What San Diego State's Sean Lewis said ahead of Northern Illinois matchup

San Diego State celebrated its big shutout win against California for the proverbial 24 hours allowed by the coaching staff and then began preparation for a trip to face Northern Illinois in the Aztecs’ final nonconference game.

The Aztecs finally got their signature win under head coach Sean Lewis when they shocked the previously undefeated Golden Bears 34-0 before a lively crowd at Snapdragon Stadium. SDSU’s defense was lights out, with cornerback Chris Johnson returning an interception 97 yards for a score and safety Dwayne McDougle scooping up a fumble and returning it 35 yards for a score.

“Happy, normal seven-day prep week, week four of the season. We're finally getting one of these, which is nice,” Lewis said on Monday. “Got the boys back this morning, put, obviously, the great win to bed and turn the page to a really tough opponent that's battle-tested.”

This is the final non-conference game for both teams.

San Diego State leads the series 6-0. After this season, the Aztecs are jumping from the Mountain West to the new-look Pac-12 and the Huskies will move from the MAC to the MWC.

Here are the highlights of Lewis’ Week 4 news conference:

Lewis on what to expect from the Huskies

“They do it the right way, and they do a tremendous job of getting the most out of their kids, and

they historically get better and better and better with every single week. So, excited about the opportunity to go do what good teams do and earn the right to win on the road. So got to have a good week of preparation, have a great response after a great victory.”

Lewis on the growth and togetherness of the secondary

“I'm impressed by their maturity, especially since they started to play together, and you know, the middle of last year, as they, really kind of got comfortable with one another, the maturity that they've shown, the competitive maturity to respond from Week 2 at Wazzu where I felt like, for as many talented guys as we have back there, the number of single-digit guys that play in our secondary those guys need to play well and collectively, I think they put down their best game that we've had together.”

Lewis on quarterback Jayden Denegal’s progression and performance against Cal

San Diego State Aztecs quarterback Jayden Denegal. | James Snook-Imagn Images

“I mean, I thought he was really, really efficient with the football again, his decision-making process was really good. I think as he continues to take strides, you know, that the down the field shots will continue to grow. We didn't ask him to do a ton of that, but obviously we hit the one that we did, which was huge, because then they went from a whole lot of one-high to two-high, which opened up the run game. Then he did a really good job with the RPO reads that we asked him to do.”

Lewis on the environment at Snapdragon Stadium

“Tremendous effort by the whole community, you know, showing up and showing out. Again, ticketing, marketing staff, I mean everyone that are the behind-the-scenes heroes to make that happen. I think everyone who was there walked away with a tremendous experience, right? That they're going to tell everyone about and come back to, and we get to do it again, not this Friday, but next Friday. So, I know there's a ton of stuff going on, but that needs to be where the party is at. That's the spot to be.”

Lewis on the defensive line’s performance against California

“Yeah, the big piece of it was to win first and second down so that we could get into an advantageous situation on third down to get those four defensive ends on the field collectively together.”

Lewis on the impact of edge rusher Trey White, who got his first sack

“Again, a lot gets made about, obviously, who Trey is, and the attention that he warrants and the motor that he plays with, but he's so disruptive that that allows some of those other guys to go hunt as well and the other guys in their own right, you know, August [Salvati] and Jared [Badie] and Hendo [Ryan Henderson] they are continuing to grow. They're continuing to refine their craft.”