Sean Lewis, San Diego State players react to 53-20 season-opening win

The San Diego State Aztecs started their Pac-12 era with a resounding 53-20 win against Portland State on Saturday and like most every team, they’ll have a lot to clean up at practice this week.

But a win’s a win, which was foremost on coach Sean Lewis’ mind after the Aztecs scored the most points in his three seasons as head coach and their most ever at Snapdragon Stadium.

“How about them Aztecs? 1-0. That's good. I’m pleased with the effort, but there’s a ton that we’ve got to clean up,” Lewis said. “It’s a great position to be in to be 1-0 and to extend one of the longest home winning streaks in Snapdragon Stadium.

“I’d like to give a big shoutout to the student section. It was awesome to see them filling in. We were close to 8,000 or 9,000 students that showed up, which was great. We need that continued support from the student community, and we'll continue to get out and give out pizzas and do different things, whatever it takes to connect with the school. We can't do without it. The energy from the community was outstanding, and the guys fed off that as we went.”

Ringing in the @pac12 Era with a Dub 🚨#AztecFAST 🍢 x #BeTheA1pha 🐺 x #TheClimb 📈 pic.twitter.com/CF2pxfFwKV
— San Diego State Football (@AztecFB) September 6, 2026

The Aztecs started slow and trailed the Vikings (0-2) 6-0 at one point. But then a 55-yard run by transfer Javion Kinnard gave them the jolt they needed and the Aztecs scored 29 straight points to take control.

“I think obviously we started slow, not to our standard,” Lewis said. “I think some of that was probably [Portland State] having a game underneath their belt and this being our first one, but the guys responded. [Jayden Denegal] settled in well after an early mistake there. Special teams was doing some special things.

“We’ll make sure that we clean up the other mistakes that we had in that area of the game. I will clean it up after you score 53 points, which is the most an Aztec football team has scored here at Snapdragon Stadium. And to have a couple of blocked punts and a kickoff return for a touchdown, there were some good things. Things to build upon, but not even close to our best effort and how good we can be.”

SDSU blocked two punts to set up two of Lucky Sutton’s three rushing touchdowns, and redshirt freshman Jaylon Hawkins returned a kickoff 100 yards for a touchdown early in the second half after PSU had scored.

Here are the highlights of Lewis and the players’ news conference:

Lewis on responding after a slow start

“We knew it was a matter of time. I’m very confident with the offense, obviously with the work that they've done through the whole offseason, what they've shown consistently through camp and spring ball. Sometimes it was just not straining, not finishing, focusing at times, and fundamentals not being as sharp as they need to be. The staff did a really good job of reeling the guys in, getting them to refocus, play to our standard and execute consistently. We have a good unit. We’ve got a good crew. There are things we need to clean up and be more consistent with. I look forward to doing that as we go.”

Lewis on the depth of the wide receiver room

“We have a depth of talent there. Obviously with those guys coming off of injury, we're able to rotate some guys through, but with the level that we want to play at, we've got to have the depth to be able to do that. We have that this year, so it's nice to be able to kind of spread the wealth around. Multiple guys got multiple touches. Even some young guys getting some as we continue to build the depth. Daishaun Davis and Carson Diehl got catches late at the end there from Stone [Saunders]. That was good to see.

“As we continue to build this program, we want to give as many opportunities for guys to get game reps. We got over 80 guys into that game, which was great. That's invaluable. Again, we’ve got to maintain the standard all the way through.”

Senior linebacker Sione Hala on the team’s early adjustments

“To dominate. We talk about it every day. To focus, stay accountable, smart and tough. We on the defensive side really live on that tough side. We can't start slow like that in every game. As I said before, when you give the opponents some life, they can really do damage with that. When we give them momentum, we give them little plays. We can't do that anymore. We need to be faster as a team.”

Senior running back Lucky Sutton on the energy of the first game of the season

“It's a little bit of butterflies. It was a slow start, but we found ourselves. Talking about the offensive side, we were just really trying to kick the butterflies out and trying to mess with the operations for our first game. There's a lot to clean up on film, and we've got to start faster than what we put up today. Even though we had a good outcome, we have to be better than that as Aztecs.”

Sutton on what sparked the momentum

“Defense had a spark, special teams had a spark, and then [Javion Kinnard] had that big run as well, so I feel like there was a lot of momentum built off multiple phases of the game, and as it kept going on and on, we just said, ‘Okay, here we go. It's time to go.’ It feels like what we've been practicing during fall camp, and everything just started turning as soon as we got to that point. When special teams has two blocks like that, it just brings a lot of energy to our front line and to the team as a whole. When I see those two blocks, it’s just an opportunity for our offense to go score again. I give all my credit to them for getting me

those two touchdowns. That's all the special teams and the offensive line. That's to their credit, just them getting us to that field position.”

Up next

It’ll be new Pac-12 vs. old Pac-12 when the Aztecs visit the UCLA Bruins at the Rose Bowl at 4:15 p.m. Saturday. The game will air on the Big Ten Network and be carried on San Diego Sports 760 radio.

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