Everything Sean Lewis Said Leading Up to San Diego State vs Hawai’i

Opening Statement:

Excited for the direction of where we’re at, where we’re headed. Obviously, keeping the winning streak alive was was great. Good lessons to learn from that we cleaned up with the boys this morning and everything to make some good corrections. Defense continues to operate at an elite level, which is awesome to see. Obviously opening drive gave up the points, gave up the 75 yards, but elite job by the kids and the staff making adjustments, utilizing all the resources that are available there, holding them to 110 yards, if I’m not mistaken, for the remainder of the game. 49 total yards in the second half is simply amazing. Offensively, there’s some moments of really, really good—some moments of really, really bad that we need to have a greater level of consistency as we go.Special teams again is adding some value in some ways. But it’s inconsistent in other areas as well. But as we sit here to get a homecoming victory in front of a good crowd of alumni and student body and members of the community that have been there with us since day one and some new people that are showing up, which is great. 

We’re in a good spot with lots to clean up this week as we go—as we make a unique trip out to Hawaii where they haven’t been home in a very very long time. They’re playing at a really elite level themselves and know that they’ll have a good crowd in a unique environment there that we’re excited to go compete with. Timmy does a great job. You can tell that the team is really taking on his personality and you know they’ve gotten a good job of developing their run game and coming downhill to complement an elite passing game. And then defensively DT does a good job, their DC, giving you multiple looks. They’re very very aggressive. They’re opportunistic in terms of taking the ball away. 

So excited for the opportunity, excited for the challenge, and looking forward to getting out on the grass and and getting better. 

Could you describe what Timmy is doing offensively? Is it four wide? Is it run & shoot? Is it RPO? What’s he doing? 

It’s taken him a while to get there, but yeah. So the origin story of it is probably run & shoot, right? But where he’s done a really nice job is complementing the run game and they got a really physical downhill back. I think they’re doing a great job with their inside zone variation. Some of the RPO elements that they’ve built out of it. They like to throw that thing around, right? And they do an elite job with it. They got some dynamic playmakers on the edge. The quarterback really makes them go. So if you had to describe it, I guess you would describe it as run & shoot, but kind of like all the offenses nowadays, there’s kind of the the core origin story of what it is, but then it has offsets and some principles of other systems as well to make it uniquely fit their personnel. And Timmy’s done a great job with that and then calling it at an elite level this year. 

Where do they put the most stress on your defense? 

All over the field, right? They stress you with with space. They stress you with their speed. The quarterback stresses you with his decision making and his ball placement. And then again, they got a great physical downhill runner that I really really like, man. Like he’s a load and he punishes you with every single opportunity that he gets. So they’re going to stress you with speed and space and physicality and concepts and preset motion and movement. They do a really good job. 

Coach, how’s Tano (Letuli) and what happened to him exactly? Is he okay or what happened? 

Yeah, I mean, we’re getting some more tests today. We’ll see. Obviously he did not return in the game. So we’ll see what comes of the results in the test that we’re getting today to kind of see what the future of that is going to be. 

His ankle or his knee or lower body? 

Lower body injury right now. Yep. 

How’s Jaden Denegal feeling? He’s doing good. Yep. Doing well. I mean, talking to him yesterday, he said he wasn’t as sore as he was the previous Sunday. So, doing good. 

Coach, you were pretty adamant after the game that you guys should be a top 25 team. Looks like you’re 29 in both the polls. Your your thoughts on that after the win the other night?

Things that I can’t control, right? I feel pretty strongly about our team. I’ll continue to advocate for our team and just like we’ve been talking about, you know, all season long on this climb. We’re taking it one step at a time. So, if we got to go from 28 or from 29 to 28, 28, 27 as we go, like I’m pretty adamant about who we are. The work that we’ve done and all that recognition is nice. It’s good that we’re being talked about in that conversation. It’s good that we continue to receive more and more votes. I mean, there’s a couple voters out there that had us, I think, as high as 15th, which is great, right? But at the end of the day, like it’s all external noise. We got to block that out because as nice as it is to get that recognition now the second week of November and where we sit in the conference standings right now—the second week of November doesn’t matter. So we need to put our heads down we need to block out the noise and just be relentless in our process to grow and get better as we continue this climb. 

CBS Sports Network had a graphic up toward the end of the game showing the top group of five teams fighting for a perhaps college football playoff spot and you guys were there. Kind of exciting to see that. But your thoughts on even being talked about as far as the playoff? 

Yeah, I mean it’s where we should be, right? I mean, those are the standards, those are the expectations with 12 teams getting in. There’s a clear path for us to get there. Again, that’s all a byproduct of how we handle today, how we handle each and every single day. So again, it’s nice to be talked about, but I mean, the praise is just as meaningful as the criticism. And it doesn’t really mean anything at the end of the day. So we remind our guys about that constantly. It’s about our internal standards. It’s about our internal processes and how we go about our business, and the culture that we’ve cultivated and created and being open to the coaching to continue to grow. And again, like the first CFP poll hasn’t even come out, right? And when it does, we’re probably not going to be in the conversation. So, again, there’s a lot of work to be done. There’s a lot of things we got to get better at and I’m excited to do that work and to see us reach our full capabilities because I don’t think we’ve played a game near our capabilities in all three phases for four quarters yet this year, which is exciting. 

You guys got another huge game from Lucky Sutton. Can you talk about what value it brings and is there a certain sense of pride since he’s a prospect you guys got from your own backyard here and perform at the level he has? 

Yeah, absolutely. mean, him being a what we love to call a hometown hero, right? We want to have the best of San Diego stay in San Diego. I mentioned that on day one, and it’s been true as we’ve gone through this whole process. So, his growth, his development is probably one of the greatest that we’ve seen since we’ve been here. It’s a testament to his hard work, his character. Again, like talk about being coachable to come in after that first spring. Where do I need to get better? To intentionally and purposefully get better in those areas. So, it’s great to see him, you know, continue to have great games week after week, just like we talked about, you know, after the game. For him to set a career best two weeks ago and then best that career best again this week again is just a great real world rep of what we talk about when we talk about improving and competing today. Like we want to be we want our club and our individuals within the club, right? Like to be at their best when their best is needed. And as we enter this week, our best is going to be needed against a really, really good Hawaii team. And he’s a kid that obviously has earned our trust and can count on him to give an unbelievable effort to do what is required and what is needed for us to hopefully come home a winner. 

Getting back to the Hawaii quarterback, can you compare him to somebody you’ve gone against before? Is he uniquely different? 

He’s got a unique skill set. There’s no one that immediately comes to mind, but he does a really good job extending plays. He does a really good job if you give him some pretty static looks of knowing where he wants to go with the ball and getting out of his hands quickly. He can extend off script and do a really really good job. I think he does an elite job of keeping his eyes downfield and like pressure doesn’t phase him at all. It’s probably because of the defense that he sees each and every single day. I mean, this defensive front that we’re about to go against is, top 10 in the country and generating pass rush without pressure, without any sort of blitzes. So he’s used to seeing people in his face and being comfortable in uncomfortable situations in the pocket and still dropping dimes all over the yard. So really talented kid, really has a good handle on the system and knows where the answers are when you throw different problems at them. 

Coach, Hawaii has such a big deal about being a vacation destination. Is there any more work on your part to have you guys mentally prepared and not distracted by being a vacation destination compared to any other road trip during the end?

Yeah, I mean, everyone’s a business trip that we get to go on, right? Talk to them about it. It’s our job to make them aware of potential distractions, right? And so, one of the things that we want to do a great job of again is block out the noise and control the things that we can control. Like we’re going to be in the heart of it with where every team stay and obviously with the later kick and when we arrive and all those things, but that’s where you got to lean on the mental prep that we’ve done. Obviously, the guys being acutely aware of this special opportunity that we have and all that they have created to protect that with the decisions that they’re going to make while we travel to represent their families, our team, and this university the right way and keep a single-minded focus of why we’re going on this trip. Like we’re going out there to execute, do our jobs, and win a ball game. That’s the purpose of why we’re doing it. And you know when we do that at an elite level and these guys go have great success in their lives down range then they can go back and do all the great vacation destination things. But that ain’t this trip. 

Mentioned the the kick time. A lot is made of like west coast teams going to the east coast and having to play early. Is there an equivalent of that going farther west and playing at a little bit of later start time for your guys? 

Um no. It’s probably an accumulation of all the different travel that we’ve made, right? And I think our guys when we practice, the different times that we practice. It’s like, you ever been in a cave like an underground cave? Like there’s these like stalagmites, I believe, is what they’re called, right? Like they kind of grow from the top up and like they keep growing bigger and bigger and they get more and more mature with all the different experiences and the little droplets of water that continue to pile up on them, right? And so like I think we have like this climb individually that we’ve made but like the stalagmites of growth that we have occurred is like one of those deals where like we’ve gone east now we’re going west we practice early we practice in the afternoon like let’s put the ball down and play and then you can appreciate the beauty of each one of those organic natural growth. So don’t make too much of it. We got to be intentional when we come back. There’s probably a little bit more on that and just studying and talking to previous coaches that have been here about the impact and the effect of not necessarily going and playing there, but then the return trip home and what that does for next week and just looking back at how that impacted teams this year and last year and previous teams here at San Diego State. So, that’s tomorrow’s problems, but we’ll handle that as we go. 

So, continuing the analogy, the way I always remembered it, stalagmites were on the bottom. They might reach the ceiling. Stagmites hung tight to the ceiling. 

Uh, it is stalagmites. They “might” touch the top. Absolutely. Very good. There’s going to be a meme about that, isn’t there? Geology analogies football. Yeah. I just things that we can relate to, right? I mean, we’re just on this climb mountain theme. We might as well use all the references that we can. So, we did a lot of social studies and science the past couple weeks as my little guy was trying to get some grades across the finish line. So, away we go. Outstanding. There we go. Take us wherever we want to go, guys. 

In the big picture of things. It’s right there in front of you. We’re talking big games, championship of the league. 

Yeah. Hosting a Mountain West playoff game. That’s unbelievable. to me is what we set out to do, right? Like you guys might say it’s unbelievable given all being on the outside, not knowing what’s happening inside, right? But we sat here long ago and you know guys asked, “Hey, do you still believe?” And yeah, I sat here and said, “Hey, we got a really good team that had a bad night, right?” And everyone’s kind of go, “Okay, let me write that down and we’ll see how that holds true and how that ages.” And I think that’s age, okay, right? And so it’s like there’s been great internal growth. There’s been unbelievable connection. There’s great relationships. Like all the things that don’t show up on the stat sheet, this team continues to do at a really really high level. So it’s it’s cool to see our guys when we talk about, hey, those internal standards and handling our process the right way, then the opportunity is going to take care of itself as we head down range, right? Like we want to be so process-oriented that if we handle each one of these opportunities and they’re all so important because as you handle each one and the win streak goes further and then the next game grows bigger and more fans come out and we get this next big home opportunity not to look ahead. And we’re not but like it’s just that’s going to be a uniquely great moment in time that this team has created and how special it is, right? And so we got to handle this week the right way and we have to have tunnel vision on this week and again all the stuff that could happen whether it’s a ranking, it’s a CFP birth, it’s a championship like again like when we came back on January 20th and we strip colors like we set the course of where we’re going to go and why we wanted to restore pride in the program and then ultimately what that could do and retain the old oil can and have an opportunity to win championships. And then when we do that that’s going to lead to getting to the CFP and not just getting to the CFP but winning games in the CFP. Like we don’t just want to show up and arrive there like we want to we want to be willing participants that compete at a high level, right? 

And so again, our internal standards, it’s not unbelievable because the guys are doing work at an elite level and we got to continue to do that even at a better level, give a little bit more, sacrifice a little bit more and take on a little bit more as various things continue to pop up. Like again to pull on the climb analogy and you know going back to our guest speaker—the higher you climb the harder it gets. There’s a reason why they call it rarified error. Like you got to be willing to do more as you go and you got to be willing to know, all right this is what we signed up for. It’s going to be really really hard and the hard makes it meaningful and it’s to see if you really got the toughness and the fortitude to persevere and the resiliency to see it through. And I believe our team does. 

Is there a big difference between making a two-hour trip somewhere and a five or six hour trip? 

Um, yeah, you better have a good book to read. You better load up the iPad or whatever it is with your favorite streaming device. But again, like that’s the opportunity that we have to go play. I think a lot of it gets made because it is so unique. But like again, like our guys love ball and so it happens to be Hawaii. Like if it was in Anchorage, Alaska, like cool, anyone, anytime, anywhere. Go put the ball down. Let’s go play. How are we going to get there? Like we need sled dogs. Like let’s go get some sled dogs. Like what time’s kick? Let’s make it happen. And when there’s a passion and enthusiasm and a connection to go play, like let’s go play, right? And so we’ll go do that. Can’t have any control over the time distance. Can’t have any control over the time of travel. We optimize when it is so, that we can kind of have a very similar routine, but we’ll handle it and we’ll go. 

Previous visits you can draw on that kind of let you know ahead of time what you might be in. 

Yeah, I mean I went out there one time as a player you know was it kind of unique deal because it was at the end of the season and a pretty special trip. And then obviously there’s great resources here with previous staff members that have gone. I’ve leaned very very heavily on them and each areas. I’ve reached out to coach Long and going to probably connect with him about his experiences as well. So like yeah, I mean it was a long time ago since I went out there, right? And besides recruiting and different efforts like that, but there’s people have been out there way more recently than me and I’m humbled enough to know that they got information and wisdom that I don’t have. And so I’m going to go ask, right, and figure some things out. Like, hey, I think this about the plan. Or am I on the right path? Like, what wisdom do you have that you can share so that we don’t step in a proverbial pothole that could have been avoided right. If I just asked somebody from San Diego, it’s differently though than someone from Wisconsin. We’re kind of used to seeing water so probably won’t be the wow factor of the beaches and the beauty—like we see that every single day. Like it kind of reminds me of you know I brought the family out there for a family vacation you know speaking of vacation destinations right and it was like everyone’s asking while we were out there like hey where are you from—like San Diego. They go, “So you left one paradise for another paradise.” I’m like, “Yeah, pretty much. Absolutely.” 

Are you surprised that what’s happened in the Mountain West? I mean, Hawaii getting ambushed at San Jose and Fresno popping Boise State. Shake your head and say, “How’s that possible?” 

No, because again, I mean, it happens every single week, right? I mean, like every single week there’s parody. I think the talent distribution throughout all of college football that that curve has flattened. So, there’s great talent everywhere. There’s great coaching everywhere. I mean, the talent that’s spread out across the Mountain West right now and the coaching that we have, like again, you better bring it because if you don’t, every single team is talented enough in this league to beat anyone else. 

So, that’s the beauty of what we get to do. And you know, it’s awesome to be able to kind of like point to those moments, to refocus our team. So, again, you better have a humility to the process. You better work that process better than you ever have and you better clock back in and go back to work. The work works and just because you won yesterday doesn’t mean you’re entitled to anything going forward, right? So, you got to earn the right to win again. And man, going and getting one this week on the road against again this really really good team is going to challenge us and trust us in a lot of different ways. So, we got to have the competitive maturity to handle that and to handle the prep. And again, like all the external things that we’re talking about here, like my guys need to know and understand like this is my job as the head coach to brag about us, but they shouldn’t be listening to any of this, right? We got work to do. 

What’s the message behind your hoodie? 

I mean, what it says, right? Like at the end of the day, we got to get better, right? And no matter what happens, like there’s a group of people that care very very deeply about us, but it’s just a mindset, whether it’s, hey, nobody cares, work harder, right? Like there’s a whole lot more people on this planet right now that don’t care about what the Aztecs are doing and we got to get better right now. There’s a whole lot of people that care very very deeply about what the Aztecs are doing and guess what? They want us to get better too so we can continue to do this. So at the end of the day, good or bad, how much you’re invested or not, like we got to get better. We got to continue to push forward. 

How important is it to keep players from San Diego in San Diego—kind of recruiting in your backyard? 

It’s huge, man.It’s the lifeline of our program and it was one of the things that first drew me to this job, right? Like you become a much better coach when you have really talented players and San Diego County has a ton of talented players, not just currently and presently and in the future, but in the past. I mean, there’s more Heisman Trophy winners that have come out of this place than anywhere else, right? And then you expand that into all of Southern California where we get to reach and where we want to dominate. Like that’s where it starts, you know, and then we’ll go supplement from other areas and other means. But, you know, the high school coaches and our backyard here, like we’ve gotten a very very intimate relationship with them. We had over 115 different high school prospects that were on, you know, the sidelines, which is why it’s so important that our community shows up and shows out for us as well, right? Like when those prospects who are right here from our backyard, the hometown heroes are here and they look up in the stands like they want to play in front of a sellout crowd. They want to play in front of their hometown fans that know their names that know them from Friday Night Lights and that want to continue to cheer in their joy and their legacy and you know their their future at the college ranks in front of a a packed out crowd, right? 

So I’m excited again like there’s another opportunity to do that here in a couple weeks and we got a really good team that’s playing at a really really high level. we’re going to probably have close to 200 prospects that will be at that game. Like it’s the lifeline of our program. And so we need to have not only our staff do a great job, our players do a great job, but our community do a great job to show up and support us because when the Aztecs are are playing well, everyone benefits from that, right? Like it’s more eyeballs on the city, it’s more eyeballs on the university, it’s more eyeballs for us to continue to grow this thing at a really really elite level. 

Sean, what’s the key Saturday night? 

Control the controllables. There’s a lot of variables that we’ve discussed that go into it. We got to do a great job limiting their throwing game. And I just say limiting because they’re going to generate some explosive plays. That’s just who they are and the job that they do. And then we got to do a really good job in the red zone. I think the past couple weeks we’ve had way too many opportunities that were empty possessions in the red zone where we’ve left points on the board. 

Talk about the recruiting aspect of it. There’s there was for a long time San Diego State wouldn’t talk to a Reggie Bush thinking well we can’t get him. or more recent example of Julian saying thinking he’s five-star he’s going somewhere else. What’s your take on those guys who are the the tip top of the recruits and do you still make make a run at those types of players or say maybe we know where they’re going so we focus their our efforts elsewhere? 

I mean we’re going to make them say no to us, right? And so we’re going to we’re going to recruit them. We’re going to recruit them hard but there is levels to this, right? Like Reggie Bush got things that way back then probably San Diego State wasn’t going to compete with that like it’s fine now—so hey the Heisman’s been reinstated but like, whether San Diego State talks to Reggie Bush one way or the other they probably weren’t winning that one right.

Like Julian Sayin’s probably the odds on Heisman favorite I think after his most recent performance, so you know we will talk to all of them. We’re not going to take a backseat to anyone. But there is still this beauty of the free and fair open market that is out there now, right? And again, our community stepped up in a big time way. There’s levels to the resources that certain programs have, but again, like for really really special and unique talented individuals sometimes cash money is not always the primary driver, right? So, you have the conversations, you kind of see where it’s all at, and you know, maybe you don’t give them the first time around, but they go away and they feel they realize that, hey, that’s not what I was looking for. You got a great relationship with them because you didn’t take a backseat to anyone. You continue to recruit the heck out of them. Maybe you get them on the bounce back. 

And so, we’re not going to say we are lesser than, we’re not lesser than to anyone. Like I think there is an unbelievable future here that we’re cultivating, that we’re creating, that we’re continuing to elevate. And to me there’s no reason why with the the high quality individuals that we have in this building, that we have in this community, why we can’t have have it all quite frankly here at San Diego State.