Aztecs score early and often in 42-0 season-opening win over Stony Brook

San Diego State needed 12 games last season before it finally scored on its opening possession.

In Thursday night’s 2025 season opener against Stony Brook, the Aztecs needed 7 1/2 minutes to accomplish the feat.

SDSU junior running back Lucky Sutton completed a 13-play, 75-yard drive, scoring from 1-yard out on the Aztecs’ first drive of their first game.

Just like that, SDSU was off and running in a 42-0 victory over the Seawolves before an announced crowd of 20,624 (13,516 turnstile) at Snapdragon Stadium.

“It’s always good to start fast,” SDSU coach Sean Lewis said. “Being able to go out and have a good handle on the plan and the guys feeling confident with it to do a lot of different things, third-down conversions, explosive plays, and then finishing with a touchdown is a great way to start.

“I think it gave the whole stadium, the whole (SDSU sideline), energy that guys were able to feed and build off as we went.”

Sutton was among a number of standouts for SDSU, rushing 22 times for an even 100 yards. His last carry, for a 2-yard touchdown in the third quarter, provided SDSU with a 28-0 lead.

He said getting off to a good start “was very important,” especially after a season of struggles offensively.

“We talked about that a lot going into this game, and I felt like we had a really, really good start,” Sutton said. “We’ve just got to keep trending up.”

SDSU quarterback Jayden Denegal (13-for-25, 208 yards, TD) also stood out in his starting debut, highlighted by a 25-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Jacob Bostick in the first quarter, a 44-yard pass over the middle to wide receiver Mikey Welsh in the second quarter and a 44-yard sideline pass to wide receiver Donovan Brown that set up a third-quarter score.

Asked to assess Denegal’s performance, Lewis said: “He won. That’s the ultimate goal, right?”

“He missed a couple throws, missed a couple reads,” Lewis said, “but all in all he made a majority of the right decisions. He executed and made a majority of the throws. There will be lots that he’ll learn from. … I feel good about where we’re at with him leading us going forward.”

Kicker Gabe Plascencia connected on 42- and 35-yard field goals that provided a 20-0 halftime lead and stretched Plascencia’s streak of makes to 14 straight.

SDSU backup quarterback Bert Emanuel Jr. took over for Denegal in the fourth quarter and guided the Aztecs to a pair of touchdown drives, scoring on a 2-yard run by Christian Washington and a 5-yard reverse by wide receiver Parker Threatt.

SDSU spread the carries around, with backups Byron Cardwell Jr. (7 carries, 29 yards) and Washington (7 carries, 38 yards) following Sutton into the backfield. SDSU rushed 53 times for 226 yards and finished with 453 yards in total offense.

Bostick led nine receivers with three catches (six targets) for 56 yards, all in the first half, breaking out after being buttoned up throughout fall camp as he recovered from an injury.

Perhaps most impressive was an SDSU defense tasked with stopping a Stony Brook offense that averaged nearly 30 points a game and more than 400 yards in total offense last season.

Stony Brook punter Clayton Taylor was the only one to put up any numbers against the Aztecs, booting the ball 10 times for 419 yards.

The Seawolves managed only 49 yards by halftime and finished with 95 yards for the game. SDSU linebackers Tano Letuli and Owen Chambliss led the Aztecs with five tackles apiece.

It was SDSU’s first shutout since a 6-0 win over Weber State in the 2019 season opener. While the Aztecs subbed liberally on offense in the final period, several starters remained on the field late in the game.

“We wanted to keep that zero on the board,” said Chambliss, who saw to it that the Seawolves didn’t complete a fourth-quarter pass to move into scoring range. “That’s our standard. We’re not going to give anything up.”

Next up

The Aztecs now have nine days to prepare for their Sept. 6 game at Washington State. Kickoff is 7:15 p.m. on The CW. The Cougars open the season at home Saturday at 7 p.m. against Idaho. Washington State leads the series 2-1, including last year’s 29-26 victory at Snapdragon Stadium.

Notable

• SDSU ended a six-game losing streak, picking up its first victory since winning 27-24 at Wyoming on Oct. 12.

• The Aztecs improved to 58-2 over their past 60 games when rushing for at least 200 yards.

• New Aztecs punter Hunter Green averaged 54.8 yards on his four punts, with a long of 67 yards.

• SDSU limited Stony Brook to three third-down conversions in 15 attempts. That helped the Aztecs dominate time of possession 36:05 to 23:55.