What San Diego State coach Sean Lewis said after close win at Northern Illinois

San Diego State head coach Sean Lewis knows how hard it is to win in Mid-American Conference territory, especially for a visiting team.

That’s why he was effusive after the Aztecs won 6-3 at Northern Illinois on Saturday in a defensive struggle that ended with sure-footed (and left-footed) Gabe Plascencia kicking a 25-yard field goal as time expired.

“It’s not going to be a picture of a postcard of this at the end of the season, it just, ‘Dub,’ and we'll take that, and we'll come out of non-conference play at 3-1, and we're pretty pleased with that.”

Quarterback Jayden Denegal missed most of the third quarter but returned in time for the winning drive, when Lucky Sutton carried six straight times for 30 yards and drew a big facemask penalty that moved the ball 15 more yards.

The Aztecs have matched their win total from last season, which was Lewis’ first as head coach on Montezuma Mesa, and now they begin their final season in the Mountain West Conference when they host Colorado State on Friday night at Snapdragon Stadium.

Here are the highlights of Lewis’ post-game news conference:

Lewis on the overall feeling after the win

“Great effort by the defense, tremendous job by Gabe at the end, big-time drive by the offense when we needed it. Tons to clean up, but we were just talking about it as a staff and as a team, you know, a year ago, we were in the Midwest, we were in MAC country, and we came up short in a game like this, and we've talked a ton about the connection and the culture of this team and their grit and their fight and their toughness, and they found a way today, and that's what matters most.”

Lewis on what it took to win in the road environment

“Tremendous, emotional, toughness, right? We talked about it a little bit last week after the Cal game, but the emotional toughness to weather the storm, potentially particularly defensively, with the effort that our guys were giving, that, you know, drive after drive after drive. It was just a ‘so what’ mindset, right? Like, put the ball down, let's go play, we'll get it back.

No better feeling than coming home with a W 🔴⚫️#AztecFAST 🍢 x #BeTheA1pha 🐺 x #TheClimb 📈 pic.twitter.com/oYWZnAsGn8
— San Diego State Football (@AztecFB) September 27, 2025

Lewis on grinding through the final drive

And then the offense, again, like, as as dirty as it was, as unclean as it was, and with the injuries, not just to Jaden, but with some of the guys up front along the offensive line that we had in the different combinations that we needed to play, like, hey, when we needed it, and there was an opportunity that was presented, they found a way to move the ball to get in the field goal range. And then again, when it comes down to a kick, we got one of the best kickers in the country, and Gabe put it through the pipes and found a way to score one more point than them.”

Lewis on the running game

“Being able to have a back like Lucky, and obviously, Christian (Washington) as well, those two guys carrying the workload, feel like they can deliver good body blows through the course of four quarters, and that wears on a defense. So then when you get to the fourth quarter and you know, as much as we didn't have a ton of explosive plays, but the total, you, play count, right, 66, I think that kind of leaned on them a little bit, and we were able to then generate some explosives. … It came down to that last drive. The boys executed, at a level good enough for us to be able to get the win.

Lewis on the defense under coordinator Rob Aurich

“Again, it's the totality of the love that they have for one another, the fight that they're going to have for one another, and the personal pride that they have in their performance, right? So they give up points on the opening drive, and then, man, they locked in, right? And did a tremendous job. So, yeah, I mean, I think momentum's huge, and we have it on our boundary right now, and we got to ride that, we got to continue to sustain it.”

Lewis on the faster turnaround for Friday night’s game

“We’ve got to do a great job of showing the competitive maturity and respect by the process of winning and have the humility to understand how hard winning is and all the work that we normally do in seven days, now we’ve got to get done in six days so that we can put the ball down and go play against a really good Colorado State team.”