San Diego State enters historic Pac-12 opener with little room for error

Saturday night is supposed to be special for Sean Lewis and his San Diego State Aztecs.

After decades of hoping and waiting, the Aztecs finally — and officially — became members of the Pac-12 Conference on July 1.

The conference logo has been on the front of their jerseys and the field at Snapdragon Stadium since the start of the season just less than a month ago.

And now comes the magic moment, when they play their first Pac-12 game, against the Texas State Bobcats.

The band will play and there should be excitement in the air. It will be hot at Snapdragon Stadium, because the San Diego region is in the midst of another extreme heat warning.

But instead of entering Pac-12 play with momentum, the Aztecs are 1-3, have lost three straight games and continue to have major questions on offense.

Making things worse is an outbreak of mumps that could leave the Aztecs woefully short at some positions against a Texas State team that showed its explosiveness in a 63-10 rout of Incarnate Word.

Sean Lewis turns the page to Pac-12 play

The eternally peppy third-year coach said the Aztecs’ play in a 41-16 loss at Toledo was “not even close to our standard of play and our level of expectation,” and that as the guy in charge, he has to do a much better job.

“So as we move forward, we have all of our Pac-12 goals in front of us,” Lewis added. “There's been a lot of great lessons that we've learned. The adversity and the resistance that we have felt has made us stronger, has made us better and we'll continue to pull upon those lessons that we've learned in the first month of the season as we go into Pac-12 play.”

Lewis called the Bobcats “really dangerous” on both sides of the ball.

And, as before every home game, he implored the fans to turn out.

“So, looking forward to seeing Snapdragon packed, our fans coming out and supporting,” he said. “We need the students there to help us. We need the community there to help us compete.”

That’s all well and good, but the fan support will go only so far unless the Aztecs are somehow able to get a break on the healthy front. Their availability report lists a total of 32 players, including 11 ruled out, six listed as doubtful and four as questionable.

It’s impossible to know how many of those players have the mumps, because the availability report lists only the players, not their injury or illness.

And the Aztecs already know they’ll be without their 1,000-yard rusher from last year, senior Lucky Sutton, who aggravated a high ankle sprain in the loss at Toledo and had to be helped off the field.

They’ll also probably be without breakout star Javion “Chop” Kinnard, who also left the Toledo game after injuring his left knee.

Why Saturday already matters for San Diego State

The Aztecs have already lost as many games as they did all regular season, when they finished 9-3 before losing a shootout against North Texas in the New Mexico Bowl to finish 9-4.

They came into this season loaded with optimism, especially with Sutton and quarterback Jayden Denegal looking to outdo their performances last fall. They were expected to carry the offense, along with Bert Emanuel Jr., who was moved from backup quarterback to wide receiver to try to get the ball in his hands as much as possible.

But beyond a 53-20 blowout of Portland State in the opener, it’s been a struggle for the Aztecs. They had to rebuild along the offensive and defensive lines, and in the secondary, and it’s showed.

The offense has failed to fire as Denegal struggles, and the Aztecs have given up 28, 26 and 41 points in their three straight losses.

Sutton was hurt during the UCLA game and missed the James Madison game. That gave Kinnard the chance to shine, and came through with a monster game of 181 yards rushing and 70 yards receiving.

But then came the nightmare at Toledo, when the Aztecs were badly outplayed on both sides of the ball and lost their top two running backs.

The mumps cases could keep that nightmare going.

A win against Texas State would give the Aztecs a badly needed boost, made more notable by it being in the historic Pac-12 opener.

A loss could send the Aztecs spiraling hard the other way. One loss in the conference standings wouldn’t be the end of the world, but it could help send the Aztecs toward the danger zone as far as becoming bowl eligible.

“I’ve been in this position quite a few times as a head coach, given some of the non-conference schedules that I've battled at previous places, where you know we were 1-3 and we found a way to have very successful seasons,” Lewis said. “That's me personally.

“There's also been great historical success here. There have been times when an Aztec football team started out slow and then ripped off a ton of wins. I have tremendous belief in our staff and our players and the guys who are doing the work.”

San Diego State vs. Texas State game information

Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m. for the first meeting between the schools. It will air on The CW and San Diego Sports 760 radio.

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