Football

San Diego State Begins Inaugural Pac-12 Season with Non-Conference Game vs. Portland State

SDSU welcomes Portland State at 6:30 p.m. PT Saturday at Snapdragon Stadium.

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San Diego State Begins Inaugural Pac-12 Season with Non-Conference Game vs. Portland StateSan Diego State Begins Inaugural Pac-12 Season with Non-Conference Game vs. Portland State
Justin Truong
  • On Saturday, San Diego State begins its 104th season of football, 58th at the Division I level, first in the Pac-12 Conference and third under the direction of head coach Sean Lewis.
  • On July 1, 2026, SDSU officially became a member of the new Pac-12 along with league stalwarts Oregon State and Washington State, as well as Boise State, Colorado State, Gonzaga (for men’s basketball only), Fresno State, Texas State and Utah State.
  • The 2026 Pac-12 football season will feature a seven-game conference schedule with each team playing one another. The final weekend of the season (Nov. 28) will be a FLEX game depending on the best interests of the league, including College Football Playoff (CFP) considerations at the time. The FLEX game will not count in the Pac-12 standings.
  • San Diego State is coming off a 9-4 season, coming up a victory short of its sixth double-digit win campaign since 2015.
  • The Aztecs won six more games than the first season for Sean Lewis (3-9) in 2024. The six-win improvement for SDSU matched the largest win increase by SDSU in program history (since 1921), joining a six-win improvement from 1960 (1-6-1) to 1961 (7-2-1) (note that the COVID shortened season improvement from 4-4 in 2020 to 12-2 in 2021 is not included).
  • San Diego State finished with a 6-2 mark in its final year of the Mountain West in 2025. The Aztecs tied with Boise State, New Mexico and UNLV atop the league standings, but was left out of a MW Championship appearance because of computer rankings. BS, which SDSU beat, 17-7, in the regular season, captured the MW Championship with a 38-21 win over UNLV.
  • San Diego State lost a thriller to No. 23 North Texas, 49-47, in the 2025 New Mexico Bowl. The Aztecs trailed, 42-20, after three quarters but outscored the Mean Green, 27-7, with their third-string quarterback in the fourth quarter to fall two points short.
  • It was SDSU’s first bowl game since 2022, but its 13th in 15 chances since 2010 (San Diego State withdrew from consideration in a 4-4 COVID season in 2020). The Aztecs played in every bowl game from 2010-19, and then in 2021 and 2022 before going 4-8 in 2023 and 3-9 in 2024.
  • Only 17 teams have played in more bowl games than SDSU’s 13 since 2010, including Alabama (16), Clemson (16), Georgia (16), Oklahoma (16), Boise State (15), LSU (15), Ohio State (15), Oregon (15), Brigham Young (14), Louisville (14), Michigan (14), Mississippi State (14), Notre Dame (14), Oklahoma State (14), Texas A&M (14), Washington (14) and Wisconsin (14).
  • San Diego State finished with a 6-0 season at home in 2025, its first undefeated home campaign since 1996 and sixth in its Division I history. The Aztecs outscored the opposition, 187-41, at home in the regular season.
  • San Diego State’s six-game home winning streak is tied for the 18th-longest active winning streak in FBS and the longest in the Pac-12.
  • This will be the fifth season of SDSU playing its home games at Bashor Field at Snapdragon Stadium.
  • In SDSU’s nine wins last year, it outscored the opposition, 260-54, (28.9-6.0).
  • San Diego State returns five of its 15 all-Mountain West selections from a year ago, including Doak Walker semifinalist Lucky Sutton. The San Diego native rushed for 1,297 yards and 10 touchdowns in his first season as the main ballcarrier. The 1,297 yards were the 13th most in Aztec single-season history and most since Rashaad Penny set a school record with 2,248 yards in 2017. Sutton had six 100-yard games in 2025, including two 150-yard games, in his first career 13 starts. He enters his senior season with 1,497 rushing yards, 1,123 yards shy of cracking the SDSU career top-10 list. Sutton has been named to three preseason NFCAA watch lists, including the Maxwell Award (college player of the year), Walter Camp Player of the Year and the Doak Walker Award (most outstanding college running back).
  • Dynamic playmaker Jordan Napier is back for his junior year after earning first-team all-MW honors as a punt returner a year ago and second-team accolades as a receiver, despite missing the final three-plus games with an injury. Napier led San Diego State a year ago with 48 catches and 629 yards for two touchdowns. He also returned 22 punts for 193 yards (8.8 avg.) and a 75-yard touchdown, and 11 kickoffs for 246 yards (22.4 avg.).
  • QB Jayden Denegal threw for 1,807 yards and nine touchdowns in his first season at SDSU in 2025, completing 143 of 243 passes with eight interceptions for a 126.9 pass efficiency rating. He added four rushing touchdowns and SDSU was 9-3 in games he starters (Denegal missed the New Mexico Bowl after undergoing surgery on his non-throwing shoulder).
  • In all, seven of the starting 11 on offense from 2025 are back this season, the second with quarterbacks coach Matt Johnson as the offensive coordinator.
  • The Aztecs lost nine of their 11 starters from a defense that ranked among the top 25 in the country in pass efficiency defense (2nd, 100.4), red zone defense (3rd, .690), defensive touchdowns (5th, 4), points allowed per game (6th, 15.4), passing yards allowed per game (6th, 164.2), first downs allowed (10th, 209), total defense (11th, 293.7), third-down percentage (13th, .322) and interceptions (14th, 15).
  • Last year, SDSU led the nation with three shutouts, its most in its Division I history (since 1969). Only Wisconsin (four in 2019) had more shutouts in a season than San Diego State over the last 10 years.
  • The only two returning starters on defense for the Aztecs are two-time MW honorable-mention selection LB Tano Letuli and 2025 honorable-mention pick S Dalesean Staley, both who are coming back from injuries. Letuli was recently named a team captain for a third time, joining current Minnesota Vikings quarterback Kevin O’Connell has the only SDSU players to be a captain for at least three seasons (O’Connell was a four-time captain).
  • This is the first season with Demetrius Sumler as the team’s defensive coordinator.
  • San Diego State lost first-team all-conference punter Hunter Green and second-team kicker Gabe Plascencia, but looks good in the return game. The Aztecs have four players with a special teams return touchdown, including Napier (1 PR TD), Nathan Acevedo (1 PR TD), Christian Washington (1 KR TD) and incoming Colorado State transfer Javion Kinnard (1 PR TD).
  • SDSU welcomes 62 total newcomers (combining scholarships and walk-ons) this season.
  • San Diego State head coach Sean Lewis began his head coaching career at Kent State in 2018, as the Golden Flashes went 2-10 in his first season at the helm. The following year, Lewis led Kent State to a 7-6 record, including a 6-2 mark in Mid-American Conference play and a berth in the MAC Championship game. The Golden Flashes then went on to win the Frisco Bowl over Utah State, 51-41, the program’s first bowl win in program history.
  • Lewis departed Kent State to be the offensive coordinator at Colorado in 2023. Over the last three seasons without Lewis at the helm, the Golden Flashes are 6-30 with a 4-29 mark against FBS teams and a 4-20 record in MAC play. KSU snapped a 21-game losing streak on Aug. 30, 2025 with a 21-17 win over Merrimack out of the FCS.
  • Saturday’s opener is its latest since 2015 when also starting on Sept. 5.
  • San Diego State is 56-42-5 all-time in season openers.
  • The Aztecs are 48-17-4 in home season openers and 28-8 when opening their season at home in its Division I era (since 1969).
  • San Diego State has won 10 of its last 11 home season openers.
  • Saturday will mark the second meeting between San Diego State and Portland State. The first meeting between the schools came on Sept. 22, 2007, when the Aztecs came out on top by a 52-17 score at Qualcomm Stadium. In that game, current Minnesota Vikings head coach Kevin O'Connell completed 19 of 31 passes for career highs of 443 yards and five touchdowns in the win. Four of O'Connell's TD passes came in the first half, including three to Brett Swain, who finished the game with six receptions for a career-high 224 yards.
  • Saturday’s meeting between the two schools will be the first in a period of 6,923 days. That’s 18 years, 11 months and 14 days.
  • SDSU is 33-13 all-time vs. teams that make up the current Big Sky Conference.
  • The Aztecs are 10-0 in games against teams that were in the Big Sky at the time of the game.
  • San Diego State has won its last 11 games against FCS schools, outscoring those opponents 387-114, averaging 35.2 points per game and giving up 10.4 points per contest.
  • SDSU is 15-1 in its last 16 meetings against FCS schools with the lone loss coming against Eastern Illinois in 2013. That EIU coaching staff featured current Aztec head coach Sean Lewis as the wide receivers coach. The Panthers, led by quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo, totaled 361 yards through the air on their way to scoring 40 points in the season opener for both teams.
  • Prior to its current 15-1 stretch, San Diego State was 4-2 against FCS schools since the turn of the century.
  • Portland State opened its season on Saturday night against UC Davis. The Vikings jumped out to a 21-0 lead at the half at home, but were outscored 31-3 in the second half in a 31-24 final.