SAN DIEGO — The Aztecs have survived the first two cupcakes on the schedule and sit with a sterling perfect 2-0 record.
"It's great to be 2 and 0. Helluva a lot better than 1-1.," Coach Brady Hoke said.
After Saturday's win against Idaho State, Hoke says there is work to be done. "I think the thing that killed us as much as anything was we had 14 penalties. Penalties killed us. A defense we had I think, four offsides on defense. I'm a defensive line coach. That is absolutely inexcusable. Two things you can't do as a defensive lineman, jump offsides and run around the quarterback. We did both of those things on Saturday."
A week or two ago my esteemed colleague Jake Garegnani called the Aztecs' next four games on the schedule "The Gauntlet". First UCLA on Saturday followed by 16th-ranked Oregon State, Boise State and Air Force.
Brady Hoke says the Bruins present a formidable task. "I think they're better athletes (than we have faced the first two games). For me, it's a great opportunity with something that you gotta look forward to, like every game you look forward to get to play, because at some point, like I tell them, you're not gonna be able to play. So you got to take advantage of each opportunity."
The Aztecs will try to keep up with Fresno State who knocked off Purdue last weekend, and Wyoming who knocked off Texas Tech, both big wins over Power 5 conference opponents. The game against UCLA as coach Hoke said is a great opportunity.
Kickoff is set for 4:30 p.m. on Saturday and can be seen on CBS 8 in San Diego.
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