one receiver is. If it's going to be Donovan Brown, maybe it's more time on the practice field with him and Donovan. If it's going to be Nathan Acevedo, maybe it's more practice time with him. Jordan Napier has been awfully quiet through the first two games of the season.
00:19:14
Speaker 5: We know what he's capable of.
00:19:15
Speaker 6: He's also recovering from an injury, but they just have little things to figure out like that. Another positive I'll say lucky sudden looked a whole hell of a lot better today than he did in game one, which I know is crazy to say, because in game one, lucky son had three touchdowns, but he didn't quite look like lucky. Two of those were goal line opportunities. One of them was a 12 yard touchdown run. But tonight, I feel like he got his burst back. He kind of got his nose down, run forward back. And I thought Lucky looked a lot better tonight. And Chopkinard really impressed me again. So rushing yards, I was fine with how San Diego State ran the football. My problems were all with how San Diego State passed the football. but they finished with one 44 on the ground. And you would think that had they had more longer extended drives, that number easily could have crossed over 200. And then you think about the little moments right in the first half, the throw down the right sideline to Donovan Brown, which he was wide open and he had a step on his guy. If that gets converted, that is a touchdown for San Diego state. So little things like that, man, they come back to bite you. They come back to bite you in a big way, especially in a game that was as scoreless as it was for as long as it was, but San Diego state doesn't get the job done tonight. We'll see if they can get it done next week. 2810 was your final score. That play of the game was from Wayne Knight, the running back for UCLA, who now has six touchdowns, six touchdowns on the year so far for Wayne Knight.
00:20:33
Speaker 7: Crazy.
00:20:34
Speaker 5: Is that how he's been watching? I think it has to be.
00:20:35
Speaker 6: Does anyone else have six touchdowns on the year so far? So Wayne Knight having a hell of a start to his year. UCLA 2-0 to start the year. San Diego State falling to 1-1. Take a quick break here. On the other side, we'll name you the player of the game brought to you by Pepsi. That's next on the Aztecs. Locker Room Report here on San Diego Sports 760.
00:20:55
Speaker 1: Who is the standout for the Aztecs? Find out right now as we name the player of the game. Brought to you by Pepsi.
00:21:02
Speaker 7: Take your fandom to the next level with an ice cold Pepsi.
00:21:06
Speaker 4: Formation, Knight the tailback, Nico the quarterback. And on second down, a call for the snap. And he's going to hand it off for Knight.
00:21:14
Speaker 5: And Knight breaks free.
00:21:15
Speaker 2: There he goes.
00:21:16
Speaker 5: Four, six more.
00:21:18
Speaker 4: His third today.
00:21:20
Speaker 5: Four rushing touchdowns for the Bruins. It's now 27-10.
00:21:25
Speaker 6: Wayne Knight broke through. He is the player of the game tonight presented by Pepsi. Take your fan to the next level with an ice cold, refreshing Pepsi man.
00:21:33
Speaker 5: A Pepsi does sound good right now.
00:21:35
Speaker 6: A way night, three touchdowns on the night for UCLA. What was his final rushing total in terms of yardage? 97 yards, just under the a hundred yard threshold on 13 attempts. He and quarterback Nico both went rushed 13 times. Nico had 57 yards on a long at 25. That one was down the right sideline. Wayne Knight, that 36 yard touchdown run near the end of the game. There was kind of after the game was in hand, San Diego state had attempted an onsite kick.
00:22:01
Speaker 5: They didn't get it.
00:22:02
Speaker 6: And then just a couple of plays later, that was Wayne Knight's biggest run of the night and his biggest touchdown on the season. So far three touchdowns for Wayne Knight tonight. He's up to six on the season. Incredibly impressive start to the year for UCLA is running back. Text line is lit up.
00:22:17
Speaker 5: We got a lot of them.
00:22:17
Speaker 6: We'll get to them in just a little bit. 7 0 4 7 0. Start your message with the word team. We could react to this one altogether.
00:22:24
Speaker 5: Final score.
00:22:24
Speaker 6: If you missed it, 28, 10 San Diego state loses and kind of the recap of the game, which it's going to be hard to believe. Probably if you're listening score was 0 0 at halftime score was seven to three at the end of the third quarter touchdowns really didn't start coming for either team until there was about seven minutes left in the game.
00:22:43
Speaker 5: And then it was a bit of a touchdown fest.
00:22:45
Speaker 6: But to win the two teams with San Diego State getting into pay dirt once, UCLA getting into pay dirt three times in the final seven minutes, four times total on the night. I think that if you're an Aztec fan here tonight, you're probably a little bit frustrated in the offense. And I understand that. Coach Lewis was frustrated in the offense too. If you missed it, he joined us just a little bit ago. You'll be able to listen back to the podcast probably an hour or so after the game or after we finish up here tonight. But I think the biggest takeaway for you tonight is that That defense just hung really, really tough with a team that just dropped 40 plus points on Cal a week ago. This game was a low scoring game for the majority of it. It wasn't until the very end when the offense started to take some risks that defense really gave up the big ones.
00:23:26
Speaker 5: And that's understandable, right?
00:23:27
Speaker 6: But with seven minutes left in this game, it was seven to three with a third and seven. on the line and Nico email lava or whatever his name is making a huge play at the very end. So for San Diego state, I was very impressed with the defense tonight. The offense left a lot to be desired in 2026. You probably can't win many games with your quarterback only throwing for 45 yards. And that's what San Diego state was dealing with tonight. And we talked a lot about it, but it was, there was very little, if any intermediate passing plays for San Diego state today. Now I don't know the answer to whether It was how the plays were called or whether it.
00:24:03
Speaker 5: Was the decisions Jaden Denigle was making.
00:24:05
Speaker 6: Because I will say this, a lot of the deep balls he was throwing, the receivers were open. Donovan Brown routinely had a step on the cornerbacks today. Now the cornerbacks for UCLA have incredible closing speed and they were doing so tonight while the ball was in the air. But there were a couple of plays, especially in the first half, that deep ball to Donovan Brown down the sideline could have completely changed the game. But it was overthrown by about five yards. And I think a lot goes into that. a lot goes into that. Jaden Denigold does have a surgically repaired shoulder from this off season. He might still be working out some of the kinks with that. And I think playing in the Rose bowl has something to do with that too. A historic venue, really good defense you're playing against. How many of us would be able to throw that ball perfectly? I don't know, but that's what Jaden Denigold is there for. And he's got to make those throws. And I do think he will make those throws later in the season. But right now that was, that was a frustrating night. If you were hoping for some fireworks from the Aztecs offense. And it wasn't just him, right? There were some drops by the wide receivers for the Aztecs, but I think the majority of the, the lack of success on offense comes down to the play of Jaden Denigle tonight, which is unfortunate, but it's also a learning experience. And hopefully coming out next week, like I have all the faith in the world that Jaden Denigle will be right back to that guy who found justice low for the 40 yard touchdown a week ago against Portland state. So lots of rooms to grow, especially on the offensive side of the football, but the rushing attack was good. I'll tell you an underrated part of tonight. was the offensive line in run protection. I thought the big fellows up front did a really, really nice job opening up holes for chop canard and for lucky Sutton. And I thought lucky and chop did a really good job of hitting the hole.
00:25:42
Speaker 5: The run game. Wasn't the issue for the Aztecs tonight. Past protection could use a little work.
00:25:46
Speaker 6: It seems like UCLA's defensive line was on top of Jaden for quite a bit of the night. He took a big hit, a huge hit in the second half. Coach Lewis telling us afterwards, he got the wind knocked out of him. And I think that was the last drive Jaden played. But it was a big hit, man. Nothing will wake you up quite like that. And so for Jaden Denigle, hopefully those ribs are okay, but he'll have a full week to get ready for JMU. And we'll see him back out there next week against a very good JMU team. All right, quick break here. We'll read some of your texts on the other side. It's San Diego sports, seven 60 final score, 28, 10 UCLA with the wind, San Diego state falling to one-on-one on the season, UCLA. improving to two and O and in back-to-back weeks, UCLA doesn't turn it on fully until the fourth quarter back-to-back weeks with three plus touchdowns in the fourth quarter for UCLA. Very impressive late team, very impressive late team. All right, quick break texts on the other side. We'll get you ready for JMU. Plus tell you about a packed play by play day coming up tomorrow here on seven 60.
00:26:43
Speaker 1: Now we return to the Aztecs wrap-up show. Just make the play. We're in the backyard, man. It's like when we were little. Taking a look back at tonight's game with stats and highlights. Back to Ben Fletcher.
00:26:53
Speaker 6: For a final time here, it's the Aztecs locker room.
00:26:56
Speaker 5: Ben Fletcher with you. Thank you for being here.
00:26:58
Speaker 6: If you're looking forward to more episodes of the Aztecs locker room, make sure you go subscribe and add us to your presets on the free iHeartRadio app.
00:27:04
Speaker 5: Easy to do.
00:27:05
Speaker 6: Just find the little plus icon after you search the Aztecs locker room.
00:27:08
Speaker 5: You can find us there. All right.
00:27:10
Speaker 6: Saturday, September 12th ends up being a really, really good day in college football all around. In fact, we got a hell of a game going on between number one, Ohio state and number four, Texas 23, 17, 51 seconds left. Ohio state in the lead, Texas threatening on the goal line.
00:27:26
Speaker 5: Really impressive.
00:27:27
Speaker 6: Come from behind effort for the Texas Longhorns here tonight out of Austin.
00:27:32
Speaker 5: All right.
00:27:32
Speaker 6: Around the top 25 tonight and the PAC 12 for some of them here, Oregon state really, really threatening Texas tech and a hell of a game. Oregon state trailing by four, two and a half minutes left. Texas tech has the ball 28, 24 with the lead in Utah, Arkansas and Utah, just getting going a minute left in the first quarter, seven, three Utah in the lead USC taking on Louisiana tonight, that game just getting going as well. Tennessee and Georgia tech went final earlier today. Tennessee put the beat down on them out in Atlanta, Georgia, 45, 24, final score LSU handled business against Louisiana tech, 45, 14, Iowa took down Iowa state 16 to 13 in a closely competed game. Ole miss got the win 41, nine over Charlotte in Oxford, Georgia, number two in the country beat Western Kentucky 70 to 20. I believe this was another one of those games by the way, where they just put 10 minutes on the clock for the fourth quarter, which I don't know how that's legal, but it's happened twice now in college football, Notre Dame and rice number three, Notre Dame beats rice 52 to nothing. Indiana take down Howard 55 to nothing. Number six, Oregon is the stunner of the day. on the road at Oklahoma state, Oklahoma state.
00:28:43
Speaker 5: Did something today.
00:28:44
Speaker 6: That's never been done in college football, 39 31, Oklahoma state wins the game. The first time ever a 10 game losing streak has been snapped by facing off with a top 10 opponent in Oregon. Who was ranked number six coming into the day, big result earlier today, Michigan who had all the controversy in the world around them in week one with that Michigan, Western Michigan game gets the win over number 11, Oklahoma.
00:29:09
Speaker 5: College football, man. You never know what's going to happen.
00:29:11
Speaker 6: Chaos has ensued in the pack 12 tonight, plenty of action going on, not just with San Diego state.
00:29:16
Speaker 5: I mentioned Texas tech and Oregon.
00:29:18
Speaker 6: They have hit the two minute warning or what are they called in college football?
00:29:22
Speaker 5: Now the two minutes stoppage time. That's what it is. 28, 24, Texas tech in the lead.
00:29:28
Speaker 6: We'll see if Oregon state can Mount a comeback here in the final couple of minutes, Sacramento state, Fresno state, just getting going there five minutes left in the first quarter.
00:29:35
Speaker 5: Nothing, nothing.
00:29:36
Speaker 6: You dub in Utah state, very close game up in Washington today. 1614 was the final score. You dub getting the wind Texas state falls there now. Oh, and two to UTSA 31 26 at Texas state Washington state falls to Kansas state 34 to seven Memphis loses to Boise state. And that's a big result for San Diego state, Boise state improving to one-on-one Memphis dropping to two and one 38 20 was the final score. Maddox Madsen had himself a night man through for a touchdown, ran for a touchdown and Dylan Riley, that excellent running back had 206 yards on the night. But Boise state winning that game is big for the pack 12 because Memphis has already beaten UNLV so far this year, UNLV expected to be the best out of the mountain West this year.
00:30:20
Speaker 5: So pack 12.
00:30:21
Speaker 6: Showing some early gains over some of the other conferences who are behind them. As of now, Colorado state improves to two and oh, they beat Southern Utah 58 to 24.
00:30:32
Speaker 5: And of course here in San Diego.
00:30:34
Speaker 6: The Aztecs lose actually in Pasadena 28 to 10 final score UCLA with 21 fourth quarter points to take down the Aztecs. Let's get to some of these texts here tonight. We will start with this one from The six one nine. It was almost the exact same score as when we played UCLA last time in 2023, when it was 35, 10, but this game was much more competitive, much more competitive. I remember that game at snap dragon stadium as sex, never really in it. In that one, they were in it the entire night tonight until about seven minutes left in the game. 7 1 4 Denigal did not do anything productive today. The defense turned in an excellent effort, but if we continue to be one dimensional on offense, the defense is going to be on the field long enough for opposing teams to wear them down.
00:31:19
Speaker 5: Change at QB incoming. I doubt it. 7 1 4.
00:31:21
Speaker 6: I doubt any change at quarterback is coming. Then it goes a good quarterback, man. He's going through some stuff right now. He was not good tonight. He is a good quarterback. And I think we've seen enough to know that, but he's going to have to get better in a hurry here. JMU, not an easy opponent coming in. And by the way, UCLA does have some of the better cornerbacks in the country, especially one of them, I'm blanking on his name right now, but he is excellent.
00:31:45
Speaker 5: Probably going to be playing in the NFL next year. Seven, five, seven.
00:31:49
Speaker 6: Welcome in use was UCLA's past defense that good. The Denigal couldn't make any reads to other receivers or did it seem like he was just chucking the ball downfield because they thought there was a flaw of UCLA secondary. Thanks from Jason in point Loma. We've talked about that a lot, Jason. Thank you for texting by the way. It seemed like there just wasn't Jaden was not finding any five to 10 to 15 yard intermediate routes. And a lot of the throws down the field, the big shots he was taking receivers did have a step or it was single coverage and you were trusting your guys, none of them hit.
00:32:22
Speaker 5: And that's a problem. But imagine if one of them.
00:32:25
Speaker 6: Does, especially in the first half that throw to Donovan Brown, that would have been just such an opportunity for San Diego state to go into halftime with a seven, nothing lead.
00:32:32
Speaker 5: That would have been huge.
00:32:33
Speaker 6: Probably changes the outcome of the game, but it was an overthrow and there was a couple of drops and that stuff happens. But football being a game of inches, if one, one of those hit things could have been very, very different. And also UCLA is past defense is excellent.
00:32:46
Speaker 5: For one three.
00:32:47
Speaker 6: Why no passes five to 10 yards downfield. Is it the quarterback or the play calling or both? We just can't play with this bad at quarterback this season.
00:32:56
Speaker 5: Yeah.
00:32:57
Speaker 6: Same thing we've been saying, man, it's tough. Five to 10 yards downfield was a missed opportunity here tonight. And I'm sure they'll get back to it next week.
00:33:03
Speaker 5: Eight, five, eight.
00:33:04
Speaker 6: Hey, I thought the offense was going to be really strong, but so far, extremely disappointing, horrible play from Denigal and what's going on with the wide receivers. That was supposed to be a real strength this year. In terms of the wide receivers, two of your main ones from a year ago are still working their way back from injury. We haven't really heard a lot from Napier or Bostic yet this year. Both of them had serious knee injuries a year ago. So I think as those guys get worked back in, things will start to get a little bit better. You're also dealing with a couple of new guys. Bert Emanuel Jr., the former backup quarterback, turn wide receiver. He was in there a few plays tonight. Looked good. Nathan Acevedo, young guy from the very end of last year. He looked good once again tonight. But it's going to take a little bit of time, I think, with the receivers. They are incredibly deep at receiver level. But the connection doesn't seem to be there. And it's something we talked about a lot tonight is that he, Jaden Denigle seems to have not found his clear cut number one this year, where if you remember a year ago, early in the season, before he got hurt, it was clearly Jacob Bostic through the first couple of games. And a couple of those big, deep 40 yard connections were there early in the season. And then it transitioned to Jordan Napier, to Nathan Acevedo towards the end of the season. And so he hasn't figured out who that guy is yet.
00:34:12
Speaker 5: I'm sure he will.
00:34:14
Speaker 6: Let's see. 619 concur with all your thoughts on defense. However, this offense was flat out overmatched and exposed. No tight end play at all. Receivers absolutely poor play calls from the staff were awful. They have dozens of hours and practice and spring ball should at least be competitive on offense.
00:34:29
Speaker 5: They'll get better, man.
00:34:30
Speaker 6: 619 on the big 10 telecast. They said that the ref crew was from the pack 12.
00:34:34
Speaker 1: Interesting.
00:34:35
Speaker 6: I thought this was a big 10 crew. I did not hear that on the broadcast, but A Schaefer's impression. My impression was that this was a big 10 group and the big tens had a rough couple of weeks of officiating.
00:34:47
Speaker 5: Maybe I'm wrong on that. Thank you. 6 1 9. Thank you for listening. 9 1 6. I liked our punter Dorji. So did I. And he has a very different way of punting. Doesn't he?
00:34:57
Speaker 6: They're all like line shots, but he's creative with the angles. I think a couple of them didn't work out tonight, but it is very different. Like we remember at San Diego state, Matt horizon, Jack Browning, and the big high arcing deep punts that they would hit. this is a little bit different, but I kind of like it too. It's it's he's using the angles to his advantage. He's hitting some line drives, trying to pin guys deep. He's got a little bit of swagger about him. I like him too. So curious to see how this continues to develop San Diego state, whether they've earned it or not.
00:35:26
Speaker 5: And they have.
00:35:27
Speaker 6: I mean, punter, you as a thing, you got two partners over the last six, seven years who are playing on Sundays now, Jack Browning with the Cardinals most recently.
00:35:36
Speaker 5: So yeah, it's a, he is fun.
00:35:37
Speaker 6: Dorji is a fun little punter for San Diego state. It will see if he continues to improve. And if he can get those line drive ones where he's getting them out at the seven, the eight yard line multiple times this year, that'll.
00:35:48
Speaker 5: Be a big strength for San Diego state. All right.
00:35:51
Speaker 6: Text line close seven zero four seven zero. Start your message with team. I'll start answering them again on Monday at noon. Coming up tomorrow here on San Diego sports, seven 60, big, big day.
00:36:01
Speaker 5: The NFL's first Sunday.
00:36:02
Speaker 6: We'll get things kicked off at nine 30 tomorrow morning bills and Texans massive game where CJ Stroud begins his campaign to see if he's going to get a contract at the end of this year with the Houston Texans, a one 25 dolphins at Raiders, a winnable game for the Raiders. How many of those are going to be on the board this year? I don't know, but week one, they got one. And also Chris Johnson will make his debut in that game. The excellent cornerback from San Diego state. We'll be playing against the Raiders tomorrow, five 30 MLS action, SDFC hosting Philadelphia union, Adrian Garcia, Marquez, and Darren Smith will be on the call right here on San Diego sports, seven 60.
00:36:38
Speaker 5: If you haven't done so yet, add us to your presets, the.
00:36:41
Speaker 6: Station, San Diego sports, seven 60 on the free. I heart radio app. Also the Aztecs locker room. So you can get all of these games, all of these postgame shows straight to your phone.
00:36:49
Speaker 5: As soon as they're done.
00:36:50
Speaker 6: If you missed the interview with Sean Lewis, he had a lot of really good thoughts on tonight's game. So you're going to make, want to make sure to go back and listen to that. Follow me on social media at Fletch sports, follow John Schaefer at John Schaefer.com. We'll keep you up to date on everything that goes down with the Aztecs this week. And then Thursday night, a brand new edition of the Sean Lewis coaches show here on seven 60 at six o'clock. Thank you for being here tonight. Thank you to Mike Usher up in Pasadena, John and rich on the call.
00:37:15
Speaker 2: J.R.
00:37:15
Speaker 5: Tolver, my pregame co-host Tim piles on the highlights tonight.
00:37:19
Speaker 6: And of course, Brent's Perry. running the ones and twos all night long. My name is Ben Fletcher. I will see you Monday, starting at noon with the Fletch Zone on San Diego Sports 760.
00:37:28
Speaker 5: This has been the Aztecs Wrap-Up Show.
00:37:31
Speaker 3: You've been listening to the Aztec Fast Locker Room Report.
00:37:34
Speaker 2: Brought to you by Alaska Airlines, Mission Personal Injury Attorneys.
00:37:39
Speaker 1: Cal Coast Credit Union. Pepsi. From the one, handoff to Sutton.
00:37:43
Speaker 4: He is near the end zone and in for the Aztec touchdown.
00:37:46
Speaker 1: Collegiate Mobile. Dave and Busters. Dos Equis. And J-Lab.
00:37:51
Speaker 2: Listen all season long for every second of San Diego State football as they roll through their first season in the Pac-12.
00:37:58
Speaker 1: Right here on the Aztecs Radio Network.
