San Diego State football coach Sean Lewis earned a degree in agricultural journalism at Wisconsin. The state is among the nation’s leading producers of everything from carrots to corn to cranberries as well as snap beans and potatoes.
If one of those crops was growing at Snapdragon Stadium, it would have been in Lewis’ wheelhouse.
But the subject was grass, and the struggles to grow it at Snapdragon.
“The plan has been laid in front of me about irrigation, sod, fertilization, growth tarps, everything else … that sounds good,” Lewis said. “I know I have an agricultural journalism degree, but I couldn’t tell you how to grow grass.
“So I’m going to leave that to the experts, the same way I don’t want the fields crew telling me what to call on third down.”
The subject picked up momentum two weeks ago when the Aztecs and Washington State kicked up sand on virtually every play.
It hit critical mass over the weekend, when the San Diego Wave cited poor field conditions as the reason for moving the team’s season finale to Louisville.
SDSU (3-5, 2-1 Mountain West) plays New Mexico (3-6, 2-3) on Friday night at Snapdragon, and the field questions kept coming, starting with whether Lewis had any safety concerns about putting his players out on the field.
“No,” Lewis said. “I don’t have any concerns safety-wise at all. We’ve had great conversation about where it’s at. I’ve said numerous times that everyone in the organization in every aspect that impacts and affects our kids, that they need to do their job and make sure it’s done at a championship level.
“I know the grounds crew is doing an elite job from the moment we left that surface when we played Wazzu to get it up to par and to our championship standards.”
Lewis said the Aztecs “have embraced it,” hoping the playing surface gives them an edge against New Mexico.
SDSU senior cornerback Bryce Phillips said getting traction was an issue on defense against Washington State.
“It has to be an advantage for us at this point,” Phillips said. “We know what we’re going into. We know what we have to do. Planting off one foot, you know it’s going to be slippery, so you’ve got to plant off that (correct) foot.
“As an offense, (New Mexico’s) not going to be ready for it.”
Lewis said players were left to their own preferences for footwear. Most were inclined to switch from molded cleats to screw-in cleats.
“They have exhausted all those options, all those possibilities,” Lewis said, “and we found the right footing that feels good for us.”
Lewis said no one mentioned playing conditions last week when it began to rain during the Aztecs’ game at Boise State.
“They don’t ask about the rain because we can’t control that,” he said. “We can’t control the surface. We don’t have a piece in that, so we’re going to go, we’re going to put the ball down and we’re going to play.”
Injury update
SDSU starting right tackle Nate Williams (ankle) watched from the sideline during the portion of Monday’s practice open to the media.
Williams left last week’s game after a Boise State player stepped on his right ankle. Starting at right tackle in Monday’s practice was junior Saipale Fuimaono.
Redshirt freshman starting linebacker Owen Chambliss was not present at Monday’s practice, absent with an undisclosed injury. Chambliss did not play at Boise State.
Senior linebacker Cody Moon (leg) was without his helmet and pads and limited to non- practice.
Notable
• Virginia Tech’s Antwaun Powell-Ryland moved ahead of SDSU’s Trey White for the national lead in sacks, though Powell-Ryland (12 sacks) has played in nine games and White (11 1/2) has played eight.
White (Eastlake High School) did not get a sack last week at Boise State, failing to get to the quarterback for the first time in seven games. He still leads the nation in sacks per game with 1.44.
• SDSU running back Marquez Cooper has all nine of the team’s rushing touchdowns this season, making the Aztecs the the only team in the nation with one player ing for all of its rushing TDs.
Cooper (185 carries for 842 yards) is 158 yards away from his fourth straight 1,000-yard season. The others came at Ball State (2023) and Kent State (2021-22).
• SDSU running back Cam Davis rushed five times for 29 yards against Boise State. That was the most carries for an Aztecs running back other than Cooper since the season opener against Texas A&M-Commerce, when Jaylon Armstead also had five carries (for 9 yards).
