The first loss of the Sean Lewis Era hit the San Diego State Aztecs (1-1) on Saturday night. They fell to the Oregon State Beavers (2-0), 21-0, at Snapdragon Stadium in front of an announced crowd of 25,138. 

“Every opportunity, we are either going to win, or we are going to learn, and the adversity that we faced tonight is a part of it,” said head coach Sean Lewis postgame. 

The Beavers relied on a dominant running game (237 yards) and opportunistic defense to control the game from start to finish. They easily won almost every offensive statistic, outgaining the Aztecs, 420 to 179, winning the time of possession battle, 41:07 to 18:53, and converting 11 of 22 3rd/4th down plays.  

The running back duo of Jam Griffin (18 carries for 89 yards) and Anthony Hankerson (16 carries for 71 yards) each ran in a score. Gevani McCoy completed 16 of 26 passes for 181 yards, and Trent Walker caught eight passes for 92 yards. Bryce Caufield caught a 21-yard TD to close out the scoring. 

SDSU true freshman Danny O’Neil could not keep the hot hand he finished his first career game with and struggled to find any rhythm throughout this contest. He completed 11 of 24 passes for 107 yards. 

Lewis confirmed postgame that O’Neil suffered a lower-body injury early in the game on a screen pass and dealt with pain the remainder of the game. 

“There’s probably nobody more disappointed in that locker room than (O’Neil),” Lewis noted. “He is a relentless competitor. He fought through an injury and played through that pain and still gave us a chance in a lot of different opportunities. Showed true composure. Showed resolve and he will learn and grow from this.”

Marquez Cooper, who rushed for 227 yards and two touchdowns last week, was held to 53 yards on 13 carries. He added two receptions for 19 yards. 

Louis Brown IV led the Aztecs with 45 receiving yards, while Ja’Shaun Poke led them with three catches.

On the first play of the game, O’Neil overthrew an open Ja’Shaun Poke. Penalties once again derailed drives in the first half, including two holding penalties by LG Myles Murao. 

On a 3rd and 4 from midfield on the Aztecs’ second drive of the game, O’Neil’s pass to the flat to Cooper was deflected by oncoming rusher Nikko Taylor and fell incomplete. Cooper came out of the backfield with no defender pursuing him and would have likely gone the distance if the pass made it his way. 

“There’s no excuse for the offense today,” said senior TE Jude Wolfe postgame. “We had plenty of opportunities. We just didn’t capitalize on them.”

After recording 16 penalties as a team last week, the Aztecs had seven (for 65 yards) in the first 25 minutes of the game tonight. Most of them came on the offensive side. 

“We had a lot of self-inflicted wounds that hurt,” said Lewis. “The Aztecs beat the Aztecs in a lot of areas tonight.”

The Beavers took their opening drive of the game 53 yards on five plays and scored on Griffin’s 16-yard run. Neither team scored a point the rest of the first half. The Aztec defense stopped a 4th down attempt, and kicker Everett Hayes missed a 38-yard attempt with seven seconds remaining in the half to keep it a 7-0 halftime score. Hayes later missed a 54-yard attempt in the second half. 

The Beavers controlled the line of scrimmage throughout the first half, collecting 211 yards (versus 101 for the Aztecs) on 16 more plays (40 to 24) and holding an almost 2-to-1 time of possession advantage (19:33 to 10:27). 

“It’s always hard to stop a great runner,” explained CB Chris Johnson while adding the Beavers had two great ones. “They (have) a great offensive line (too). They just executed more times than we did and made more plays than we did (tonight).” 

The Aztecs caught a big break early in the 3rd quarter when WR Trent Walker dropped a sure TD on a flea-flicker pass from McCoy. Walker got behind Johnson, who was frozen by the handoff in the backfield, but saw the pass go right through his hands at the ten-yard line. 

The Aztecs followed the drop and resulting punt by driving down inside the Oregon State five. Disaster struck, however, when O’Neil faked a pitch left to Cooper on a 3rd and goal from the two but was stripped of the ball by Jaden Robinson and recovered by the Beavers. It was the first Aztec turnover of the season after six turnover-free quarters to start the year. 

“Just need to do a better job with ball security on that,” Lewis explained when asked about the play. “The ball was a little low and loose … It is a hard lesson to learn.”

The ensuing Oregon State drive: 13 plays. 98 yards. 8:04 time. Touchdown. Game over. 

When it appeared the Aztecs defense was going to hold the Beavers to a field goal and only a ten point deficit on the drive, the Beavers decided to go for it on 4th and 2 from the 15. They still got their two-score lead, but now an even bigger one. Hankerson took the handoff, veered to the left, broke a few tackles, and dove into the end zone on the first play of the 4th quarter.

The woes continued for the Aztecs early in the 4th when Tyler Pastula’s punt was blocked by Amarion York and downed after only advancing four yards. 

Johnson led the Aztec defense with nine tackles. Overall, the defense recorded only two tackles for loss (Josh Hunter and Bryce Phillips) and zero sacks. After scoring touchdowns off two turnovers last week, they did not force any against Oregon State.

Redshirt freshman Ryan Silver replaced Murao at LG to start the second half after Murao’s struggles in the first half. Dean Abdullah replaced Silver in the 4th quarter. Lewis said postgame that with Joe Borjon’s injury and the need to move Christian Jones to his spot, they will continue to evaluate who will fill that position.

Both Wolfe and Johnson spoke postgame about being better leaders and making sure that the team stays positive and focused despite struggles.

“I think when adversity hits, you can see sometimes that guys have their heads down on the sidelines,” remarked Wolfe. “It’s on us as the leaders to inspire the troops and keep things going and keep our heads up regardless of what is happening to us.”

The Aztecs hit the road next week, traveling up the state to Northern California to play California in their first road game of the season. The Bears are 2-0 this season after an impressive road win at Auburn on Saturday afternoon. Kickoff is at 7:30 pm.

Andre Haghverdian

Avid sports fan and historian of basketball, baseball, football and soccer. UC San Diego and San Diego State alumni living in America’s Finest City. Diverse team following across multiple sports leagues, but Aztecs come first in college athletics.