San Diego State is about to play the most important game in its recent history with a roster gutted by a disease most people assume was solved decades ago. The Aztecs listed 32 players on Wednesday’s availability report during an active mumps outbreak, including nine ruled out and eight listed as doubtful.
That is 17 players out or in serious doubt for Saturday against Texas State, which happens to be the first Pac-12 conference game in school history.
What the Numbers Actually Say
Be careful with the framing here, because the school has been careful. The 32-man report mixes mumps cases with ordinary football injuries, and SDSU has declined to say which absences are which, citing federal privacy law.
The county numbers are the clearer picture. San Diego County Public Health Services reported 14 confirmed cases plus one probable as of September 30, contained to the football team, along with one associated case outside the program. The initial announcement on September 18 listed three confirmed and two probable, so this has roughly tripled in under two weeks.
The school explained why that trajectory was expected. “Because mumps symptoms can develop 12 to 25 days after exposure, these new cases reflect spread within the team and potential exposure to additional close contacts,” SDSU said.
The Position Groups Are a Mess
The nine players ruled out are defensive backs Braylon Cardwell and Dalesean Staley, tight ends Jack Ellis and Parker Guiltinan, running back Lucky Sutton, special teams player Luke Williams, offensive lineman Mikey Watkins, defensive lineman Roman Paseka and quarterback Stone Saunders.
Tight end is the disaster. All seven tight ends on the roster appear on the report somewhere between questionable and out. Losing a quarterback and an offensive lineman in the same week does not help an offense that has not looked good since early September.
The response has been aggressive: daily screening and testing with county health officials, contact tracing, an extra MMR booster offered to close contacts and a free booster clinic Thursday at the Calpulli Center. The school says affected players are no longer contagious.
Sean Lewis Is Handling It Correctly
The coach is not hiding behind it, which is the right instinct when your team is 1-3.
“The football gods have not really favored us with the injury luck,” Lewis said. “Guys have got to be ready to step into the light when the time comes. We’ve been given a nice storm here. But this too shall pass, and we’ve got to be able to see our way through it.”
On the medical specifics he shut the door: “There’s a lot of different things going on that are football-related and non-football-related. Due to FERPA and HIPAA, I’m not gonna comment any further on that.”
The Game Is Still On
Texas State comes to Snapdragon Stadium at 7:30 p.m. Pacific on The CW. Both teams have struggled. SDSU beat Portland State 53-20 to open, then lost to UCLA 28-10, James Madison 26-13 and Toledo 41-16. Texas State is 2-2.
San Diego State waited a long time for a Pac-12 invitation and now gets to debut in the league without a functional tight end room. That is miserable luck, and it is also the kind of thing that makes a win mean something. The Aztecs are going to find out quickly how much depth they actually built.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.