3 major questions facing San Diego State before historic Pac-12 opener

The San Diego State Aztecs and their fans have been looking forward to Saturday night for years, if not decades.

The Aztecs will host the Texas State Bobcats in the historic Pac-12 Conference opener for both teams at 7:30 p.m. at Snapdragon Stadium.

But it won’t be very festive if the Aztecs (1-3) can’t quickly fix some glaring problems during the next six days.

They’re going into Saturday night on a three-game losing streak after an ugly 41-16 rout at Toledo. To make things worse, they lost their top two running backs, 1,000-yard rusher Lucky Sutton and Javion “Chop” Kinnard, to injuries.

Here are the three problems the Aztecs must fix before their Pac-12 opener.

1. Will Lucky Sutton or Javion Kinnard be available?

The Aztecs offered no updates on the injuries to Sutton, who appeared to aggravate the high ankle sprain that kept him out of a home loss to JMU the week before, or Kinnard, who appeared to injure his left knee.

Both backs had to be helped off the field.

It’ll be a massive blow if both are lost for any stretch of games. Sutton was last year’s Mountain West rushing champion with 1,297 yards, and Kinnard was coming off a huge game against JMU, when he rushed for 181 yards and had 70 yards receiving.

The Aztecs are now down to redshirt freshman Jordin Thomas and freshman Josiah Lucas. The San Diego Union-Tribune reported that senior running back Christian Washington left the team at the start of the week.

To make things worse, Thomas fumbled in SDSU territory in the third quarter, but Toledo wasn’t able to capitalize when it missed a field goal attempt.

“There’s levels to it, right?” coach Sean Lewis said. “There's a reason why Lucky is Lucky. Obviously, Chop emerged and they’re our one, they’re our two, now you're down to your three and your four.”

Sutton, Kinnard, Thomas and Lucas are the only running backs currently listed on SDSU’s roster.

“And again, those young kids have got great futures, but there's a reason they are our three and our four,” Lewis said. “They’ve got to do a great job valuing the football. We can't give a turnover where we have a fair-fight run and we have a positive play and then the ball comes out. So then we give momentum back to their side. That impacts things obviously. That was felt and that was seen.

“I think our fans and obviously us are accustomed to running the ball significantly better and having your top two backs a part of that is a big piece of that.”

2. Does San Diego State have a quarterback decision to make?

Senior quarterback Jayden Denegal threw an 11-yard touchdown pass to tight end Ryan Wolfer, but he also threw a 67-yard pick-six. He’s now thrown five touchdown passes and five interceptions.

Denegal made way for redshirt freshman Draiden Trudeau with less than six minutes left. It wasn’t clear whether he was benched or just taken out to keep him healthy.

Denegal was 19 of 31 (61%) for 206 yards.

Trudeau moved the Aztecs down the field in the closing minutes and threw a 14-yard TD pass to Jaylon Hawkins.

Lewis didn’t offer any thoughts on what will happen at quarterback moving forward. Backup Stone Saunders broke his collarbone against Portland State on opening night. Bert Emanuel Jr., the backup QB last year, was moved to wide receiver during spring ball.

3. What happened to Bert Emanuel Jr.?

Speaking of Emanuel, one of the top storylines of spring was his switch to wide receiver to take advantage of his skills. It made total sense following his incredible performance in place of Denegal at the New Mexico Bowl, when he gained 170 yards and scored twice on just 11 carries before getting hurt.

But he caught just five passes for 60 yards and no touchdowns in the first three games. He apparently wasn’t even on the sideline during the Toledo game. The San Diego Union-Tribune reported that the school gave no reason for his absence. It also reported that there have been some cases of mumps on the team.

Up next

Texas State is 2-2 going into its first meeting with SDSU. The game will air on The CW starting at 7:30 p.m.

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