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San Diego State coach Sean Lewis said he cried after his shorthanded San Diego State Aztecs somehow pulled out an almost unfathomable 31-29 home win over the Texas State Bobcats in the long-awaited Pac-12 Conference opener.
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The third-year coach had a pretty good reason to be emotional, following what had to have been one of the most unsettled game weeks in program history.
As if a three-game losing streak wasn’t bad enough, the Aztecs went into Saturday night’s game with 13 players out and 14 more listed as game-time decisions, due to injuries and a mumps outbreak.
Yet when the night was over, there they were, at 1-0 in the rebuilt Pac-12, along with preseason favorite Boise State, longtime rival Fresno State and next Saturday’s opponent, Oregon State.
“I cried out there, so it’s pretty important. I mean, it’s hard to win. It’s hard to win in a normal year,” Lewis said. “There are some challenges that we’re going through right now that make it even harder. The guys have done a lot of hard work, and we constantly keep asking them to make the investments, to keep showing up, to respond, and they’ve done a great job of that.”
Lewis knows there’s still a lot of work to do.
“We can still do it better. There’s a lot of areas where we can continue to improve, where we can prepare better, where we can be better teammates, where we can sacrifice more for the program. At the end of the day, with all of the work these boys continue to do, you need a payday at some point. No matter how much passion, how much we love our craft, if the check doesn’t come, come on now. These guys will find a way to get paid and to get a win.”
San Diego State’s Pac-12 goals are still alive
The Aztecs (2-3) were in such dire straits healthwise that they opened as 4.5-point underdogs before the line moved to +9.5 points.
Aztecs After Dark
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– San Diego State Football (@AztecFB) October 4, 2026
But the Aztecs figuratively bet on themselves and came out with a fresh perspective after struggling badly through the non-conference schedule.
“Being 1-0 in conference play, and to get up off the mat after what we’ve done the past few weeks is huge,” Lewis said. “It’s important. It puts wind in our sails. It puts momentum back into the building. We’ve got a great opponent that’s coming, their quarterback is playing at a high level. He’s top five in the country in terms of yards per game, so it’s going to be another great challenge that we’re going to have. But those are tomorrow’s problems.”
Like Lewis said last week, all of the Aztecs’ Pac-12 goals are still in front of them. They’re alive in a race that’s just begun, and of course, every win helps toward getting bowl-eligible.
San Diego State found new playmakers when it needed them
The Aztecs were missing star running back Lucky Sutton and offensive linemen Isaac Lucas and Michael Leville Watkins, but some blue-collar guys reminded everyone that they’re still punching the clock.
The Aztecs got huge performances on offense, defense and special teams, which can boost the team’s fortunes moving forward.
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“We all just come together to keep each other up, just keep our heads up,” said linebacker Cameron Cooper, who had a 37-yard pick-6 and blocked a field goal. “Like we said, there’s little things we have to fix. Just doing the basics right, that’s all we tell each other every time. We need each other. We need to make some spark, get some juice on the sideline.”
The big spark came when Jaylon Hawkins returned the opening kickoff of the second half 96 yards for a touchdown, the second time this season he’s taken a kickoff to the house.
“Special teams got it going for us, getting that juice for us, and we just went from there,” Cooper said. “We kept going. The juice was definitely back.”
Another running back emerges
When Lucky Sutton missed a home game against James Madison, sophomore Javion “Chop” Kinnard stepped up and gained 251 yards of total offense.
With Sutton and Kinnard both out with injuries suffered in a wipeout loss at Toledo the week before, true freshman Josiah Lucas answered the “next man up” call and rushed for 111 yards and two touchdowns.
He became the first SDSU true freshman to run for more than 100 yards since Donnel Pumphrey in 2013.
“I wouldn’t have done it without my O-line,” Lucas said. “Great blocking, great calls, great blocking on the perimeter. I couldn’t have done without my teammates. It feels great though.”
Lucas said the Aztecs got some pointers at halftime.
“We weren’t really doing what we were supposed to, so we just came in at halftime, we got a little talk with the coaches, and we got our blocking assignments. We were kind of messing up our blocks, missing holes, so we watched a couple tapes, a couple clips. We got that right, and so we came out to have time to do what we did.”
The week ahead
There was no update on senior linebacker Tano Letuli, a three-year captain who left with an apparent injury. He was knocked out of last season with a knee injury that required surgery.
The next red-letter day will come Wednesday evening, when the first availability report of the week will be posted on Pac-12.com
Up next
The Aztecs head to Corvallis to play Oregon State at 3 p.m. Saturday.
Today’s best reads
- 3 takeaways from San Diego State’s 14-point comeback win in its Pac-12 debut
- San Diego State enters historic Pac-12 opener with little room for error
- 3 major questions facing San Diego State before historic Pac-12 opener
- Sean Lewis explains how San Diego State overcame injuries, illness to stun Texas State
- San Diego State faces its biggest defensive test yet against Texas State
This article was originally published on www.si.com/college/san-diego-state as Sean Lewis cried after San Diego State’s stunning win that may have changed its season.
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This story was originally published October 4, 2026 at 3:26 PM.