UCLA vs. Alabama State Week 2: Storylines to Watch
UCLA football (1-0) is scheduled to kick off its Week 2 game against Alabama State (2-0) on Saturday at 2 p.m.
The Bruins won their last game against Bowling Green, overcoming an early 10-point hole to emerge with the 45-17 victory. The Hornets have already played two games this season, beating Howard 23-13 and Miles 21-13.
Heading into the Week 2 matchup, here are the most pressing questions we want to have answered by the final whistle.
Will Chip Kelly run up the score?
The end result of this game isn't really up for debate – the Bruins will win.
UCLA has never played an FCS opponent, and losing this would constitute not only one of the greatest upsets in program history, but in college football history. After all, the Bruins head into Saturday as 48.5-point favorites.
So the debate then becomes how much UCLA will win by.
The past few Power Five teams to take on Alabama State had no issue dismantling the Hornets – Auburn beat them 62-0 in 2021 and 63-9 in 2018, while Florida State beat them 49-12 in 2019 and Kentucky beat them 48-14 in 2013. It didn't take powerhouses to put up those large margins of victory, either, considering those four teams finished a combined 22-29.
The Bruins will presumably have the chance to run up the score as well, given the lopsided talent advantage. Now it's just a matter of how coach Chip Kelly wants to run things in a garbage time-riddled contest.
It's difficult to gauge when he'll take out the starters, since UCLA has really only had two blowout wins during his tenure. Against Hawaii in 2021 and Bowling Green a week ago, Ethan Garbers replaced Dorian Thompson-Robinson at quarterback pretty late in the second half.
And even if Kelly pulls his starters earlier than normal due to an even more extreme blowout than last week's, the Bruins' backups are probably significantly better than the Hornets' starters anyways.
Kelly could just stop throwing the ball once UCLA goes up by more than four scores, or he could let Thompson-Robinson pad his stats and Garbers get in some much-needed reps – only time will tell.
Can the Bruins' special teams bounce back?
If it weren't for a string of special teams goofs, the Bruins would have beat the Falcons by 44 points in Week 1.
Jake Bobo muffed a punt that sent up a Bowling Green touchdown, and he got roughed up on another few tries that didn't go great. He is listed as the starting punt returner, but if Logan Loya is healthy, he has a chance to take over that role.
Nicholas Barr-Mira had his first career punt blocked and recovered for a touchdown, even if it was more on a blocking miscommunication up front than his own shortcomings. What can get blamed on Barr-Mira is his two missed field goals, which came from 28 and 44 yards out.
Barr-Mira will, obviously, still be the starting kicker again Saturday against Alabama State. Maybe not having to play in 100-degree heat will help his performance, with a decreased chance of cramps and better conditioning, plus one week of double duty already under his belt.
The adjustments will likely be more about execution than personnel changes, so Saturday's performance in the third phase of the game should be pretty reflective on just how effectively this coaching staff can implement major technical fixes.
Will the attendance woes continue?
It's been four-plus years of Chip Kelly in Westwood, and the Bruins haven't exactly had a consistently elite crowd show up to the Rose Bowl in that time.
Those dwindling attendance numbers hit a brand new low Saturday against Bowling Green, with just 27,143 fans buying tickets to the game – and that isn't accounting for the no-shows, either.
UCLA Athletics made sure to emphasize the compounding factors they believed played into the unwanted record – temperatures approaching 105 degrees, a low-profile nonconference opponent, continued concerns about the COVID-19 pandemic, Lincoln Riley's USC debut going on across town and the Dodgers playing a home game later that night.
Well, the Dodgers are playing in San Diego this Saturday. USC is on the road against Stanford. The forecast calls for a far more palatable 84 degrees, and even the rain that was scheduled to hit the stadium earlier in the week appears to have dissipated. Daily COVID cases in Los Angeles County are lower than they've been since April, and the second booster is now available to everyone over 12 years old.
Of course, Alabama State is also far from a headliner. Still, though, they are the first HBCU ever to visit the Rose Bowl, and their marching band performing at halftime is award-winning and world-renowned.
In all likelihood, the Bruin faithful will turn out in less-than-ideal numbers for the second week in a row. At this point, it's just a matter of whether a new record low will be set, or if they will be able to outpace the previous record-low of 32,513 set back in 1992.
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