Aztecs notebook: Surging San Diego State’s next objective is playing well on the road

San Diego State has proven it can win — and win convincingly — at home this season.

The Aztecs (4-1, 1-0 Mountain West) now want to prove something on the road this weekend when they play Nevada (1-4, 0-1 MW) in Reno.

“Don’t get it twisted: The record does not indicate or show how talented they are,” SDSU coach Sean Lewis said of Nevada. “They’re hitting their stride. it is going to be a hard-fought opportunity on the road, and we need to go put a full game together, which we’ve yet to do on the road.”

SDSU’s only defeat came on Sept, 6, when it fell 36-13 to Washington State in Pullman, Wash. The Aztecs defeated Northern Illinois on the road two weeks ago, but they needed a Gabe Plascencia field goal as time expired for a 6-3 win.

Even after a convincing 45-24 victory over Colorado State on Friday night at Snapdragon Stadium, Lewis was looking at mistakes made as much as plays made when reviewing the game.

“There are things that we need to clean up.” he said. “There’s some foolish penalties. … There’s some opportunities for us where we left some meat on the bone in all three phases that we can maximize.”

Asked to elaborate, Lewis said: “There’s some tracks within the run game that, for as well as we ran the ball, I thought we could still be cleaner with.”

SDSU rushed for 281 yards against the Rams, most of it from running backs Lucky Sutton (21 carries, 113 yards 2 TDs), Byron Cardwell Jr. (15-129, TD) and Christian Washington (8-28).

It was the first time in six years the Aztecs had multiple 100-yard running backs in the same game. Both Sutton and Cardwell rushed for career highs in yards.

Defensively, Lewis said: “I thought our tackling for the first time was not as clean or crisp as it needed to be.”

And the Aztecs need to display more discipline. They had nine penalties for 89 yards against Colorado State. Included among them were two delay-of-game infractions, a false start, a personal foul and an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty.

“We still continue to make some foolish penalties in all three phases that are going to come back to bite us in closer ballgames,” Lewis said. “There’s things that you’re always going to point to where (we’re) very, very grateful that we got the win, that we found a way to win, but rarely satisfied with the outcome.

“Our kids did a great job of coming in (Monday) morning and having the emotional and mental toughness to detach their feelings and really look at it from an objective standpoint on how we can grow and get better in all three phases.”

Lewis said the staff has the luxury of pausing and rewinding video and pointing a laser to “nitpick” during game review.

They need to be mindful, he said, that players have “4-6 seconds to make high-speed decisions and do that in real time, so I want them to be confident to do that consistently, play after play after play.”

Fast starts

This is the sixth time in 10 seasons the Aztecs have won at least four of their first five games.

SDSU had double-digit wins on four of the other five occasions: 2016 (started 4-1, finished 11-3), 2017 (5-0/10-3), 2019 (4-1/10-3), 2021 (5-0, 12-2). In 2018, they started 4-1 and finished 7-6.

Bowl projections

No teams have qualified for bowl eligibility yet — SDSU is two wins away from being bowl eligible for the first time in three years — but that hasn’t stopped several sources from producing predictions. Some of those who have the Aztecs projected for a bowl game:

CBSSports.com: L.A. Bowl vs. Washington

ESPN.com (Kyle Bonagura): Arizona Bowl vs. Buffalo

Profootballnetwork.com: New Mexico Bowl vs. Texas State

Athlon Sports: Frisco Bowl vs. UTSA

Sports Illustrated: Frisco Bowl vs. UTEP

USA Today: Frisco Bowl vs. North Texas

The Mountain West also has tie-ins with the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl and the Hawaii Bowl and is a primary backup for the Rate Bowl.

Putting up numbers

SDSU punter Hunter Green ranks first in the Mountain West and is tied for fourth in the nation with 13 punts inside the 20-yard line. Green also ranks second in the MW and 18th nationally with a 45.6-yard punt average.

• SDSU wide receiver Jordan Napier ranks third in the Mountain West in receptions (32), receiving yards (443) and receiving yards per game (88.6).

Napier is nearing last season’s reception total (43) and surpassed last season’s yardage total (440) with a career-high 153 yards against Colorado State.

• Sutton leads the Mountain West in rushing attempts (88) and is second in rushing yards (450) and rushing yards per game (90). He is tied for third in rushing touchdowns (5).

Injury update

SDSU starting right tackle Joe Borjon is expected to be in the lineup this week against Nevada after suffering an apparent right elbow injury against Colorado State. Borjon, a 6-foot-8, 338-pound senior, will practice and play with a padded elbow brace.

San Diego State (4-1, 1-0) vs. Nevada (1-4, 0-1)

When: 7:30 p.m. Saturday

Where: Mackay Stadium, Reno, Nev.

TV: CBSSN

Radio: 760-AM